The Bight Hon. T. H. Huxley, D.C.L., F.RS. ' 457 



extent to which that origin ninst have preceded the epoch 

 of the first recorded appearance of vertebrate life." 



But bevond this lies the unfathomable Qfulf of the origin 

 of the living and organized from the merely mineral ; of 

 this " abio^enesis " science knows nothing, and even Hux- 

 ley can only fall back on the probability that at some 

 almost infinitely distant point of past time physical con- 

 ditions may have been so different from those now existing 

 as to admit of the spontaneous origin of life. Here there 

 is no scope for natural selection, but we stand face to face 

 with what to our present ideas would be a miracle of 

 creation. But such abiogenesis must once at least, have 

 occurred : and if once, why not oftener ? Yet now it 

 seems impossible, and by some is dismissed as unthinkable. 

 We can only say, a To man it is impossible, but to God 

 all things are possible :' and, leaving Him out of the 

 account, we must be content to leave ourselves no rational 

 standing-place over the infinite void. This position Hux- 

 ley avowedly assumed, as an honest agnostic whose mind 

 was so constituted that he could not move one step 

 beyond phenomena, and declined to infer from these phe- 

 nomena any power or divinity behind them. 



In point of fact, without God and without the Bedeemer 

 and the great truths revealed by Him, it is impossible 

 to solve the " problem of humanity ;" and it is impossible 

 wholly to divest the mind of the idea of a rational First 

 Cause, and a relation between Him and the spiritual 

 nature of man. The lines which it is said were by 

 Huxley's request to form his epitaph, declare this : — 



" And if there be no meeting past the grave, 



If all is darkness, silence yet is rest. 

 Be not afraid, ye waiting hearts that weep, 



For God still giveth His beloved sleep, — 

 And if an endless sleep He wills, so best."' 



Here we have God recognized as giving even the sleep of 

 death, and if so, why not also the future life and the 



