e. The journey commences
in a world in which the "supernatural" is omnipresent, in which man's
chief endeavours is given to win the good will or avert the anger of the
ghosts and gods to whom he has himself given being. And the end, the
last stage of the pilgrimage, is a world in which mechanical operations
take the place of disembodied intelligences, or of supernatural powers.
From a world in which the gods are everything and do everything to a
world in which the gods are nothing and do nothing. The story of that
transition is the record of one of the greatest revolutions that has
happened in the history of mankind. Its real greatness and far-reaching
significance is not always adequately recognised, even by those who
welcome it gladly. Indeed, the narrower interests that suffer from this
revolution are more keenly alive to its importance than are those who
benefit from its consummation. That is, perhaps, what one ought to
expect from the known course of human history. For history would not be
what it is, nor would reforms be so difficult of accomplishment were it
not possible to persuade the slave that his servitude guards him from
the very evils it perpetuates.

Incidentally the nature of that revolution has been indicated in the
preceding pages. But a more connected view will form a fitting close to
this work. Nothing more than the barest of outlines can be attempted,
but such as it is it may serve to illustrate the truth that Atheism is
more than the speculative philosophy of a few, that it is in sober truth
the logical outcome of mental growth. So far as any phase of human life
can be called inevitable Atheism may lay claim to being inescapable. All
mental growth can be seen leading to it, just as we can see one stage of
social development giving a logical starting point for another stage,
and which could have been foretold had our knowledge of all the forces
in operation been precise enough. Atheism is, so to speak, implicit in
the growth of knowledge; its complete expression is the consummation of
a process that began with the first questionings of religion. And the
completion of the process means the death of supernaturalism in all its
forms.

Religion, it has already been said, is something that is acquired, and
although that sounds little better than a commonplace, yet reflection
proves it to contain an important truth. For it is in the nature of the
acquisition that its significance lies. Whatever be the ea