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the unfed gnawing of ambition , as too often they do , immured in uncivilized haunts , whence no high-minded patriot is found to draw them ; nations , however splendid in their past career , yet unirradiated by the luminous train of approved genius , would wane into a fitful glare and perish in the night of destiny ! Progress means that virtue and intellect are daily rising to a larger ascendant over the
passions of men , collectively and individually ; that every encouragement is given to both , to the annoyance of incompetency and the discomfiture of vice ; and that thought is gradually triumphing over sense , responsibility correcting opinion , and time viewed respective of eternity .
Now it must be allowed by men of every shade of opinion that these are the true and sure evidences of real advancement , seeing that they alone rest on the solid basis of immutable truth , and that all other semblances of progress , however plausible , are transitory and uncertain . We admit that the mistakes of men are sometimes advantageous to their progress ; but this is owing to the
overruling providence of the Great Architect of the Universe , who , fortunately for us , does not allow the glory of His structure to be wholly shattered by the imbecility of its inhabitant . But mistake , per se , is an evil just the same as any other disease , even though the constitution may be better afterwards , from the man wisely recognising the causes of his infirmity . We also admit that sometimes to
individuals , more seldom to nations , there appears to be a stage in progress which , once reached , renders the position almost inaccessible to the assaults of the minor mischiefs , though never to the exclusion of necessity for vigilance , yet so that the future career of the person appears within his own power . This advantage seldom occurs to nations , however , from the greater variety of influences to which a
people is subject , rather than a person ; but , m every case , the attainment of such a stage must never be regarded as utopian , for it is not only the point to which humanity may , under highest aid , reach , but is , in truth , part of the very foundation npon which we rest our moral practice . Is any knowledge content with its research ? Is it not desirous to know more ? Will the artizan , who has constructed a wheelnot endeavour to fabricate a machine ? Is not
, inefficiency inert , dulness alone unambitious ? The highest intellect soars to the purest atmosphere , and the true greatness of a nation depends upon the encouragement given to develop the glory of his Maker in the primeval majesty of man . Hence we discover at once the counterfeits of progress by a strict application of the term " ennoble . " This may seem a close and
narrow , but is , m fact , the widest view possible to take of the question , seeing that one drop of pure logical solution severs the dark precipitate of the false from the element of the true . In this regard , then , progress is not mere intellectual advancement ; for Satan had knowledge as a seraph , which did not preserve him from perdition as a fiend . The history of nations teems with proof that immoral intellect is destructive to the country and the man , and if Polybiua
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
the unfed gnawing of ambition , as too often they do , immured in uncivilized haunts , whence no high-minded patriot is found to draw them ; nations , however splendid in their past career , yet unirradiated by the luminous train of approved genius , would wane into a fitful glare and perish in the night of destiny ! Progress means that virtue and intellect are daily rising to a larger ascendant over the
passions of men , collectively and individually ; that every encouragement is given to both , to the annoyance of incompetency and the discomfiture of vice ; and that thought is gradually triumphing over sense , responsibility correcting opinion , and time viewed respective of eternity .
Now it must be allowed by men of every shade of opinion that these are the true and sure evidences of real advancement , seeing that they alone rest on the solid basis of immutable truth , and that all other semblances of progress , however plausible , are transitory and uncertain . We admit that the mistakes of men are sometimes advantageous to their progress ; but this is owing to the
overruling providence of the Great Architect of the Universe , who , fortunately for us , does not allow the glory of His structure to be wholly shattered by the imbecility of its inhabitant . But mistake , per se , is an evil just the same as any other disease , even though the constitution may be better afterwards , from the man wisely recognising the causes of his infirmity . We also admit that sometimes to
individuals , more seldom to nations , there appears to be a stage in progress which , once reached , renders the position almost inaccessible to the assaults of the minor mischiefs , though never to the exclusion of necessity for vigilance , yet so that the future career of the person appears within his own power . This advantage seldom occurs to nations , however , from the greater variety of influences to which a
people is subject , rather than a person ; but , m every case , the attainment of such a stage must never be regarded as utopian , for it is not only the point to which humanity may , under highest aid , reach , but is , in truth , part of the very foundation npon which we rest our moral practice . Is any knowledge content with its research ? Is it not desirous to know more ? Will the artizan , who has constructed a wheelnot endeavour to fabricate a machine ? Is not
, inefficiency inert , dulness alone unambitious ? The highest intellect soars to the purest atmosphere , and the true greatness of a nation depends upon the encouragement given to develop the glory of his Maker in the primeval majesty of man . Hence we discover at once the counterfeits of progress by a strict application of the term " ennoble . " This may seem a close and
narrow , but is , m fact , the widest view possible to take of the question , seeing that one drop of pure logical solution severs the dark precipitate of the false from the element of the true . In this regard , then , progress is not mere intellectual advancement ; for Satan had knowledge as a seraph , which did not preserve him from perdition as a fiend . The history of nations teems with proof that immoral intellect is destructive to the country and the man , and if Polybiua