SEP 21929

GIFT OF IRVING LEVY

The Agnostic:

A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF LIBERAL THOUGHT.

"The power which the universe manifests to us is utterly inscrutable."--HERBERT

SPENCER.

Agnosticism simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that

which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe.......Agnosticism

says that we know nothing of what may be beyond phenomena."-PROF. HUXLEY.

"I think that generally (and more and more as I grow older), but not always,

an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind."--CHARLES

DARWIN.

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Colonel Ingersoll's Lectures.

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Being independent of party, sectarian, and official control, this Journal judges all theories on their own merits. It discusses the highest development of modern research, records the progress of discovery, and upholds the interests of Free Science against Cram, Bureaucracy, and Fanaticism. Its reviews of books are well known for their thoroughness and impartiality.

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A Weekly Journal devoted to the History, Phenomena, Philosophy, and Teachings of SPIRITUALISM.

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Published by J. BURNS, Progressive Library, 15, Southampton Row, London.

TRYING to place in order certain pieces of the puzzle of life, I find two
considerable fragments apparently dissimilar and unsuited for junction.
It has been customary to view each of these, not as a part of a connected
whole, but as independent and complete in itself. To attempt to join.
them together, in any way, has often been described as a hopeless task.
Few would care to espouse the cause of both; yet each, in turn, has been
highly praised. For to walk by faith in the unseen, and not, in any
degree, by sight, was once considered the most exemplary of courses.
Again, to walk by sight alone, distrusting or ignoring faith altogether,
has, of late, become more fashionable. It has, in the past, been thought
highly proper to say that this world is "a fleeting show, given for man's
illusion," while the counter assertion, that it is unquestionably the best
of all possible dwelling-places, has had its day. But the theory that
both of these descriptions are accurate has little acceptance, has no
prophet of more than village fame, and is hard to be understood.
briefly, however, it comprehends our Agnosticism.

Put

We are all Secularists, more or less devoutly. Every one of us is, in some degree, a practical utilitarian. However exalted and boundless the field of our philosophic survey, we must, sooner or later, descend from our observatory tower, humbly to partake of the supper prepared for us below. It may be that man liveth not by bread alone; but bread is, nevertheless, a necessity for all of us. And the degree in which we are thus, more or less, keenly Secularists in our daily life varies according to the cogency of our other beliefs or persuasions and the extent to which they engross our attention. But it is only on paper that men can afford to disdain the present necessity.

L