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 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.

The results of the working out of the agnostic principle will vary
according to individual knowledge and capacity, and according to the
general condition of science. That which is unproven to-day may be
proven by the help of new discoveries to-morrow. The only negative
fixed points will be those negations which flow from the demonstrable
limitation of our faculties. And the only obligation accepted is to
have the mind always open to conviction. Agnostics who never fail in
carrying out their principles are, I am afraid, as rare as other
people of whom the same consistency can be truthfully predicated. But,
if you were to meet with such a phoenix and to tell him that you had
discovered that two and two make five, he would patiently ask you to
state your reasons for that conviction, and express his readiness to
agree with you if he found them satisfactory. The apostolic
injunction to "suffer fools gladly" should be the rule of life of a
true agnostic. I am deeply conscious how far I myself fall short of
this ideal, but it is my personal conception of what agnostics ought
to be.

However, as I began by stating, I speak only for myself; and I do not
dream of anathematizing and excommunicating Mr. Laing. But, when I
consider his creed and compare it with the Athanasian, I think I have
on the whole a clearer conception of the meaning of the latter.
"Polarity," in Article VIII, for example, is a word about which I
heard a good deal in my youth, when "Naturphilosophie" was in fashion,
and greatly did I suffer from it. For many years past, whenever I have
met with "polarity" anywhere but in a discussion of some purely
physical topic, such as m