206 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



Dr. Wace asserted that an agnostic was merely an 

 infidel : — 



" The word infidel, perhaps, carries an unpleasant significance. 

 Perhaps it is right that it should. It is, and it ought to be, an 

 unpleasant thing for a man to have to say plainly that he does not 

 believe in Jesus Christ." 



With reference to this Huxley remarks : — 



" There is an attractive simplicity about this solution of the 

 problem, and it has that advantage of being somewhat offensive 

 to the persons attacked, which is so dear to the less refined sort 

 of controversialist. 



" Now, the question as to what Jesus really said and did is 

 strictly a scientific problem, which is capable of solution by no 

 other methods than those practised by the historian and the literary 

 critic. It is a problem of immense difficulty, which has occupied 

 some of the best heads in Europe for the last century ; and it is 

 only of late years that their investigations have begun to converge 

 towards one conclusion." 



The Gadarene swine are then introduced upon the 

 scene : — 



" Until the contrary is proved, I venture to doubt whether, at 

 the present moment, any Protestant theologian, who has a reputa- 

 tion to lose, will say that he believes the Gadarene story." 



Further on, agnosticism is defined at length : — 



" Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence 

 of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle. 

 That principle is of great antiquity ; it is as old as Socrates ; as 

 old as the writer who said, ' Try all things, hold fast by that 

 which is good ; ' it is the foundation of the Reformation, which 

 simply illustrated the axiom that every man should be able to 

 give a reason for the faith that is in him ; it is the great principle 

 of Descartes ; it is the fundamental axiom of modern science. 

 Positively the principle may be expressed : in matters of the 

 intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without 

 any regard to any other consideration. And negatively : in 



