2i6 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



fore long, I came to a tall and formidable-looking fence. Confident 

 as I might be in the existence of an ancient and indefeasible 

 right-of-way, before me stood the thorny barrier with its 

 comminatory notice-board — ' No Thoroughfare. By Order. 

 Moses.' There seemed no way over ; nor did the prospect of 

 creeping round, as I saw some do, attract me. . . . The only 

 alternatives were either to give up my journey — which I was not 

 minded to do — or to break the fence down and go through it." 



As to the extension of criticism to the New Testa- 

 ment : — 



" Thirty years ago, criticism of ' Moses ' was held by most 

 respectable people to be deadly sin ; now it has sunk to the rank 

 of a mere peccadillo ; at least, if it stops short of the history of 

 Abraham. . . . 



" Well, we will pass the item of i860, said the ' voice ' [of 

 conscience^. But why all this more recent coil about the 

 Gadarene swine and the like ? Do you pretend that these 

 poor animals got in your way, years and years after the ' Mosaic ' 

 fences were down, at any rate so far as you are concerned ? 

 Got in my way ? why my good ' voice,' they were driven in my 

 way. . . . 



" The half-hearted religiosity of latter-day Christianity may 

 choose to ignore the fact ; but it remains none the less true, that 

 he who refuses to accept the demonology of the Gospels rejects 

 the revelation of a spiritual world, made in them, as much as if 

 he denied the existence of such a person as Jesus of Nazareth ; 

 and deserves, as much as any one can do, to be ear-marked 

 • infidel ' by our gentle shepherds." 



The reply to Mr. Gladstone's attack appeared in the 

 December number of the Nineteenth Century, under the 

 title of "The Keepers of the Herd of Swine" (Coll. 

 Essays, v, p. 336). One reason for undertaking the 

 article is to clearly state the position of the writer, 

 for, — 



" the warmest admirers of Mr. Gladstone will hardly be pre- 

 pared to maintain that mathematical accuracy in stating the 



