160 MODERN IDEAS OF EVOLUTION 



leads us at once to what must necessarily be the 

 kernel of the whole matter, while implying that the 

 God so well known in some of His attributes cannot 

 be fully comprehended by us. 



A remarkable and curious development of modern 

 agnosticism, referred to in a previous chapter, is its 

 attempt to devise some substitute for the religious 

 beliefs of humanity, which it so inexorably tries to 

 overthrow and trample on. Two alternatives are 

 open to it in this direction. One is to make man, as 

 the head of creation in this world, his own god. This 

 has been called the religion of humanity. The other 

 is to turn our attention to the universe as a whole, 

 and to make it our object of adoration and source of 

 elevating and ennobling ideas and aspirations. It is 

 worthy of note that these have been the resources of 

 mankind in similar circumstances from the earliest 

 times, for apart from revelation the worship of men 

 has constantly been given either to deified kings and 

 heroes or to natural objects, especially to the starry 

 heavens and the sun. Thus, not knowing the true 

 God, ancient idolatry and modern agnosticism meet 

 and worship in the same fane. 



It is quite likely that the hero- and star-worship 

 of primitive humanity was devised by great and good 

 men of the olden time, relatively as able as our modern 

 agnostics. Their aim may have been to elevate their 

 contemporaries and to prepare for a coming age. It 

 was the grossness and sensuality of the mob that 



