red that he taught
nothing but that which lay implicitly, or explicitly, in the religious
and ethical system of his people.

And the scribe said unto him, Of a truth, Teacher, thou hast
well said that he is one; and there is none other but he,
and to love him with all the heart, and with all the
understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his
neighbour as himself, is much more than all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices. (Mark xii. 32, 33.)

Here is the briefest of summaries of the teaching of the prophets of
Israel of the eighth century; does the Teacher, whose doctrine is thus
set forth in his presence, repudiate the exposition? Nay; we are told,
on the contrary, that Jesus saw that he "answered discreetly," and
replied, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."

So that I think that even if the creeds, from the so-called
"Apostles," to the so-called "Athanasian," were swept into oblivion;
and even if the human race should arrive at the conclusion that,
whether a bishop washes a cup or leaves it unwashed, is not a matter
of the least consequence, it will get on very well. The causes which
have led to the development of morality in mankind, which have guided
or impelled us all the way from the savage to the civilised state,
will not cease to operate because a number of ecclesiastical
hypotheses turn out to be baseless. And, even if the absurd notion
that morality is more the child of speculation than of practical
necessity and inherited instinct, had any foundation; if all the world
is going to thieve, murder, and otherwise misconduct itself as soon as
it discovers that certain portions of ancient history are mythical,
what is the relevance of such arguments to any one who holds by the
Agnostic principle?

Surely, the attempt to cast out Beelzebub by the aid of Beelzebub is a
hopeful procedure as compared to that of preserving morality by the
aid of immorality. For I suppose it is admitted that an Agnostic may
be perfectly sincere, may be competent, and may have studied the
question at issue with as much care as his clerical opponents. But, if
the Agnostic really believes what he says, the "dreadful consequence"
argufier (consistently, I admit, with his own principles) virtually
asks him to abstain from telling the truth, or to say what he believes
to be untrue, because of the supposed injurious consequences to
morality. "Beloved brethren, that we may be spotlessly moral