Humanitarianism, in its modern form began with Auguste Comte ninety years ago, and has, since then, been ably expounded by such positivists as Stuart Mill, Spencer, Huxley and Tyndall, as well as by James Cotter Morison and H. G. Wells. But man’s worship of Man—for Humanitarianism is nothing else—is as old almost as history. Only its name has changed. To-day, however, possibly more than in any other age, the revivifying of this error is a terrible menace, rapidly taking root and spreading like some noxious weed in our very midst.

Amongst those who have become acutely conscious of this danger and who have set themselves to expose and resist it, Father Dudley has wielded his pen to good effect in the cause of Christianity and human happiness. In a recent work (from the excellence of which even the dreadful colour chosen for the cover must not be allowed to detract) he has exposed the worthlessness and folly of this pretended road to happiness. As Mr. Chesterton says so justly, in his Introduction, this ‘book is concerned with a highly practical and even topical point in the controversies of the day.’

‘Positivistic Humanitarianism’ is a big title for a petty system. It clings to sense knowledge to the detriment and exclusion of intelligence. Nothing must be believed which does not come under the direct dominion of the senses. The logical conclusion of such a doctrine—it is the one glimmer of logic—is the exclusion of God. And, since man must have something to adore, it offers him himself as a deity.