318 AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY ix 



Theists, or any other ists, if experience had led me 

 to think that the proved falsity of a statement 

 was any guarantee against its repetition. And 

 those who appreciate the nature of our position 

 will see, at once, that when Ecclesiasticism 

 declares that we ought to believe this, that, and 

 the other, and are very wicked if we don't, it is 

 impossible for us to give any answer but this: 

 We have not the slightest objection to believe 

 anything you like, if you will give us good grounds 

 for belief; but, if you cannot, we must respectfully 

 refuse, even if that refusal should wreck morality 

 and insure our own damnation several times over. 

 We are quite content to leave that to the decision 

 of the future. The course of the past has im- 

 pressed us with the firm conviction that no good 

 ever comes of falsehood, and we feel warranted in 

 refusing even to experiment in that direction. 



In the course of the present discussion it has 

 been asserted that the " Sermon on the Mount " 

 and the " Lord's Prayer " furnish a summary and 

 condensed view of the essentials of the teaching of 

 Jesus of Nazareth, set forth by himself. Now this 

 supposed Summa of Nazarene theology distinctly 

 affirms the existence of a spiritual world, of a 

 Heaven, and of a Hell of fire ; it teaches the 

 Fatherhood of God and the malignity of the 

 Devil ; it declares the superintending providence of 

 the former and our need of deliverance from the 



