238 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xvi 



position is. I may be quite wrong, and in that case I know I 

 shall have to pay the penalty for being wrong. But I can only 

 say with Luther, " Gott helfe mir, Ich kann nichtl anders." 



I know right well that 99 out of 100 of my fellows would call 

 me atheist, infidel, and all the other usual hard names. As our 

 laws stand, if the lowest thief steals my coat, my evidence (my 

 opinions being known) would not be received against him.* 



But I cannot help it. One thing people shall not call me 

 with justice and that is — a liar. As you say of yourself, I too 

 feel that I lack courage ; but if ever the occasion arises when 

 I am bound to speak, I will not shame my boy. 



I have spoken more openly and distinctly to you than I ever 

 have to any human being except my wife. 



If you can show me that I err in premises or conclusion, I 

 am ready to give up these as I would any other theories. But at 

 any rate you will do me the justice to believe that I have not 

 reached my conclusions withqut the care befitting the momentous 

 nature of the problems involved. 



And I write this the more readily to you, because it is clear 

 to me that if that great and powerful instrument for good or 

 evil, the Church of England, is to be saved from being shivered 

 into fragments by the advancing tide of science — an event I 

 should be very sorry to witness, but which will infallibly occur 

 if men like Samuel of Oxford are to have the guidance of her 

 destinies— it must be by the efforts of men who, like yourself, 

 see your way to the combination of the practice of the Church 

 with the spirit of science. Understand that all the younger men 

 of science whom I know intimately are essentially of my way 

 of thinking. (I know not a scoffer or an irreligious or an im- 

 moral man among them, but they all regard orthodoxy as you 

 do Brahmanism.) Understand that this new school of the 

 prophets is the only one that can work miracles, the only one 

 that can constantly appeal to nature for evidence that it is right, 

 and you will comprehend that it is of no use to try to barricade 

 us with shovel hats and aprons, or to talk about our doctrines 

 being " shocking." 



I don't profess to understand the logic of yourself, Maurice, 

 and the rest of your school, but I have always said I would 

 swear by your truthfulness and sincerity, and that good must 

 come of your efforts. The more plain this was to me, however, 

 the more obvious the necessity to let you see where the men of 



* The law with respect to oaths was reformed in 1869. 



