212 HUXLEY 



not supplied it. Joining the Metaphysical Society, 

 he found in that "remarkable confraternity of 

 antagonists " every variety of philosophical and 

 theological opinion represented, most of the members 

 being u -ists of one sort or another." So, nameless 

 himself, he " conceived the appropriate title of 

 c agnostic' " " It came," he says, " into my head as 

 suggestively antithetic to the 'gnostic' of Church 

 history, who professed to know so much about the 

 very things of which I was ignorant." But, as the 

 word implies, it connotes neither confession of faith 

 nor doctrinal formula ; neither affirmation nor denial. 

 " And dares stamp nothing false where he finds noth- 

 ing sure." 1 



Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, 

 the essence of which lies in the rigorous application 

 of a single principle. That principle is of great 

 antiquity ; it is as old as Socrates ; as old as the writer 

 who said, " Try all things, hold fast by that which is 

 good ; " it is the foundation of the Reformation, 

 which simply illustrated the axiom that every man 

 should be able to give a reason for the faith that is in 

 him ; it is the great principle of Descartes ; it is the 

 fundamental axiom of modern science. Positively, 

 the principle may be expressed : In matters of the 

 intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, 

 without regard to any other consideration. And 

 negatively : In matters of the intellect do not pre- 

 tend that conclusions are certain which are not dem- 



1 Matthew Arnold, Empedocles. 



