VI 



IN COEEOBOKATION OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY 



T^E. LYMAN ABBOTT, in criticising Professor 

 ■^-^ Huxley in a recent number of the " North 

 American Keview," lost sight of a very important dis- 

 tinction, a distinction which Professor Huxley keeps 

 constantly before him in the articles referred to ; 

 namely, the distinction between objective and sub- 

 jective truth, between a statement or a proposition 

 which rests upon outward, independent, logical evi- 

 dence, and is addressed to the reason and the under- 

 standing, and one which is purely personal and sub- 

 jective, involving the taste, the emotions, the hopes, 

 the aspirations, and which is true or false according 

 to the temper and experience of the person to whom 

 it is addressed. When our theological doctors talk 

 of the evidences of Christianity, they lay great 

 stress upon the historical evidences ; the root of the 

 matter is here ; these are real, objective, positive, 

 and are matters of logical and scientific inquiry. 

 The subjective evidences, — that is, those which are 

 furnished by the mental or spiritual experience of 

 the individual and beget a feeling of certainty and 

 security in his mind, — these are of quite a different 

 nature, and our logical faculties can have little to do 

 with them. 



