The daily union., 1854-11-23
HUMAN PROGREsS.--rHE NECESSITY, REALITY,
AND PROMISE OF THE PROGRESS OF
THE RACE.
Mr. Baaerofs address at the Sem Centennial Celebration
Of The Neeo York II Historical Society.


CAL SOCIETY We assembled celebrate the eompe
ton of half century unequaled in its discoveries ana w
deeds. Man is but the creature OF YESTERDAY, nnu
years form great length in the chain OF his entre exist
Other topics attract the inquirer VINO wouiu
antiquity The student OF the chiVhoiVEy VI
the earth may sit on the bluffs that oyerhans the sss
snn and muse on the nyrads of years during winch the
powers of Nature have been depositng the materials oi i
delta He may then 10y the aid OF induction, draw sun
nearer 10 the beginnings of time, he medate on the
succession ages that assisted to construct the GINS wch
raise basons the stream or, to bury IN com
pact the ernke forests that have stored the bosom
of the great valley with coal Or crystalline the ancient
limestone into marble; still earlier epoch TO com
press liquid OF the globe into seams OF granite But
the these transitions gain their chief nterestrom
illustrating tho changes through which our planet
fashioned into residence for man. Science may
roam the abysses OF the past when the earth moved
silently in its without observers just as it may reach
those far off regions Of nebuar fields of light whose DIS
numbers that the human faculties may grasp can
inteligiby express. But as the sublime dweis not III
space so it dwells not in duration To ind IT we must
contemplate the higher subject OF man 1t IS but iew
centuries since he WAS called nto existence, an anu ~ hn n
can engage his thoughts AT the end OF period whch
has given proof that unceasing is the con-
diton of all finite existence called upon 10 observe
the general character of the changes in his state Our
minds rresstbly turn to consider the laws the circu-
stances and the prospects OF his being Weare LED 10 inquire
whether his faculties and his relations to the universe COM
pei him TO a steady OF Improvement; whether IN
The aggregate has actually made advances and what
invites me to speak to you of the Necessity the REALITY
and the of the progress OF the race
Since everything that is limited is in perpetual change,
the condition of is one of growth or OF decay
II is the glory of man that conscious of this law OF
his existence He alone gifted with reason which LOOKS
upward well before and AFTER and connects MN Win
the world that is not discerned by the senses lie alone
has the faculty SO TO combine thought with Affection tha
he can lift up his and feel rot for himself only put
for his brethren and his kind Every man Is IN substance
equal his eowman His nature Is changed neither oy
time by country He bears marks G heyhg risen
10 his degree of perfection by successive
taons from interior forms by the pecnarty ipd SUI
.f himself been Gre
ated separate and distinct from all other classes OF ah
life lie neither degeneratng into such differences as
could in the end longer be classified together nor rising
into higher species Each member Of the IN WILL
affection and intellect consubsanta with every other NO
passion noble or degrading aection no generous OF
selfish impulse has appeared OF which the germ does
not exist every breast No science has been recheo no
thought generated truth discovered which has not
from all time existed potentially In every human mhu
The belief in the progress OF the does not therefore,
spring from the supposed possibility of his acquiring new
faculties coming into the possession OF new nature
Still less does truth change. They speak falsely VINO
say that truth is daughter of time it is the child OF
eternity, and old AS the Divine mind The percepnon
oft takes place in the order OF time tru'h sen KNOWS
nothing of the succession OF ages
Neither does morality need to perfect self it is what it
always and always will be- It's distinctions are
older than the the dry land than the earth or the
sun The relation of good to evil is from the beginhing
and is unaterable.
The progress of consists in this that he himself ar
rves the perception OF truth The Divine mind which
is its source left it to be discovered developed and appro
priated by finite creatures.
The life OF individual breath III
like flower and fees like shadow. Were other prog
ress therefore, possible than that of the individual
age would have little advantage another But every
partakes of the faculties and is consubsantal
with all il follows that the also has existence OF It's
and this existence becomes richer more varied, ree
and complete time advances. Common sense implies
Nv its very that each individual is to contribute
share towards the general intelligence The many are
wiser the few the multitude than the philosopher
the than the individual and each successive age than
its predecessor.
The social condition of a century, its faith and its ns-
tutions always analogous TO its acquisitions Neither
philosophy government political Institutions
religious knowledge remain much behind go much
in advance Of the totaty of contemporary intelligence
The age furnishes to the master the materials
with which he builds The outbreak of revolution is but
the pusation of the age heathul spasmodc according
30 its harmony with the of human knowledge at the
time Each new philosophical system Is the heliograph of
the passing condition of public thought The state in
which mans natural state at this moment but it
neither should be be his permanent state for social
existence is flowing in eternal motion, with nothing
fixed but the certainty of change Now by the necessity
of the case the of the human mind taken col
lectvey always towards something better There exists
in each individual alongside Of his personality, the
ideal who represents the He bears about within
himself the consciousness that his life is srugge and at
every moment he feels the anagorism between his
limited nature and the better life of which he conceives
He state proposition respecting finite object but
it includes also reference to the Infinite He cannot form
judgment but it combines ideal truth and partial
and consequence, sets in action the antagonism be-
the and the perfect the side and the false
and the imperfect the other. And in this contest the
vantage OF being pe:Snnial
Ia public life BY the side of the actual OF the world,
which natural state, there the ideal state
wards which should tend This antagonsm lies at the
foundation of all political parties that have been,
ever can be- formed. The elements which they rest
whether monarchies arstocraces republics,
but three of which be wanting, society falls
TO ruin The of human destiny is rope of
three strands party may found itself things they
are and strive for their unaered perpetuty this is
servas always found wherever established interests
st and capable OF snBingled success because finite
things always in motion Or party may be founded
theoretic right and struggle unreenngly to conform
society to the absolute law of truth and justice; and this
which is ths party of enthusiasts likewise never per-
ectly succeed because the materials of which society s
composed parake of impeeetion and toexrpate all that
imperfect would lead to the destruction of society itself
And there may be third party, which seeks to reconcile
the two but which yet thrive by self since 1t
depends for its opportunity of activity the previous
sgonsm of the others Without a the three the atc could
spin their thread As the motions Of the solar world
require the cenrpetal force which by itself alone wonld
draw all things into central conusion the centrifugal
force which, if uncontrolled would hurl the planets
tangent into infinite spaces and lastly that reconcing
adjustment which preserves the two powers in harmony
society always has within itself the elements Of
atism of absolute right and ofreform.
The present state of the world accepted by the wise
and benevolent its necessary and natural But
the time the practical statesman, whose heart has
been purified by the love of humanity and whose purpose
solemnized by faith in the immuaby of justice seeks TO
apply every principle which in former ages his the
human mind may have mastered and TO make every ad
vanceinent that the culture of his time will sustain In
word he will never omit opportunity to lit the world
out of the inferior sphere of its natural coad
ton into the higher and better sphere that
ideal perfection.
tn bp tastaI Inv ia crlte