CHAPTER VI 



AGNOSTIC EVOLUTION 



BETWEEN the position of the materialistic or ener- 

 gistic monist and that of the theist there are several 

 stages of so-called agnosticism. The agnostic de 

 clines to be called an infidel or an atheist, yet in some 

 respects he occupies a position more advanced than 

 either, though expressed in a less offensive way. In 

 the Christian or New Testament sense an infidel is 

 merely one who has no faith in Jesus Christ as his 

 Saviour. He may believe in a God or in many gods. 

 An atheist may take the farther step of denying the 

 existence of any god, but may still be open to argue 

 on the subject. An agnostic may occupy a variety 

 of positions between that of admitting the possibility 

 or probability of a First Cause without committing 

 himself to the doctrine of a personal or living God, 

 and that of maintaining that it is impossible to have 

 any knowledge of God, and thereby going beyond 

 even the standpoint of the atheist. All varieties of 

 the agnostic creed, or want of creed, necessarily agree 

 in holding to the spontaneous evolution of the urn- 



