316 AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY ix 



And the scribe said unto him, Of a truth, Teacher, thou 

 hast well said that he is one ; and there is none other but he 

 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the under- 

 standing, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour 

 as himself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and 

 sacrifices. (Mark xii. 32, 33.) 



Here is the briefest of summaries of the teaching 

 of the prophets of Israel of the eighth century ; 

 does the Teacher, whose doctrine is thus set forth 

 in his presence, repudiate the exposition ? Nay ; 

 we are told, on the contrary, that Jesus saw that 

 he " answered discreetly/' and replied, " Thou art 

 not far from the kingdom of God." 



So that I think that even if the creeds, from 

 the so-called " Apostles ' ' to the so-called 

 " Athanasian," were swept into oblivion ; and even 

 if the human race should arrive at the conclusion 

 that, whether a bishop washes a cup or leaves it 

 unwashed, is not a matter of the least consequence,, 

 it will get on very well. The causes which have 

 led to the development of morality in mankind, 

 which have guided or impelled us all the way 

 from the savage to the civilised state, will not 

 cease to operate because a number of ecclesiastical 

 hypotheses turn out to be baseless. And, even if 

 the absurd notion that morality is more the child 

 of speculation than of practical necessity and 

 inherited instinct, had any foundation ; if all the 

 world is going to thieve, murder, and otherwise 

 misconduct itself as soon as it discovers that 



