68 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pleasant ; and all I have maintained is that the least unpleasant 

 alternative necessarily involved is, that Jesus Christ was under 

 an illusion in his most vital convictions. 



I content myself with thus rectifying the state of the case, 

 without making the comments which I think would be justified 

 on such a crude misrepresentation of my argument. But Prof. 

 Huxley goes on to observe that " the value of the evidence as to 

 what Jesus may have said and done, and as to the exact nature 

 and scope of his authority, is just that which the agnostic finds 

 it most difficult to determine." Undoubtedly, that is a primary 

 question ; but who would suppose from Prof. Huxley's statement 

 of the case that the argument of the paper he is attacking pro- 

 ceeded to deal with this very point, and that he has totally ignored 

 the chief consideration it alleged ? Almost immediately after the 

 words Prof. Huxley has quoted, the following passage occurs, 

 which I must needs transfer to these pages, as containing the 

 central point of the argument : " It may be asked how far we can 

 rely on the accounts we possess of our Lord's teaching on these 

 subjects. Now it is unnecessary for the general argument be- 

 fore us to enter on those questions respecting the authenticity of 

 the gospel narratives, which ought to be regarded as settled by 

 M. Renan's practical surrender of the adverse case. Apart from all 

 disputed points of criticism, no one practically doubts that our Lord 

 lived, and that he died on the cross, in the most intense sense of 

 filial relation to his Father in heaven, and that he bore testimony to 

 that Father's providence, love, and grace toward mankind. The 

 Lord's Prayer affords sufficient evidence upon these points. If the 

 Sermon on the Mount alone be added, the whole unseen world, of 

 which the agnostic refuses to know anything, stands unveiled be- 

 fore us. There you see revealed the divine Father and Creator of 

 all things, in personal relation to his creatures, hearing their 

 prayers, witnessing their actions, caring for them and rewarding 

 them. There you hear of a future judgment administered by Christ 

 himself, and of a heaven to be hereafter revealed, in which those 

 who live as the children of that Father, and who suffer in the cause 

 and for the sake of Christ himself, will be abundantly rewarded. 

 If Jesus Christ preached that sermon, made those promises, and 

 taught that prayer, then any one who says that we know nothing 

 of God, or of a future life, or of an unseen world, says that he does 

 not believe Jesus Christ." 



Prof. Huxley has not one word to say upon this argument, 

 though the whole case is involved in it. Let us take as an exam- 

 ple the illustration he proceeds to give. " If," he says, " I venture 

 to doubt that the Duke of Wellington gave the command, ' Up, 

 Guards, and at 'em ! ' at Waterloo, I do not think that even Dr. 

 Wace would accuse me of disbelieving the duke." Certainly 



