vast volume do not understand their contributions thereto, or the
general scheme of which they are little more than the atomic parts.

Over this aggregate of human forces there presides somehow and
somewhere a Will, a Purpose, a Principle, the nature of which no
man knoweth to this day. To this Will and Purpose, to this
universal Plan, which we are able to see dimly manifested in the
general results and course of things, men give various names
according to their age and race; according to their biases of
nature and education. Some call it ... Fate; some, the First Cause;
some, the Logos; some, Providence; some of the greatest races have
called it God.

We come then to the admission on the Buckle side of the argument that
the forces referred to as "universal causation" may possibly include the
will of God. And from the time this admission is made there seems to be
little of material difference between the contestants. Practically, both
refer, or may refer, back to the will of God; and the discussion here
brings me to the point at which some pertinent questions may be asked.

In what historical crises has the will of God been manifested? Can you
confidently point to one? If so, your conversational friend will
probably call your attention to some terrible disasters which arose from
it. Perhaps you may thus point to some monarchy. But your iconoclastic
friend will probably refer you to a loathsome system of parasitic
adulation, in which place and position went by favoritism and whimsical
preference, and where advancement through personal merit was almost
unknown. These ills, you think, could not be present in a republic; but
when you point to one of these, your attention is directed to an
internal rottenness in which justice and liberty are bought and sold by
men who must make their fortunes during a short term of irresponsible
office. You are then apt to smile at the idea that any of these
represented the intentions of God.

Or, to take an extreme case, you may instance the life, teachings, and
death of Christ. But if your friend be a fairly good amateur historian
he can sufficiently indicate the many wars, the almost countless
conflicts and incalculable amount of manslaughter that belief in Christ
gave rise to. He can tell of those stupendous waves of crusadic
fanaticism in the course of which the pillage and rapine of utterly
lawless hordes brought undying disgrac