500 
Tue Inquirer.—No. ry. 
te ‘Man-Perrecrasre or Nor? 
dud ( Concluded.) ; 
)NE) of the most alluring arguments 
employed: by the French philoso- 
phers» for attracting the enthusiastic, the 
young, the ardent, and the imaginative 
votaries of improvement, into the mazes 
of that'general state of moral innovation 
which they projected, was the doctrine 
of the Perfectability of Man, or, in other 
words, the creed, that no bounds were 
assignable to his terrestrial progress 
towards perfection. That it seduced 
the greater number of victims within 
the fatal periphery of the blood-stained 
high-place of revolution, and contributed 
most to the wild fervour and frantic 
excesses of such devotees as were pos- 
sessed by the insane demon of French 
philosophy, can scarcely be doubted by 
those who recollect that it was suggested 
-by Godwin, and more openly professed 
by Condorcet and his school, that man, 
by the increase of moral energy and 
knowledge, would be able to dispense 
with his liability to death. - 
Let us examine this splendid idol of 
philosophism, and strip it of the gaudy 
hues and tinsel decorations with which 
the bigot zeal of its worshippers has 
clothed: its. internal _worthlessness. 
The interest of true religion was of 
course out,of the question with these 
infidel teachers, since the theory of the 
whole scheme. of omnipotent benefi- 
cence deyeloping itself in this world 
strikes at the root of the Christian faith, 
and,at the doctrine of the necessity of 
future rewards and punishments as a 
means of remedying the unayoidable 
injustice which is done in this world. 
Let. us, therefore, examine the 
question on its separate merits. The 
truths established in modern times by 
the art of printing, and the quick inter- 
communication of ideas, have certainly 
been manifold. Feudal slavery has 
been abolished; commerce set free from 
ignorant restriction; females restored 
to-their proper grade in the social scale ; 
war disarmed of its terrors; the great 
axioms) of political economy cleared of 
their superincumbent rubbish; justice 
established on‘ secure bases; and public 
opinion armed with safe and salutary 
powers, 
>‘Fhus. ested may be readily admitted. 
But ‘when itis superadded, that these 
truths; “thus! become the unalienable 
property ofthe present generation, will 
inherit the wholeearth at some future 
period, and cause war and oppression, 
vice and misery, poverty and injustice, 
The Inquirer—No. IV. 
ignorance and_ folly. pear—a 
much greater cones iol on a th he fe 
going premises wil ils wart: oe 
It would. be seas; ce fe é- 
ps Ae a te bee " 
ater of ile pet spe 
attempted to be raised oa 0.Sa0! 
A reyiew of, the present’ state ‘of! the 
world, compared with Hie “pat a8 
relied on.as one of the most inexpt 
able foundations .of this “thagniloquent 
theory; but the facts with ‘which’ ‘a 
less enthusiastic survey of the’ state of 
the world presents us ‘by ‘no orn 
furnish premises for so. sweeping 
conclusion, To warrant the doctri 
of perfectability, there must be' a’ con- 
stant progress going forward on’ the 
moral face of the globe, however slow 
that progress may be, Now the’ facts 
are, that this constant progress ‘has 
scarcely begun in Africa; civilization is 
stationary in China; it is retrograde and 
has been retrograde for many ‘years 
in Persia, India, Egypt, Greece, and 
Arabia, The illusion of permanent 
progressibility, amidst the fluctuations 
of those tides of fortune which have 
rolled like successive ~billows over 
the surface of the earth, each erasing 
the impression that preceded it, was no 
doubt encouraged in each of these 
great nations. Troy thought so; 
Balbec thought so ; Petioplie thought 
so; Palmyra thought se. So thought 
the countries of Demosthenes and 
Leonidas: so thought the “queen of 
nations,” Rome, “ the city of the soul.” 
But what are they now? Over the 
greater portion of these ambitious 
cities and ambitious nations the “ line 
of confusion has been spread and the 
stones of emptiness ;” light has vanis 
ed, and ignorance and superstition’ have 
crept like reptiles from their’ dark 
hiding-places, to take’ their impure 
station on the bosom si society.” ‘ilies 
propound the dogma o ity 
may sound not diseordantly Pine 
small circle of European’ TM ittodt ni; 
but to advocate cack’ asl thesis’ ‘amidst 
the ruins of Thebes or’ pene 
Athens, or of Rome, ‘were’ ton ingle 
the ridicule of mockery and contradié- 
tion with the .painful’” iene 
which wait upon greathéss' in" fom 
We may mie howeret ff 
survey of Enropean. socié 
is a. progress; though Patt it danin6 i 
be argued that it is constan ia uifia. 
termitting. It is, moreoyer, limited, and ~ 
its 
“t Palethalail ahleaciadans 
