AGNOSTICISM. 759 



on both. For anything I can absolutely prove to the contrary, 

 there may be spiritual things capable of the same transmigration^ 

 with like effects. Moreover, I am bound to add that perfectly 

 truthful persons, for whom I have the greatest respect, believe in 

 stories about spirits of the present day, quite as improbable as 

 that we are considering. 



So I declare, as plainly as I can, that I am unable to show 

 cause why these transferable devils should not exist ; nor can I 

 deny that, not merely the whole Roman Church, but many Wa- 

 cean " infidels " of no mean repute, do honestly and firmly believe 

 that the activity of such-like demonic beings is in full swing in 

 this year of grace 1880. 



Nevertheless, as good Bishop Butler says, " probability is the 

 guide of life," and it seems to me that this is just one of the cases 

 in which the canon of credibility and testimony, which I have 

 ventured to lay down, has full force. So that, with the most en- 

 tire respect for many (by no means for all) of our witnesses for 

 the truth of demonology, ancient and modern, I conceive their 

 evidence on this particular matter to be ridiculously insuflScient 

 to warrant their conclusion.* 



After what has been said I do not think that any sensible man, 

 unless he happen to be angry, will accuse me of " contradicting 

 the Lord and his apostles " if I reiterate my total disbelief in the 

 whole Gadarene story. But, if that story is discredited, all the 

 other stories of demoniac possession fall under suspicion. And if 

 the belief in demons and demoniac possession, which forms the 

 somber background of the whole picture of primitive Christianity 

 presented to us in the New Testament, is shaken, what is to be 

 said, in any case, of the uncorroborated testimony of the Gospels 

 with respect to " the unseen world " ? 



I am not aware that I have been influenced by any more bias 

 in regard to the Gadarene story than I have been in dealing with 

 other cases of like kind the investigation of which has interested 

 me. I was brought up in the strictest school of evangelical ortho- 

 doxy ; and, when I was old enough to think for myself, I started 



* Their arguments, in the long run, are always reducible to one form. Otherwise trust- 

 worthy witnesses affirm that such and such events took place. These events are inexplica- 

 ble, except the agency of " spirits " is admitted. Therefore " spirits " were the cause of 

 the phenomena. 



And the heads of the reply are always the same. Remember Goethe's aphorism : 

 " AUes factische ist schon Theorie." Trustworthy witnesses are constantly deceived, or 

 deceive themselves, in their interpretation of sensible phenomena. No one can prove that 

 the sensible phenomena, in these cases, could be caused only by the agency of .spirits ; and 

 there is abundant ground for believing that they may be produced in other ways. 



Therefore, the utmost that can be reasonably asked for, on the evidence as it stands, is 

 suspension of judgment. And, on the necessity for even that suspension, reasonable men 

 may differ, according to their views of probability. 



