IX AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY 317 



certain portions of ancient history are mythical ; 

 what is the relevance of such arguments to any 

 one who holds by the Agnostic principle ? 



Surely, the attempt to cast out Beelzebub by the 

 aid of Beelzebub is a hopeful procedure as com- 

 pared to that of preserving morality by the aid of 

 immorality. For I suppose it is admitted that an 

 Agnostic may be perfectly sincere, may be com- 

 petent, and may have studied the question at issue 

 with as much care as his clerical opponents. But, 

 if the Agnostic really believes what he says, the 

 " dreadful consequence " argufier (consistently, I 

 admit, with his own principles) virtually asks him 

 to abstain from telling the truth, or to say what 

 he believes to be untrue, because of the supposed 

 injurious consequences to morality. " Beloved 

 brethren, that we may be spotlessly moral, before 

 all things let us lie," is the sum total of many an 

 exhortation addressed to the " Infidel." Now, as 

 I have already pointed out, we cannot oblige our 

 exhorters. We leave the practical application of 

 the convenient doctrines of " Reserve " and " Non- 

 natural interpretation" to those who invented 

 them. 



I trust that I have now made amends for any 

 ambiguity, or want of fulness, in my previous ex- 

 position of that which I hold to be the essence of 

 the Agnostic doctrine. Henceforward, I might 

 hope to hear no more of the assertion that 

 we are necessarily Materialists, Idealists, Atheists, 



