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fact he knew not the light, by reason of his invincible ignor- 

 ance. Nowadays, however, the world has grown lightly proud 

 of its ignorance of God, and has translated it into the Greek, 

 and called it "agnosticism." Frequently the term "agnostic" 

 is heard almost as though it were a term denoting princely 

 rank. 



Being agnostic, the modern disciple of the learned arts cul- 

 tivates necessarily what is material, and devotes herself to 

 what is utilitarian. And the same spirit filtering down through 

 the masses and into the business world puts these two things 

 frankly to the fore. Once they were seemingly prepared to 

 accept the views of the Church in regard to sin and the moral- 

 ity of human acts. Nowadays they are reckoned at their ma- 

 terial value and dealt with in so far as they can fill a scheme 

 of general utility. For instance, we were taught that the evil 

 of crime lay in its sinfulness, but now a leading magazine has 

 alarming headlines and a telling article upon "The Cost of 

 Crime." When the merchant or the city budget finds crime 

 as a liability or a debt in the balance sheet, then crime is very 

 wrong, indeed. That it imperils immortal souls is a light 

 thing ; that it puts material pocket-books in danger is a serious 

 matter. Temperance and right living were taught as virtues 

 in the old-fashioned manner of the saints; to-day essays are 

 written upon the "Cost of Disease," and the whole matter is 

 viewed from the utilitarian standpoint of the book-keeper. In 

 the end, morality seems to come down to a sort of trial bal- 

 ance to ascertain just how much wrong-doing will come to in 

 hard cash. 



The same tone of life is shown in that most insistent form 

 of appeal to us in every place where we may be — the omni- 

 present advertisement. Take the advertising pages of any 

 magazine (there are a few exceptions), the posters on wall 

 and car space, and see how insistently they preach the gospel 

 of utilitarianism and materialism expressed in money. Even 

 the institutions of learning, the correspondence schools, the 

 business colleges, and all those who profess in advertisement 

 to put cheap and speedy knowledge into action, preach the 

 single doctrine of gaining more money. Doubtless gainful 

 occupation is something we should strive for. But it is, after 

 all, merely a means — and not an end, like these vociferous ad- 

 vertisements proclaim on every side. In a little while the iron 



