d Hume, particularly imbued with
physical science? Supposing physical science to be non-existent, would
not the agnostic principle, applied by the philologist and the
historian, lead to exactly the same results? Is the modern more or
less complete suspension of judgment as to the facts of the history of
regal Rome, or the real origin of the Homeric poems, anything but
agnosticism in history and in literature? And if so, how can
agnosticism be the "mere negation of the physicist"?

"Agnosticism is a stage in the evolution of religion." No two people
agree as to what is meant by the term "religion"; but if it means, as
I think it ought to mean, simply the reverence and love for the
ethical ideal, and the desire to realise that ideal in life, which
every man ought to feel--then I say agnosticism has no more to do
with it than it has to do with music or painting. If, on the other
hand, Mr. Harrison, like most people, means by "religion" theology,
then, in my judgment, agnosticism can be said to be a stage in its
evolution, only as death may be said to be the final stage in the
evolution of life.

When agnostic logic is simply one of the canons of thought,
agnosticism, as a distinctive faith, will have spontaneously
disappeared (p. 155).

I can but marvel that such sentences as this, and those already
quoted, should have proceeded from Mr. Harrison's pen. Does he really
mean to suggest that agnostics have a logic peculiar to themselves?
Will lie kindly help me out of my bewilderment when I try to think of
"logic" being anything else than the canon (which, I believe, means
rule) of thought? As to agnosticism being a distinctive faith, I have
already shown that it cannot possibly be anything of the kind, unless
perfect faith in logic is distinctive of agnostics; which, after all,
it may be.

Agnosticism as a religious philosophy _per se_ rests on an
almost total ignoring of history and social evolution (p.
152).

But neither _per se_ nor _per aliud_ has agnosticism (if I know
anything about it) the least pretension to be a religious philosophy;
so far from resting on ignorance of history, and that social evolution
of which history is the account, it is and has been the inevitable
result of the strict adherence to scientific methods by historical
investigators. Our forefathers were quite confident about the
existence of Romulus and Remus, of King Arthur, and of Hengist and
Horsa. Most of us