PREFACfe Xxxi 



re-open the question, on cause shown, which is 

 what I mean by Agnosticism, is, for me the only 

 course open. 



A verdict of "not proven" is undoubtedly 

 unsatisfactory and essentially provisional, so far 

 forth as the subject of the trial is capable of being 

 dealt with by due process of reason. 



Those who are of opinion that the historical 

 realities at the root of Christianity, lie beyond the 

 jurisdiction of science, need not be considered. 

 Those who are convinced that the evidence is, and 

 must always remain, insufficient to support any 

 definite conclusion, are justified in ignoring the 

 subject. They must be content to put up with that 

 reproach of being mere destroyers, of which Strauss 

 speaks. They may say that there are so many 

 problems which are and must remain insoluble, 

 that the " burden of the mystery " " of all this 

 unintelligible world " is not appreciably affected 

 by one more or less. 



For myself, I must confess that the problem of 

 the origin of such very remarkable historical 

 phenomena as the doctrines, and the social 

 organization, which, in their broad features cer- 

 tainly existed, and were in a state of rapid 

 development, within a hundred years of the 

 crucifixion of Jesus; and which have steadily 

 prevailed against all rivals, among the most intelli- 

 gent and civilized nations in the world ever since, 



