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It is based on
an interpretation of history which regards men as slowly advancing--
pedetemtim progredientes--in a definite and desirable direction, and
infers that this progress will continue indefinitely. And it implies
that, as

The issue of the earth's great business,

a condition of general happiness will ultimately be enjoyed, which
will justify the whole process of civilisation; for otherwise the
direction would not be desirable. There is also a further
implication. The process must be the necessary outcome of the
psychical and social nature of man; it must not be at the mercy of
any external will; otherwise there would be no guarantee of its
continuance and its issue, and the idea of Progress would lapse into
the idea of Providence.
As time is the very condition of the possibility of Progress, it is
obvious that the idea would be valueless if there were any cogent
reasons for supposing that the time at the disposal of humanity is
likely to reach a limit in the near future. If there were good cause
for believing that the earth would be uninhabitable in A.


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