erialism and atheism. He did the first
only by changing the meaning of the term materialism. Materialism the
world has supposed to be the view of man's condition and destiny which
makes these to begin and end in nature. That certainly was Comte's view.
The accusation of atheism also he avoids by a mere play on words. He is
not without a God. Humanity is God. Mankind is the positivist's Supreme.
Altruism takes the place of devotion. The devotion so long wasted upon a
mere creature of the imagination, to whom it could do no good, he would
now give to men who sorely need it and can obviously profit by it.
Surely the antithesis between nature and the supernatural, in the form
in which Comte argues against it, is now abandoned by thoughtful people.
Equally the antithesis of altruism to the service of God is perverse. It
arouses one's pity that Comte should not have seen how, in true religion
these two things coalesce.

Moreover, this deification of mankind, in so far as it is not a sounding
phrase, is an absurdity. When Comte says, for example, that the
authority of humanity must take the place of that of God, he has
recognised that religion must have authority. Indeed, the whole social
order must have authority. However, this is not for him, as we are
accustomed to say, the authority of the truth and of the right. There is
no such abstraction as the truth, coming to various manifestations.
There is no such thing as right, apart from relatively right concrete
measures. There is no larger being indwelling in men. Society, humanity
in its collective capacity, must, if need be, override the individual.
Yet Comte despises the mere rule of majorities. The majority which he
would have rule is that of those who have the scientific mind. We may
admit that in this he aims at the supremacy of truth. But, in fact, he
prepares the way for a doctrinaire tyranny which, of all forms of
government, might easily turn out to be the worst which a long-suffering
humanity has yet endured.

In the end, we are told, love is to take the place of force. Humanity is
present to us first in our mothers, wives and daughters. For these it is
present in their fathers, husbands, sons. From this primary circle love
widens and worship extends as hearts enlarge. It is the prayer to
humanity which first rises above the mere selfishness of the sort to get
something out of God. Remembrance in the hearts of those who loved us
and owe something to us is the only