768 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



down, and the youngest barrister would smile at my simplicity. 

 Miserable indeed is the man who has not such faith in some of 

 his fellow-men — only less miserable than the man who allows 

 himself to forget that such faith is not, strictly speaking, evi- 

 dence ; and when his faith is disappointed, as will happen now 

 and again, turns Timon and blames the universe for his own 

 blunders. And so, if a man can find a friend, the hypostasis of 

 all his hopes, the mirror of his ethical ideal, in the Jesus of any, 

 or all, of the Gospels, let him live by faith in that ideal. Who 

 shall or can forbid him ? But let him not delude himself with 

 the notion that his faith is evidence of the objective reality of 

 that in which he trusts. Such evidence is to be obtained only by 

 the use of the methods of science, as applied to history and to 

 literature, and it amounts at present to very little. 



It appears that Mr. Gladstone, some time ago, asked Mr. Laing 

 if he could draw up a short summary of the negative creed ; a 

 body of negative propositions, which have so far been adopted on 

 the negative side as to be what the Apostles' and other accepted 

 creeds are on the positive ; and Mr. Laing at once kindly obliged 

 Mr. Gladstone with the desired articles — eight of them. 



If any one had preferred this request to me, I should have re- 

 plied that, if he referred to agnostics, they have no creed ; and, by 

 the nature of the case, can not have any. Agnosticism, in fact, is 

 not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigor- 

 ous 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 foun- 

 dation 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 funda- 

 mental 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 regard to any other consideration. 

 And negatively : In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that 

 conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demon- 

 strable. That I take to be the agnostic faith, which if a man 

 keep whole and undefiled, he shall not be ashamed to look the 

 universe in the face, whatever the future may have in store for 

 him. 



The results of the working out of the agnostic principle will 

 vary according to individual knowledge and capacity, and accord- 

 ing to the general condition of science. That which is unproved 

 to-day may be proved, by the help of new discoveries, to-morrow. 

 The only negative fixed points will be those negations which flow 

 from the demonstrable limitation of our faculties. And the only 



