THE OLD SECULARISM 7 



Journal^ remarks : " A vast amount of scepticism is based 

 upon this same idea, yet it is one of the most delusive 

 that can be entertained, and one upon which we do not 

 act in ordinary life nor in science and philosophy. We 

 all believe daily in what we cannot comprehend, and to 

 look for an exception in the domain of religion is a fatal 

 error." 



What does the latest writer on Freethought say ? 

 Exactly the reverse of Mr. Austin Holyoake's assertion. 



Mr. G. Forester in his book, The Faith of an Agnostic^ 

 or First Essays i?i Rationalism, 1902, observes : " We are 

 compelled to believe in the reality of that which to us is 

 inconceivable".^ 



" The Unknowable is not synonymous with the Non- 

 existent." '^ 



" In the regions of transcendental thought, far beyond 

 human ken, and for which human language is utterly 

 inadequate, there may be that explanation for which 

 religion and philosophy have ever sought, and ever 

 sought in vain." "* 



It were easy to show that Mr. Austin Holyoake, and 

 I suppose he only represented many other Secularists in 

 his day, was utterly inconsistent. Did he, and do others 

 now, not believe in Electricity? Yet those who know 

 most about it cannot comprehend it. They can no more 

 answer the question, " What is Electricity ? " than they 

 can tell you what the Ether is ; yet every physicist 

 believes in both. Electricity like Gravity is a poiver ; 

 that is all. So there is a Power behind all Nature, as 

 incomprehensible as Electricity ; yet all believe in it 

 whether they regard it as conscious or not. 



^ Number for May, 1874, p. 80. 

 "^The Faith of mi Agnostic, p. 177. 

 3/6id., p. 180, •'/izd., p. 182. 



