VII AGNOSTICISM 247 



agree with you if he found them satisfactory. The 

 apostolic injunction to " suffer fools gladly " should 

 be the rule of life of a true agnostic. I am deeply 

 conscious how far I myself fall short of this ideal, 

 but it is my personal conception of what agnostics 

 ought to be. 



However, as I began by stating, I speak only 

 for myself; and I do not dream of anathematizing 

 and excommunicating Mr. Laing. But, when I 

 consider his creed and compare it with the 

 Athanasian, I think I have on the whole a 

 clearer conception of the meaning of the latter. 

 " Polarity," in Article VIII., for example, is a word 

 about which I heard a good deal in my youth, 

 when " Naturphilosophie " was in fashion, and 

 greatly did I suffer from it. For many years past, 

 whenever I have met with " polarity " anywhere 

 but in a discussion of some purely physical topic, 

 such as magnetism, I have shut the book. Mr. 

 Laing must excuse me if the force of habit was 

 too much for me when I read his eighth article. 



And now, what is to be said to Mr. Harrison's 

 remarkable deliverance " On the future of agnos- 

 ticism " ? l I would that it were not my business 

 to say anything, for I am afraid I can say nothing 

 which shall manifest my great personal respect 

 for this able writer, and for the zeal and energy 

 with which he ever and anon galvanises the 



1 Fortnightly Review, Jan. 1889. 



