32 PROLOGUE I 



appeal to that early " antiquity/' in which Augus- 

 tine played so great a part, to say so. 



Among the watchers of the course of the world 

 of thought, some view with delight and some with 

 horror, the recrudescence of Super naturalism 

 which manifests itself among us, in shapes ranged 

 along the whole flight of steps, which, in this case, 

 separates the sublime from the ridiculous from 

 Neo-Catholicism and Inner-light mysticism, at the 

 top, to unclean things, not worthy of mention in 

 the same breath, at the bottom. In my poor 

 opinion, the importance of these manifestations 

 is often greatly over-estimated. The extant forms 

 of Supernaturalism have deep roots in human 

 nature, and will undoubtedly die hard ; but, in 

 these latter days, they have to cope with an 

 enemy whose full strength is only just beginning 

 to be put out, and whose forces, gathering strength 

 year- by year, are hemming them round on every 

 side. This enemy is Science, in the acceptation of 

 systematised natural knowledge, which, during the 

 last two centuries, has extended those methods of 

 investigation, the worth of which is confirmed by 

 daily appeal to Nature, to every region in which 

 the Supernatural has hitherto been recognised. 



When scientific historical criticism reduced the 

 annals of heroic Greece and of regal Eome to the 

 level of fables ; when the unity of authorship of the 

 Iliad was successfully assailed by scientific literary 



