DEFENCE OF AGNOSTICISM 207 



matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain 

 which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be 

 the agnostic faith, which if a man keep whole and undefiled, he 

 shall not be ashamed to look the universe in the face, whatever 

 the future may have in store for him." 



Mr. Harrison's article in the Fortnightly Review for 

 January 1889, is dealt with in vigorous fashion. Should 

 Christianity prove untenable, it will no doubt be replaced 

 by a worthy successor : — 



" But that the incongruous mixture of bad science with 

 eviscerated papistry, out of which Comte manufactured the 

 positivist religion, will be the heir of the Christian ages, I have 

 too much respect for the humanity of the future to believe." 



In the March number of the Nineteenth Century we find 

 a subsidiary article entitled " The Value of Witness to 

 the Miraculous " (Coll. Essays, v, p. 160). This deals 

 with certain miracles supposed to have been wrought by 

 the remains of two Christian martyrs, as described in 

 The History of the Translation of the Blessed Martyrs of 

 Christ, SS. Marcellinus and Petrus, written by Eginhard, 

 an official in the Court of Charlemagne. Huxley submits 

 that the historical evidence for these miracles is as good 

 as if not better than that on which the miracles of the 

 New Testament are accepted. 



The same number of the Nineteenth Century contained 

 replies by Dr. Wace and Bishop Magee, as well as an 

 article by Mrs. Humphry "Ward on " The New Refor- 

 mation,' ; which supported Huxley's views : — 



" She has swept away the greater part of Wace's sophistries 

 as a dexterous and strong-wristed housemaid sweeps away cob- 

 webs with her broom, and saved a lot of time " (Letter to 

 Knowles, Feb. 29, 1889. Life, ii, p. 222). 



Then followed " Agnosticism : a Rejoinder," in the 



