1909 · CLOSE READING
The Soldier and the Hunchback ! and ?
The Soldier and the Hunchback ! and ? (1909), PDF p. 12
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THE EQUINOX
—any question is the great question—does indeed treat us
thus cavalierly, the disenchanted Sceptic is too prone to
think!
Well, shall we define Him as a loving Father, as a jealous
priest, as a gleam of light upon the holy Ark? What does it
matter? All these images are of wood and stone, the wood
and stone of our own stupid brains! The Fatherhood of
God is but a human type; the idea of a human father con-
joined with the idea of immensity. Two for One again!
No combination of thoughts can be greater than the think-
ing brain itself; all we can think of God or say of Him, so
long as our words really represent thoughts, is less than the
whole brain which thinks, and orders speech.
Very good; shall we proceed by denying Him all think-
able qualities, as do the heathen? All we obtain is mere
negation of thought.
Either He is unknowable, or He is less than we are.
Then, too, that which is unknowable is unknown; and
“God” or “ There is God” as an answer to our question
becomes as meaningless as any other.
Who are we, then?
We are Spencerian Agnostics, poor silly, damned Spen-
cerian Agnostics !
And there is an end of the matter.
VI
It is surely time that we began to question the validity of
some of our data. So far our scepticism has not only knocked
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