IX 



AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY 



[1889] 



Nemo ergo ex me scire quaerat, quod me nescire scio, nisi forte 

 ut nescire discat. AUGUSTINUS, De Civ. Dei, xii. 7. 



1 THE present discussion has arisen out of the use, 

 which has become general in the last few years, of 

 the terms "Agnostic" and "Agnosticism." 



The people who call themselves " Agnostics " 

 have been charged with doing so because they 

 have not the courage to declare themselves 

 " Infidels." It has been insinuated that they 

 have adopted a new name in order to escape the 

 unpleasantness which attaches to their proper 

 denomination. To this wholly erroneous imputa- 

 tion, I have replied by showing that the term 

 " Agnostic " did, as a matter of fact, arise in a 

 manner which negatives it; and my statement 

 has not been, and cannot be, refuted. Moreover, 



1 The substance of a paragraph, which precedes this has been 

 transferred to the Prologue. 



