The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-24
AeNOSTiCS' PHILOSOPHY
ABLE WRITER DISCUSSES 1T
FROM RELIGIOUS STANDPOINT
Bishop SpaIding, of Peoria, One of
the kblest Thinkers, Discusses This
View of Life In PhiIosophic Mood.
Says Important Thing Is to Distin-
euish Between Right and Wrong.

TO understand the present we must
know the past, and to get clear and
opinion or belief we must study the
conditions from which it has been
evolved.
IL agnosticism--the theory of nes-
cience in whatever is not purely phe-
nomenai-prevails widely among intel
ligent men in our day, it is not to be
imagined that this is a new creed. 1t
is but form Of skeptfcism, of the
doubt of the possibility of objective
knowledge
From the time when the Greeks be-
gan tc. cultivate philosophy and to
construct systems of thought, erltl-
cism,. as reaction against the dog
matte spirit, made its appearance,
and in the conflicting theories as to
the nature of the real as distinguished
from the apparent, it found the con-
d:rions most favorable to it's work.
They who impugn the validity of
every process and operation OF the
intellect cannot be refuted by rational
arguments, because the faculties which
alone make refutation possible are
themselves called in question.
Such skepticisfl, however, is mean
ingless and is thrust aside by reasons
indestructibIe trust in Itself. The
doubt of the agnostic is less radical.
He believes that we can know the
phenomenal, and the phenomenal
alone; that the ultimate origin OF all
things, if there be an ultimate origin,
is unknown and unknowable; that God
and the soul, if they exist, belong to
are meaningless.
This is but a form Of Rants doc
trine< that the pure reason cannot
know the real, the thing--in-itself; 1T is
but a new application of the theory OF
the RELATIVELY Of knowledge, as ex-
planned in the writings of Hamilton
and Mansel.
TO think, they say, is to define, to
limit, to place conditions; and there
fore the unconditional the infinite
and absolute, is unthinkable and I'M
kncwable. The very terms, infinite
and absolute. are negation OF the
conditions which make thought pos
sible. This is agnostieism in its es-
Sence.
1t is the metaphysical creed, and yet
those who accept have, as a rule, no
faith in metaphysics. It is not sur
prising, however, that it should spread
in an age like this. in which problems
take the place of principles, in which
ever widening contact with Infinite
worlds of nescience.
In the light of advancing science, as
in that Of faith, we feel that though
we may not say we know nothing, 1t
is safe to affirm that we know and can
know but little. There seems to be
kind of religion in protesting our IN
ability to know the highest truth.
The aYowed aim of Hamilton and
10 eri1T 0rnn n
demonstration of the need Of faith and
of a supernatural revelation, by show
ing the importance of reason as the
organ of religious knowledge; and Mr..
Spencer writes with unwonted fervoT
in defence of his theory of the I'M
movable, in which alone he finds the
possibility of reconciling religion with
science.
His view Of the ultimate cause of all
things is, in his own opinion, the only
RELIGIOUS view. 1t contains, he says,
more of true religion than all the dog
matte theology ever written His
book on Ecclesiastical Institutions
closes with the following words:
"Amid the mysteries which become
the more mysterious the more they are
thought about, there will remain the
one absolute certainty, that he tthe
most powerful and most instructed
mind) is ever in presence of an INFINITE
and Eternal Energy, from which all
things proceed"
Mind finds it's laws in nature, and
nature apart from mind would be mere
chaos. We can know and love our
selves only in what is not ourselves +;
and the merging of our particular SELF
into a larger, is the law OF progress,
making for that perfect union with the
Best and Highest, which is the
end of life -,
When we surrender to the authority
of truth or to the command of con-
science, we give up the less for the
greater: the false for the real; and IN
doing so we are conscious that we
obey a law which bids us aspire to the
possession of absolute truth and good
ness.
The world, indeed, is still far from
the perfect knowledge and love of the
Divine Life, which is revealed IN
Christ. We are all still misled by
error and passion; but when we look
back we see that progress has been
made. In the spiritual as In the ma
terial world, great and far-reaching
changes take place in long lapses OF
time.
The enthusiast expects to accomplish
in a generation what God takes CEN
turtles to bring about; he lacks in
sight. The wise will learn patience
and look less to what makes an imme-
date impression than to what leads to
truth and permanent results.
The important thing is to keep clear
within the mind and the conscience
true distinctions between right and
wrong. We readily admit that I'M
truthfuiness, cruelty, and dishonesty
are vices, but we are slow to believe
in the guilt Of the Indifferent and I'M
believing.
1t is fashion, even, to make doubt
a virtue, as though one could have the
right to rest unresolved where vital
interests are at stake, as though we
did not live in a world where faith
alone makes action possible.
ALL CHRISTIAN SEHTS