champion of personal freedom, and does actually give a certain scope to the individual will, yet his system, considered in relation to entire humanity, contains the elements of a strict and rigorous fatalism. Another philosopher reconstructs, in a new form, the antagonistic dualism of the Persians, and represents man and nature, spirit and matter, freedom and fate, as irreconcilable enemies, and history the recital of their conflict. From a particular point of observation this may be true, but from a higher and more general one it certainly is not. Matter, it is true, is not inert and powerless. It acts in accordance with its own laws; and its forces are sometimes destructive to man and his works. But must we hence infer that nature is hostile to man? Most of the physical evils which men suffer, are not the inevitable results of physical laws, but the necessary punishments for their violation. They are self-inflicted through negligence, passion, or ignorance. The forces of nature, in their regular and ordinary operation, are subservient to him who knows how to use them, and friendly to him who lives in harmony with them. Their purpose and general action are to bless and preserve, not to harass and destroy. Even those irregular and disorderly actions which sometimes occur, as exceptions to the usual working of these forces, though attended by real evils, often. produce an ample equivalent of good. The tempest that ruins man's harvest, purifies the air which he breathes. The mountain. that nurses the glacier and gives birth to the avalanche, sends forth its countless rills to fertilize his fields. The bird that pecks his ripe fruit, only repays itself for having destroyed the insect that would have blighted the germ, and the larva that would have killed the tree. The ocean that ingulfs an argosy, bears safely to port the merchandise of a thousand. Nature, then, is not a churlish stepdame, but a benignant mother; and though she may frown for a moment, she loves always. Even when she seems to be angry, she has the good of her children at heart, and would teach them the true use of her gifts.

From this point of view, history, so far from being the epopee of the successive triumphs of man over the fatal power of nature, is the recital of his victories over his own ignorance, appetites, and passions.

Another supposes that the movements of the human intelligence, and the civilizations which are its exponent, may be regarded as a series of oscillations between the extremities of an arc. This oscillatory motion is said to be observable in every department of intellectual activity; in theology, between atheism and pantheism; * Michelet, Introduction a L'Histoire Universelle, p. 9.

in logic, between intuitive belief and absolute skepticism; in psychology, between spiritualism and sensualism; and in politics, between anarchy and despotism.

We admit the fact of these oscillations in multiplicity, but deny that they can be reduced to unity. The arcs do not coincide with each other, nor is the motion through them regular and isochronous. How then are we to obtain a resultant through which all the forces may be referred to a common axis? How shall we determine the poles between which the great pendulum, that governs the motions of all the rest, and carries them with it, swings backward and forward?

This theory, it appears to us, confounds two things which are different ;-the method by which humanity approaches truth, with its method of applying truth after it is found. To the former, the mechanical illustration, already employed, is appropriate. Truth is situated in the middle of an arc, and human reason moves toward it with accelerated velocity. But the practical intellect possesses inertia as well as gravity, and, passing the truth-point, is impelled by a kind of momentum toward an extreme of error opposite to that from which it started. A reaction toward truth then takes place, and the motion continues through a gradually diminishing arc, till the common mind settles down at last into the equilibrium of truth. Thus, after oscillating for ages between atheism, which admits nothing but the finite, and pantheism, which admits nothing but the infinite, reason rests at last in monotheism, which admits both. Thus, after successive trials of anarchy and despotism, we may venture to hope and predict that truth will be realized in a government directed by the common mind for the common weal.

Civilizations, on the contrary, are results of the application of truth, supposed to be already known, in the practical affairs of life. Among these no mechanical oscillations are perceptible, but changes occur which are somewhat analogous to the transformations produced by chemical forces. Were we permitted to carry out such an illustration, we would call society a complex body, composed of elements which are the admitted truths of each age. Whenever new truths are discovered, they are thrown into the solution, and frequently produce violent effervescence and copious precipitation. In the conflict of hostile affinities, society is sometimes convulsed to its centre, and threatened with total destruction; but after a time, in obedience to the new forces, the elements combine in another order, a new adjustment is effected, and the transformation is complete. This new crystalization of the social compound, will, as a general rule, exhibit a more perfect structure and a more

beautiful form than the one which preceded it, because it will contain more truth. The condition of humanity, then, may be expected to improve with every transformation of its social elements. It is progressive.

What we have just stated only asserts the fact, and explains the mode of human progress. The momentous question, what is the end of this progress; what is the purpose of an all-directing Providence in relation to man in time; or, returning to our illustration, what will be the composition of the social body when no new reagent shall be sufficiently potent to disturb its quiescent affinities, still remains unanswered. What then does revelation, from beginning to end, in a thousand voices and tones, enjoin upon every man? Simply this to love good, to cherish it, to multiply it; to hate evil, to subdue it, to destroy it. Such is the will of God in respect to the individual; such the work assigned to him. Now, can the work of the individual be anything else than the work of man-the work of humanity? If not, then the great scheme of Providence, to the accomplishment of which all human activity is tending, under the divine direction, is the subjugation of evil, and the final triumph and supremacy of good.

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This view of humanity is similar to Schlegel's; and from a Christian stand-point it would seem hardly possible to take any other. According to that author, the problem of history is the restoration in man of the lost image of God.

"To point out the progressive restoration in humanity of the effaced image of God, according to the gradation of grace in the various periods of the world, from the revelation of the beginning, down to the middle revelation of redemption and love, and from the latter to the last consummation, is the object of this Philosophy of History.

