as impossible as a last effect.

Beyond the universe there is nothing, and within the universe the
supernatural does not and cannot exist.

The moment these great truths are understood and admitted, a belief in
general or special providence becomes impossible. From that instant men
will cease their vain efforts to please an imaginary being, and will
give their time and attention to the affairs of this world. They will
abandon the idea of attaining any object by prayer and supplication.
The element of uncertainty will, in a great measure, be removed from the
domain of the future, and man, gathering courage from a succession of
victories over the obstructions of nature, will attain a serene grandeur
unknown to the disciples of any superstition. The plans of mankind will
no longer be interfered with by the finger of a supposed omnipotence,
and no one will believe that nations or individuals are protected or
destroyed by any deity whatever. Science, freed from the chains of
pious custom and evangelical prejudice, will, within her sphere, be
supreme. The mind will investigate without reverence and publish its
conclusions without fear. Agassiz will no longer hesitate to declare
the Mosaic cosmogony utterly inconsistent with the demonstrated truths
of geology, and will cease pretending any reverence for the Jewish
scriptures. The moment science succeeds in rendering the church
powerless for evil, the real thinkers will be outspoken. The little
flags of truce carried by timid philosophers will disappear, and the
cowardly parley will give place to victory lasting and universal.

If we admit that some infinite being has controlled the destinies of
persons and people, history becomes a most cruel and bloody farce. Age
after age, the strong have trampled upon the weak; the crafty and