THE AFFIRMATIVE SIDE OF AGNOSTICISM, 227 



tutes a fair ground for the expectation that the whole cosmic pro- 

 cess will turn out to be one of evolution. The business of philos- 

 ophy, as I understand it, is, among other things, to arrive at a 

 scientific theory of evolution ; but these other things are quite as 

 important as evolution. Philosophy, in fact, should embrace the 

 whole of which the theory of evolution is a part. 



Three or four generations of patient workers, cautiously feel- 

 ing their way by the well-known methods of true science, may 

 bring our posterity within sight of such a philosophy. For the 

 present, while welcoming all attempts to foreshadow it, with due 

 gratitude to their authors, and holding fast by that which is good 

 in them, it is very necessary that we should not confound such 

 scaffoldings with the edifice, the foundations of which are not yet 

 complete. I am, dear sir, yours very faithfully, 



T. H. Huxley. 



James A. Skilton, Esq. 



Prof. Huxley asks that the foregoing letter be made public, on 

 the ground that " there seems to be a good deal of misconception 

 as to the position which now (as always) (he) I hold(s) in respect 

 of current philosophical speculations." 



LETTER OF REV. LYMAN ABBOTT, D. D. 



Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, April 22, 1890. 



My dear Mr. Skilton : There are two distinct questions 

 raised in this correspondence, one an etymological, the other a 

 philosophical one: the first relates to the use of language, the 

 second to the limits of knowledge ; the first is as to the meaning 

 of a word, the second as to the powers of the mind. 



I. Metanoeo is composed of two Greek words, noeo, to think, 

 and meta. Now meta, in composition, appears to imply one of 

 three things: either (1) fellowship, as in meta-didomi, to give 

 to or share ivith another ; or (2) exchange, as in metallasso, to 

 change with another, to exchange ; or (3) sequence, as in meta- 

 melomai, to care afterward, to regret. I can not find that meta 

 ever signifies beyond. The preposition used for this purpose is 

 huper. Thus we have hnperekperissou, exceeding abundantly, 

 literally beyond measure. It would seem, therefore, according 

 to the analogy of language, if the New Testament writers had 

 wished to coin a word to express the idea of knowledge beyond 

 knowledge, the word would have been not meta-noia, but huper- 

 noia. 



It is, however, very clear that the word repent does not cor- 

 rectly represent the meaning of the Greek word meta-noeo, if 

 we have regard to the etymologies of the two words. Repent is 

 strictly to repunish, and this is the idea which the Latin mis- 



