CHAP, ii COMTE'S LIFE AND TEACHING 21 



to think of the interests of their country, and to aim 

 at the public weal. Under Monotheism once more 

 i.e. under Christianity, or, as Comte calls it, " Catholi- 

 cism " a very great advance was made through the 

 mediaeval separation of the spiritual and temporal 

 powers. The empire of the German Caesars and the 

 ecclesiastical Papacy stood over against each other in 

 seemingly hostile array as competitors for the supreme 

 place. Really, says Comte, the separation of theory 

 from practice for that is what it means from his 

 point of view was a decisive gain for human well- 

 being. During the same epoch chivalry or defensive 

 warfare formed a transition stage from the old aggres- 

 sive militarism to the modern Industrialism. So much 

 had already been wrought by the spirit of positivism, 

 even before it had come to self-consciousness. But 

 now science is fully accredited and well grown ; and 

 industrialism, the definitive social order, which corre- 

 sponds to science or positivism, the definitive stage of 

 thought, lies all around us, albeit still in sad confusion. 

 The long regency of God is at an end. The minority 

 of Humanity has ceased. We are done with dreams 

 of knowing the causes of things ; we are content 

 henceforth to register sequences, and to calculate 

 phenomena, for the practical ends of human welfare. 

 Comte has appeared, and, by attending to his teaching, 

 mankind now at last may enter the land of promise. 



Of course the value of this historical sketch of the 

 progress of the human mind depends upon the degree 

 in which it is true, and in which its truth can be 

 demonstrated. It is hardly necessary to say that 

 while it reveals wide knowledge and great power of 

 generalisation, it also contains many assumptions, 



