Having then all these bad qualities of nature, how is it that man has been able to put them into subjection and advance along the road to civilisation even at the pace that we have seen? Such advance has been wholly dependent upon the energy and skill with which he has opposed the destructive forces of nature, using one law to counteract another, and upon the determination with which he has striven to improve upon human nature itself. For centuries man groped about in the dark. Nature was deaf to his appeals and blind to his sufferings, and her daily performances frightened and bewildered him. And yet he did his best to ascertain the causes of the phænomena of the universe. But his best guesses were wide of the mark. Outside of nature he sought for explanation. He thought he had scaled nature's heights and fathomed her debts when he had merely gazed a few miles into the vast expanse of space above; and when the most learned among them declared that god was the author of the universe, a great theological enterprise commenced. Every nation started a god on its own account, and if one proved to be insufficient, a few more were easily drafted in, with a devil to keep them company. These gods and devils, which were material or spiritual, according as occasion required, were hereafter put forward as explanations of nature's workings. And the people believed in them. How could they do otherwise? Their credulity was perfectly natural. They could not investigate; all their faculties were untrained. Even the most learned among them were superlatively ignorant; incapable by virtue of an untrained mind of accurately perceiving, recording, remembering, or judging of nature's manifold manifestations. And so the theologian had a good time of it. He believed thoroughly in his own pretensions; believed that he possessed the key which opened the door of all mysteries; that he was a god-appointed teacher of men; and in all the countries of the world he was looked upon as second only in importance to the gods themselves. But all this time the people were anxious to know not only what sort of deity it was they worshipped, but what kind of action would be likely to win his favor. They were told that god was a jealous being, and that their first duty was obedience to his will. They believed it.