782 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



agnostic in regard to it. He may withhold his judgment until the 

 evidence is complete, but suspension of judgment is not agnosticism, 

 which, if it means anything, means a profession of hopeless and, so to 

 speak, invincible ignorance in regard to certain matters. But if it 

 would be absurd for a man to profess himself an agnostic in regard to 

 problems admitting or believed to admit of solution, is it not idle for 

 any one to accept that designation because he believes that there are 

 other problems or propositions which do not admit of solution ? All 

 one has to do in relation to the latter class of problems is to recognize 

 their unreal or purely verbal character. It is the nature of the prob- 

 lem that requires to be characterized, not our mental relation thereto. 

 The latter follows as a matter of course from the former. Moreover, 

 why should any one wish or consent to be designated by a term purely 

 negative in its meaning ? It is what we know, not what we do not 

 know, that should furnish us with a name, if it is necessary to have 

 one. The little that a man knows is of vastly more consequence to him 

 than all the untrodden continents of his ignorance. The chemist calls 

 himself so because he professes to have a knowledge of chemistry : he 

 does not invent for himself a name signifying his ignorance of political 

 economy or metaphysics. Why, then, should any man adopt a name 

 which defines his relation not to things that he knows or to questions 

 to which he attributes a character of reality, but to things that he 

 does not know and to questions which, so far as he can see, have no 

 character of reality ? Let others give him such a name if they will, 

 but let no man voluntarily tie himself to a negation. 



There are some, as I believe, who have adopted the appellation of 

 agnostic thoughtlessly : some through indolence, as appearing to ex- 

 empt them from the necessity of a decision in regard to certain diffi- 

 cult and, in a social sense, critical questions ; and some possibly for 

 the reason hinted at by the Bishop of Ontario, namely, lack of the 

 courage necessary to take up a more decided position. Whatever the 

 motive may be, however, I am persuaded that the term is a poor one 

 for purposes of definition ; and I should advise all earnest men, who 

 think more of their beliefs than of their disbeliefs, to disown it so far 

 as they themselves are concerned. If it be asked by what appellation 

 those who do not believe in " revealed religion " are to be known, I 

 should answer that it is not their duty to coin for themselves any sec- 

 tarian title. They are in no sense a sect. They believe themselves 

 to be on the high-road of natural truth. It is they who have cast 

 aside all limited and partial views, and who are opening their minds 

 to the full teaching of the universe. Let their opponents coin names 

 if they will : they whom the truth has made free feel that their creed 

 is too wide for limitation. 



The Bishop of Ontario stands forth in the pamphlet before us sim- 

 ply as the champion of the two great doctrines of God and immortal- 

 ity. In reality, however, he is the champion of much more, for he 



