XXII.

Christian Agnosticism.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."-1 JOHN iii. 2.

ONCE, when a clergyman remarked to a parishioner how seldom he appeared in church, the latter replied by saying, "Well, now, will you tell me what reason there is why I should come and listen to what you have got to say? Is there anything that you can tell me that I do not already know as well as you do; and are not you clergy just as ignorant respecting the unseen world, and the conditions of the life to come, as the least-instructed members of your congregations?" You see, it was evidently the idea of this plain-spoken parishioner, as it is, no doubt, of many other persons who are not accustomed to blurt out all they think, that the chief object of religious teaching, and of assembling ourselves together for public worship, is to increase our knowledge and improve our chances with respect to the world to

come. When, therefore, such persons as these wake up sufficiently to discover that the ministers and stewards of the mysteries of Christ's religion have no definite information to give them about the physical and material conditions of the life beyond the grave, and that even the Bible itself can tell us nothing whatever about them, they impatiently exclaim, "What is the use of religion, and why should men perplex their brains by listening to what different men have to say about it?" Accordingly, as you know, there are a great many people nowadays who, if they are asked about their religion, say that they are among the number of those who don't profess to know anything at all. Because a certain highly gifted and upright man once said, a few years ago, that he did not pretend to the possession of any definite knowledge with respect to certain matters about which most religious teachers were accustomed to lay down the law with the utmost confidence, just as if they had already been behind the veil-had had the run, so to speak, of the kingdom of heaven, and could tell all about it-therefore a number of persons, and especially young persons, think it a smart thing to say, that with regard to religion they belong to the advanced and distinguished section of mankind, who can see far enough to say that they don't know anything at all.

Well, we have a very high authority for the saying,

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that "if any man thinketh he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know it;" and I imagine a great many well-meaning people would be very much surprised if they were obliged to consider what definite knowledge is contained in many of their confident affirmations. To know how little any of us really do know, is one of the first steps to knowledge; but there is not much wisdom, nevertheless, in boasting that our minds are an utter blank with respect to the hopes and aspirations which have occupied the souls of the noblest men that have ever trod this earth. Still, I think it would surprise many well-meaning persons, and especially those who are in the habit of thinking that it is a part of our Christian faith to feel quite sure about the unseen world, and what it is like, to be reminded that we have an example in the beloved Apostle himself of one who boldly confessed and taught that no special revelation whatever had been made to him with respect to the conditions of the life to come. For he says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."

Now, this is a most useful text, and one upon which it is scarcely possible to meditate too much. For it directs our attention to the things which a Christian ought to profess to know, as part and parcel of his religion, and to what it would be folly to pretend to

know so long as we remain on this side the grave. When, therefore, we find any one posing as an especially enlightened thinker, by giving himself out as one of those who don't profess to know anything at all, we may remind him that it is quite a commonplace of the Christian religion, according to the Apostle who is considered to have been nearest of all to our blessed Lord, to acknowledge with regard to the future that "we know not what we shall be," save only that we trust that we shall grow up in the likeness of Him Whom it is our effort to follow. Whatever objections, therefore, a man may have to the character of our services, and however dull and defective our sermons may be, it is, at all events, no valid objection against them that we are utterly unable to tell our hearers anything they did not know before, or to give them any information, or even form any conjectures, with respect to the abodes in which we shall hereafter dwell, the society amid which our lot will be cast, or the occupations and pursuits in which we may expect to be engaged. For all such considerations as these have nothing whatever to do with the preaching of the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you ask, then, what it is that a Christian does really know, and what he professes to have learnt from the Saviour Whose name he bears? Let us listen to the beloved Apostle. In the beginning of

his First Epistle he declares that his mission, and that of the rest of the Apostles, was to speak of that which he and they had seen and handled of the Word of life, in order that one and all might together live in fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. "For," he says, "the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message that we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. . . . If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the pure life-stream of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." Thus, in the beginning of the chapter from which our text is taken, the Apostle calls upon his disciples to consider "what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." Whatever our ignorance with respect to the future, and indeed to anything else, may be, we know that we are even now the sons of God; that a son of God partakes of the nature of his Father; that he is meant to grow up in his Father's image, and one day partake of "the richest and fullest manhood." Well, we who have seen the Lord Jesus Christ are able to realize something of what this richest and fullest manhood means,