A GNOS TIC ISM A ND E VOL U TION. 267 



by every attempt we make to explain its exist- 

 ence." ' 



According to Spencer, then, the theistic hypothe- 

 sis of creation is as unthinkable as the hypotheses of 

 Atheism and Pantheism. The theistic, as well as the 

 atheistic and the pantheistic views, he will have it, 

 imply a contradiction in terms, and, such being the 

 case, we must, perforce, resign ourselves to the ac- 

 ceptance of the agnostic position, which is one of 

 ignorance and darkness. 



Spencer's Unknowable. 



But, strive as he may, Spencer cannot think of 

 the world around him without thinking of it as 

 caused and hence he is forced to think of a First 

 Cause, infinite, absolute and unconditioned. And 

 in spite of his assertion that God is and must be un- 

 knowable, he is continually contradicting himself by 

 assigning characteristics and attributes to that of 

 which he avers we can know absolutely nothing. 

 For He of whom nothing can be known, of whom 

 nothing can be declared, is, Spencer affirms, the First 

 Cause of all, the Ultimate Reality, the Inscrutable 

 Power, that which underlies all phenomena, that 

 which accounts for all phenomena, that which tran- 

 scends all phenomena, the Supreme Being, the In- 

 finite, the Absolute, the All-Being, the Creative 

 Power, the Infinite and Eternal Energy, by which 

 all things are created and sustained ; a mode of 

 being as much transcending intelligence and will 

 as these transcend mechanical motion. 



l '' First Principles," chap. n. 



