m MODhfiN C^IENCE. 



21 



thou sound the depths of God?" — and a still 

 higher authority informs us that " no mm hath 

 seen God" — that is, known him as we know 

 material things. In short, absolutely and essen- 

 tially God is incomprehensible ; but this is no 

 new discovery, and the mistake of the agnostic 

 lies in failing to perceive that the same diffi- 

 culty stands in the way of our perfectiy know- 

 ing anything whatever. We say that we know 

 things when we mean that we know them in 

 their properties, relations, or effects. In this 

 sense the knowledge of God is perfecdy pos- 

 sible. It is impossible only in that other sense 

 of the word "know" — if it can have such a 

 sense — in which we are required to know 

 things in their absolute essence and thorough- 

 ly. Thus the term "agnostic" contains an in- 

 itial fallacy in itself; and this philosophy, like 

 many others, rests, in the first instance, on a 

 mere jugglery of words. The real question is, 

 "Is there a God who manifests himself to us 

 mediately and practically ?" and this is a ques- 

 tion which we cannot afford to set aside by a 

 mere play on the meanings of the verb "to 

 know." 



If, however, any man takes this position and 

 professes to be incapable of knowing whether 



