was designed. When the theist finds intention and
design in nature he is but reading his own feeling and desires into
nature. Considering the universe as a whole, the Martian fails to find
anything that suggests a conscious and purposive god, and certainly
nothing to suggest a being that considers the welfare of man. The
individual is not much interested in God as manifested in nature, what
he is vainly seeking is _God as Providence_; he is seeking an
intelligence that his clergy tell him is devoted to his welfare, an
intelligence that will guide his stumbling efforts, that will relieve
him from war and misery, that will shield the innocent from pain and
poverty. He finds that his clergy cannot point to one clear trace of the
action of God in human affairs. In the whole long record of man's career
the finger of God cannot be found pointing to one well-substantiated
fact.

The Martian considers the theistic argument that it would be impossible
to have an orderly universe merely resulting from the inherent
properties of natural forces, and that "directivity" is necessary to
keep the universe on its present track. Keeping in mind the scientific
conception of the universe and the knowledge at hand concerning the
atoms and their properties, it is inconceivable that any other
arrangement than the present one should have resulted. The Martian
cannot marvel as most earthlings do that the present order exists as it
does; the marvel to him would be if any other order should be or that
any radical alteration in it should occur. He perceives that the state
of the universe at any moment is the result of all the conditions then
prevailing, and that the natural forces possess the capacity to produce
the universe as we see it. It matters not what the ultimate nature of
these forces may be, electrons, protons, electricity, or wave energy;
these material forces possess the capacity to produce the universe as we
see it. If these forces do not possess this capacity it is indeed
difficult for the Martian to conceive in what way even a "directing and
supreme mathematician" an "ultimate," or any supernatural power however
designated could produce this capacity. Unless the capacity for
producing the universe as we see it existed in the atoms themselves, no
amount of direction could have produced it. The property of the atom and
its combinations to produce the material universe is therefore inherent
in the atoms themselves and does not necessi