The daily gazette., 1875-12-06
an Grafton at the 1nn1Cersdr9 Of Dreu
Seminary, Nor. 25h.
Progress Of Human Jhouyhf.
IL LII nnGlis

III IL. BoGGs.
1t is said that Spain once held both
sides of the Mediterranean at the
St.Aits of Gibraltar. SO highly did
she value her possessions that she
stamped upon her coin the two pillars
of Hercules as the promontories of the
rack were called, and on u scroll
thrown over these were the words ne
! plus uttra, "no more beyond" But one
day a bold spirit sailed lar beyond
these pillars and found new world of
beauty. Then Spain, wisely convinced
! of her ignorance, struck the word ne
from the coin and left D!ns Wtr1 more
| bcvond "
so is it Tith human thought in This
age OF progress. Freeing the Old bounds
to which it orce confined itself, peuc.
tratinE few hairbreadths farther into
creation, new worlds Of truth, vet
/ unknown, loom ZIP before 1T, and like
Spain, convinced Of it's tallibilty and
lgnorance, it is even writing upon dis
cOveries plHS Wtrd, more beyond"
Some one has said progress is a law
OF life; man is not man as yet With
4 slight modification we may as Truth
full say--prOgresS is the law Of human
thought; thought is not thought as
yet. The world has never yet wit
messed the phenomenon Of perfectly
developed human mind. However
vast its research, or profound its in
vestigation, the human mind has never
yet reached that stage in It's develop
ment when it could not grasp another
thought. True. the Creator has en-
dowed it with but finite capacity.
He has aged its scope with fixed linn
its. He has shorcd it on every side
with the infinite and the unk nown.
He has designated the point beyond
which it may not pass, and tie meets
it here with the imperative command,
Thus far shalt thou come and no far,
thei.
But, although limited in its range, ,
human thought has q Legitimate sphere
in which to move, within this sphere
in progress it knows no pause. Within
he boundary lines which encircle the
Unite, within the range of mind faculty
and power the muscles of Omnipo>
tencc have framed and illcd to its ut
most capacity a storebouse Of thought
material. How long the old structure
has been standing Divinity alone can
reveal. For two hundred generations
her doors have stood unbarred, and
human thought has been passing into
commune with her hidden mysteries.
For two hundred generations the
footsteps of Genesis have worn her
thresholds, intellect profound has en.
tered her halls, thought akin to the
very divine, has rambled through her
realms, her laboratories, and her cham
bers, and ransaCked from cellar to at
tic her precious contents, But after a
J., six thousand years march through the
old store house of nature, ,wearicd with
research and investigation, human
thought comes back from the difficult
and unfinished task. What is the yer
dict it brings? The world is still fall
Of the undiscovered. Like the travel.
Ter who has taken single voyage
around the globe, it has touched at the
wharfS of few seaports, it has prom-
cnaded the streets of few cities, it
has stood upon the SUBMITS of g few
mountains, while the great continents
beyond, lie yet uneXplored So vast
are the regions yet untrayerScd, that
one OF nature ) greatest students In the
meridian of his thinking, is forced to
eXciaim: there is no effort of science
that may Let be exceeded, no depth OF
philosophy that may not be deeper
sounded, no flight Of the imagination
that may not be passed by strong and
soaring wing; nature is full OF un-
, known things: Earth, air, water, the
fathomless sea, the limitiess sky, he
almost untouched before us"
Nevertheless the march OF human
: thought has been onward. Strides of
? progress mark every page of its history.
1t began its march through the great
store house OF. .natureswithout guide or
: chart; all around it was clad in mys-
terry and night; it walked in new and
! untried paths. But through this mys-
terry and night, it has never felt its
way forward. Over these new and
uniried paths it has never pushed its
8 course onward, until it has gone so far
l into creations hidden wonders, it has
almost forgotten the limits of its pow
: er. 1t has unveiled the deep, and dis
1 closed the treasures of the rocks; it
has searched the scroll Of the heavens
and opened to view systems ofworlds:
1t has weighed the universe, measured
the stars, rode on the winds, bridled
the lightnings, and, now IN this, the
: 18th century, having made the most
, stubborn elements of nature, subser-
Went to its designs, ,self.reliant 1t waits
. to be introduced into the infinite and
the unsearchable. Shall human
thought ever halt in its march of pro-
gresS.
"Belive the muse, the wintry blast
l of death kills the buds Of thought
| No, they spread beneath the heavenly
beams of brighter suns; through end
less ages into higher powers. The
wheels progress shall carry it for
ward and onward until it shall know
even as it is known"