98 THE LIGHT OF DAT 



act so wisely and heroically, while he yet knew so 

 little accurately of the world in which he was placed. 

 Does not this fact point to the conclusion that sci- 

 ence is not the main part of life ? It is probably 

 the main part of our material civilization, of that by 

 which we are clothed and fed and warmed and trans- 

 ported, defended in war and housed in peace ; but 

 of an intrinsic civilization it forms a less part. The 

 old Greek had little or no material civilization in 

 the modern sense ; his civilization was personal and 

 mental. What distinguishes the modern man is not 

 his personal superiority, but the enormous engines 

 and deft appliances with which he is fended and 

 armed, and the greatness of his material triumphs. 



Yet knowledge is not discredited, reason is not 

 supplanted. We can no more dispense with them 

 than we can dispense with the bones in our bodies. 

 They furnish the framework by which our lives are 

 upheld. All the certainty we have of the order of 

 the objective world comes through our rational facul- 

 ties. 



The agnostic does not merely say that all know- 

 ledge is imperfect and fragmentary, nor that all cer- 

 tainty is based on the logical faculty ; but simply 

 that the understanding goes upon evidence ; that in 

 this world we have no guide to objective truth but 

 our rational faculties. He finds no room for what 

 our religious brethren call faith, because faith, as 

 commonly understood, is a fatal undertow that 

 swamps and drowns reason. He finds many things 

 and enjoys many things which he cannot under- 



