owledge--and he keeps these
distinctions in his mind. He does not say that a certain theory
is true because he wishes it to be true. He tries to go according
to evidence, in harmony with facts, without regard to his own
desires or the wish of the public. He has the courage of his
convictions and the modesty of his ignorance. The theologian is
his opposite. He is certain and sure of the existence of things
and beings and worlds of which there is, and can be, no evidence.
He relies on assertion, and in all debate attacks the motive of
his opponent instead of answering his arguments. All savages know
the origin and destiny of man. About other things they know but
little. The theologian is much the same. The Agnostic has given
up the hope of ascertaining the nature of the "First Cause"--the
hope of ascertaining whether or not there was a "First Cause." He
admits that he does not know whether or not there is an infinite
Being. He admits that these questions cannot be answered, and so
he refuses to answer. He refuses also to pretend. He knows that
the theologian does not know, and he has the courage to say so.

He knows that the religious creeds rest on assumption, supposition,
assertion--on myth and legend, on ignorance and superstition, and
that there is no evidence of their truth. The Agnostic bends his
energies in the opposite direction. He occupies himself with this
world, with things that can be ascertained and understood. He
turns his attention to the sciences, to the solution of questions
that touch the well-being of man. He wishes to prevent and cure
diseases; to lengthen life; to provide homes and raiment and food
for man; to supply the wants of the body.

He also cultivates the arts. He believes in painting and sculpture,
in music and the drama--the needs of the soul. The Agnostic believes
in developing the brain, in cultivating the affections, the tastes,
the conscience, the judgment, to the end that man may be happy in
this world. He seeks to find the relation of things, the condition
of happiness. He wishes to enslave the forces of nature to the
end that they may perform the work of the world. Back of all
progress are the real thinkers; the finders of facts, those who
turn their attention to the world in which we live. The theologian
has never been a help, always a hindrance. He has always kept his
back to the sunrise. With him all wisdom was in the past. He
appealed to the dead. He