Religious beliefs of scientists : including over one hundred and forty hitherto unpublished letters on science and religion from eminent men of science / by Arthur H. Tabrum ; with an introduction by Rev. C.L. Drawbridge.

  • Tabrum, Arthur H.
Date:
[1913]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Religious beliefs of scientists : including over one hundred and forty hitherto unpublished letters on science and religion from eminent men of science / by Arthur H. Tabrum ; with an introduction by Rev. C.L. Drawbridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a mind like ours nothing can exist without a sufficient reason. But how do I know that ? Here is the point where I cease to be an Agnostic. I do not know it from experience, and yet I know it with a certainty greater than any which experience could give.1 u If any philosopher can persuade himself that the true and well-ordered genera of nature are the result of mechanical forces, whatever name he may give them, he moves in a world altogether different from my own. . . .2 “ As Christians we have to say, in the language of St. John and his Platonic and Gnostic predecessors, ‘ In the beginning there was Logos.’ 3 “ But if,” concludes Professor Max Muller, 'Agnosticism excludes a recognition of an eternal reason pervading the natural and moral world, if to postulate a rational cause for a rational universe is called Gnosticism, then I am a Gnostic and a humble follower of the greatest thinkers of our race from Plato and the author of the Fourth Gospel to Kant and Hegel.” 4 In closing this section it seems necessary to again call the reader’s attention to Mr. McCabe's book, “ Haeckel’s Critics Answered.” That work is used by Secularist and Agnostic lecturers as a kind of text-book, and has been responsible for the spread of not a few grossly inaccurate and misleading statements. It is not suggested that Mr. McCabe is to be blamed for the use (or misuse) to which his words are put, but it cannot be denied that parts 1 Nineteenth Century, December, 1894, p. 893. 2 Ibid. p. 893. 3 ibid. p. 894. 4 Ibid. p. 895.