Recapitulation. 287 



1. The last century was preeminently an AGE 

 OF FREE INQUIRY. No period in the history of 

 man is so well entitled to this character. Two 

 centuries have not rolled away, since the belief 

 that the earth is globular in its form was punished 

 as a damnable heresy j since men were afraid to 

 avow the plainest and most fundamental principles 

 of philosophy, government, and religion; and 

 since the spirit of liberal inquiry was almost un- 

 known. In the seventeeth century this spirit 

 began to show itself; but it was reserved for the 

 eighteenth to witness an indulgence and exten- 

 sion of it truly wonderful. Never, probably, 

 was the human mind, all things considered, so 

 much unshackled in its inquiries. Men have 

 learned, in a greater degree than ever before, to 

 make light of precedent, and to throw ofl* the 

 authority of distinguished names. They have 

 learned, with a readiness altogether new, to dis* 

 card old opinions, to overturn systems which werv^ 

 supposed to rest on everlasting foundations, and 

 to push their inquiries to the utnjost extent, 

 awed by no sanctions, restrained by no prescrip- 

 tions. 



This revolution- in the human mind has been 

 attended with many advantages and with many 

 evils. It has led to the development of much 

 truth, and has contributed greatly to enlai'ge the 

 bounds of literatui'C, science, and general im- 

 provement. It has opened the way to a free 

 communication of all discoveries, real or sup- 

 posed, and removed various obstacles which long 

 retarded the progress of knowledge. But thig 

 spirit of inquiry, like every thing else in the 



