ginary
character. Or if it is said that the Agnostic, while dismissing the gods
of the various theologies, savage and civilised, as being impossible,
suspends judgment as to the existence of a "supreme mind," or of a
"creative intelligence," the reply is that one cannot suspend judgment
as to the possible existence of an inconceivability. For "mind" must be
mind, as we know it. And it is a downright absurdity to speak of the
possible existence of a "mind" while divesting it of all the qualities
that characterise mind as we know it. Really between the statement that
A. does not exist, and the affirmation that A. does exist, but differs
in every conceivable particular from all known A.'s there is no
difference whatever. We are denying its existence in the very act of
affirming it.

Further, we quite agree with Mr. F. C. S. Schiller (_Riddles of the
Sphinx_, pp. 17-19) that in practice such suspense of judgment is
impossible. We suspend our judgment as to whether we shall die to-morrow
or at some indefinite future date, and for that reason we make our
arrangements in view of either contingency. We suspend judgment as to
the honesty of an employee, and our attitude towards him is governed by
that fact. And so with the question of a god. In one way or another we
are bound to indicate our judgment on the subject. We must act either as
though we believe in the possibility or in the impossibility of "divine"
interference. If the mental hesitancy of the respectable Agnostic were
accompanied by a corresponding timidity in action life would be
impossible.

A less common plea on behalf of Agnosticism, but one on which a word
must be said, is that the agnostic attitude is more "reverential" than
that of atheism. But why in the name of all that is reasonable should
one profess reverence towards something of which one knows nothing?
Reverence, to be intelligible, must be directed towards an intelligent
object, and we must have grounds for believing it to be worthy of
reverence. Reverence towards our fellow creatures is a reasonable enough
sentiment, but what is there reasonable in an expression of reverence
towards something that can only be thought of--and even this is
unwarranted--as a force? The truth is that this expression of reverence
is no more than the flickering survival of religion. Numbers have
reached the stage at which they can perceive the unreasonable nature of
religious beliefs, but they have not yet managed to achie