discards the petty spirits, and in their stead believes in one, whom he
supposes to be infinite and supreme. Supposing this great spirit to be
superior to nature, he offers worship or flattery in exchange for
assistance. At last, finding that he obtains no aid from this supposed
deity--finding that every search after the absolute must of necessity
end in failure--finding that man cannot by any possibility conceive of
the conditionless--he begins to investigate the facts by which he is
surrounded, and to depend upon himself.

The people are beginning to think, to reason and to investigate. Slowly,
painfully, but surely, the gods are being driven from the earth. Only
upon rare occasions are they, even by the most religious, supposed to
interfere in the affairs of men. In most matters we are at last
supposed to be free. Since the invention of steamships and railways, so
that the products of all countries can be easily interchanged, the gods
have quit the business of producing famine. Now and then they kill a
child because it is idolized by its parents. As a rule they have given
up causing accidents on railroads, exploding boilers, and bursting
kerosene lamps. Cholera, yellow fever, and smallpox are still
considered heavenly weapons; but measles, itch and ague are now
attributed to natural causes. As a general thing, the gods have stopped
drowning children, except as a punishment for violating the Sabbath.
They still pay some attention to the affairs of kings, men of genius and
persons of great wealth: but ordinary people are left to shirk for
themselves as best they may. In wars between great nations, the gods
still interfere; but in prize fights, the best man with an honest
referee, is almost sure to win.

The church cannot abandon the idea of special providence. To give up
that doctrine is to give up all. The church must insist that prayer is