"This divine image implanted in the human breast is not an isolated thought a transient flash of light, like the kindling spark of Prometheus; nor is it a mere Platonic resemblance to the Deity-an ideal speculation of the human mind, soaring beyond the range of vulgar conception. But, as this likeness to God forms the fundamental principle of human existence, it is interwoven with the internal structure of human consciousness; and the triple nature of the soul is intimately connected with the principle of the divine resemblance.

"Undoubtedly, historical philosophy can and ought to assume the divine principle in man-the divine image implanted in the human breast as the great pivot of human destiny, the main and essential point in universal history, and the restoration of that image as the proper purpose of mankind.

"Thus the philosophic historian may endeavor, as I have attempted, to point out the divine truth contained in the primitive revelation, the original word which was current among the nations of the primitive

age in the second period of the world-the decisive crisis between ancient and modern times-he will discover, in the Christian religion, the sole principle of the subsequent progress of mankind; and the distinctive character and intellectual importance of the third or last epoch of the world, he will find only in that light, which, emerging from the primitive revelation and the religion of love established by the Redeemer, has shone ever clearer and brighter with the progress of ages, and has changed and regenerated not only government and science, but the whole system of human life. Here is the principle which furnishes the plan of classification for all the great epochs of history."-Philosophy of History, vol. i, pp. 81, 270; vol. ii, pp. 39, 40.

The restoration of the divine image in man, or progress toward that restoration, can be effected only by a successful warfare of good against evil. Hence, the condition of humanity is a continual struggle, in which, as Schlegel says, man is exposed to the influences of two contending powers, and which commences with the first earthly mission of Adam. "That man only who recognizes the permission of God given to evil, in its at first inconceivably wide extent, is capable of understanding the great phenomena of universal history, in their often strange and dark complexity, so far at least as human eye can penetrate into those hidden and mysterious ways of Providence." This warfare is waged simultaneously both in the natural and spiritual world; between physical good and physical evil in the one, and between moral good and moral evil in the other. In the conflict of physical good and evil, the most powerful allies of good and faithful coadjutors of humanity are science, the mother of arts, and industry, their handmaid. With these, man protects himself from the excessive and destructive forces of nature, and even makes them obedient to his commands, and subservient to his necessities. With these, he teaches the sterile rock to teem with food, and extracts health from poisonous drugs; with these, he unlocks the treasures of air, earth, and waters, and compels the stars to guide him when he goes forth on his ocean path to gather in the harvests of every clime; and with these he curbs "the lightning's fiery wing," or bids it speed, the messenger of his intelligence,the herald of his will.

On the contrary, for the triumph of moral good and the subjugation of moral evil, the armory from which humanity draws its most effectual weapons is Christianity. The warfare was, indeed, commenced at the earliest era of man's history, long before Christianity was promulgated in the world; but the hostilities were only preliminary and preparatory,—a skirmishing of outposts which usually precedes the shock of dense battalions; or rather, the contest, during the first forty centuries, resembled the early movements of a

campaign, by which the way is cleared to place the main force in an impregnable position and commanding attitude. Of the invading army, which comprises all the elements of moral good, and which is destined to achieve the conquest of our world, Christianity is the base line; the centre and pivot of operations; the rallying point in disaster; the unfailing source of supply and reinforcement. No assault of the enemy can carry it, no stratagem surprise it; for its fortress is the Rock of ages; Omniscience, its sentinel; Omnipotence, its champion.

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Christianity is the emancipation of the human race from the bondage of that inimical spirit, who denies God, and, as far as in him lies, leads all created intelligences astray. Since this divine era in the history of man, since the commencement of his emancipation in modern times, this spirit can no longer be called the prince of this world, but the spirit of time, the spirit opposed to divine influence, and to the Christian religion, apparent in those who consider and estimate time and all things temporal, not by the law and feeling of eternity, but, for temporal interests or from temporal motives, change or undervalue, and forget the thoughts and faith of eternity.

"It is only with sentiments of grateful admiration, of amazement, and awe, we trace in the special dispensations of Providence for the advancement of Christianity, and the progress of modern society, the wonderful concurrence of events toward the single object of divine love, or the unexpected exercise of divine justice long delayed. With this faith in primitive revelation, and in the glorious consummation of Christian love, I cannot better conclude this Philosophy of History, than with the religious hope I have more than once expressed, and which is more particularly applicable to these times the dawn of an approaching era-that by the thorough religious regeneration of the state, and of science, the cause of God and Christianity may obtain a complete triumph on the earth.”—Philosophy of History, vol. ii, pp. 300, 302.

The reviewer, to whom we have several times alluded, and for whose opinions we entertain the highest respect, makes "the history of redemption the basis and nucleus of the history of the world. The great central point is the cross of Christ-the great central fact the manifestation of God in the flesh." If he refers only to the moral and spiritual regeneration of the world, this is unquestionably true; but the theory does not embrace all the elements of humanity, and therefore does not solve the problem in its utmost generality. There must be a physical and an intellectual, as well as a moral and spiritual, progression; and it is not clear that the latter necessarily includes the former. It is conceivable that the war against physical evil might have been successfully prosecuted, even though Christianity, by which the conflict with moral evil is not only made possible, but the victory over it