26 Scientific Sophisms. 



In a word, Agnosticism is no more, and Gnosti- 

 cism reigns in its stead. 



Agnosticism made candid confession of its 

 ignorance. Gnosticism parades its pretensions 

 to knowledge. The former did not know : the 

 latter is quite sure. The Divine existence is 

 now declared to be not only unnecessary ; it is 

 absolutely unreal. God has no existence, even 

 hypothetically, except as the creature of the 

 human imagination. The hand may well trem- 

 ble that writes it, and the ears may tingle that 

 hear, yet it has been both written and said in 

 modes that demand more attention than they 

 have hitherto received There is no God \ ex- 

 cept such as man has made. " The dim and 

 shadowy outlines of the superhuman deity fade 

 slowly away from before us ; and as the mist of 

 his presence floats aside, we perceive with greater 

 and greater clearness the shape of a yet grander 

 and nobler figure of Him who made all gods 

 and shall unmake them." l 



Who then is He, this "grander and nobler 

 figure," this great and only potentate "who 

 made all gods and shall unmake them"? this 

 " human " who dethrones " the superhuman 

 deity" ? It is man himself. " From the dim 



1 Professor Clifford : " The Ethics of Religion," in The 

 Fortnightly Review, vol. xxii. New series, p. 52. 



