314 AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY ix 



highest aim of mental life. And, on careful 

 analysis of the nature of this faith, it will too 

 often be found to be, not the mystic process of 

 unity with the Divine, understood by the religious 

 enthusiast ; but that which the candid simplicity 

 of a Sunday scholar once defined it to be. 

 "Faith," said this unconscious plagiarist of 

 Tertullian, "is the power of saying you believe 

 things which are incredible." 

 L Now I, and many other Agnostics, believe that 

 faith, in this sense, is an abomination ; and though 

 we do not indulge in the luxury of self-righteous- 

 ness so far as to call those who are not of our way 

 of thinking hard names, we do feel that the 

 disagreement between ourselves and those who 

 hold this doctrine is even more moral than 

 intellectual.^ It is desirable there should be an 

 end of any mistakes on this topic. If our clerical 

 opponents were clearly aware of the real state of 

 the case, there would be an end of the curious 

 delusion, which often appears between the lines 

 of their writings, that those whom they are so 

 fond of calling " Infidels " are people who not 

 only ought to be, but in their hearts are, ashamed 

 of themselves. It would be discourteous to do 

 more than hint the antipodal opposition of this 

 pleasant dream of theirs to facts. 



The clerics and their lay allies commonly tell 

 us, that if we refuse to admit that there is good 

 ground for expressing definite convictions about 



