The only hope for the physical and mental amelioration of mankind is based upon a slow but steady intellectual progress, and this must be the result of a steady, patient but firm and decided investigation as to the causes of present evils. The experience of past ages and their errors will serve as a monitor for the future. Misconception of the real principle which actuates man has erected the structure of society on wrong foundations. It seeks isolated rather than the general good, at the peril of the morals and peace of the world at large. But after every allowance for the circumstances and conditions in which he now is, man has not lost irrecoverably his true nature. There are lofty and noble characters who do not hesitate to sacrifice their individual interest for that which they feel is truth. Possessing a high sense of conscientiousness, a deep and solemn veneration, the very elements of moral philanthropy compose their nature and desires, whence they search deeply into the causes of those social efforts which are manifested about us, the disunion and disorganisation which engender vice and misery, with the personal and national wretchedness consequent thereupon. Under their guidance and that which is like unto theirs, the progress of light and knowledge will develop the true relation between man and
that Nature to which he belongs,1 the law which controls both and the principles which govern humanity. The legitimate effect of this new spirit—new and yet old as the world, because it is that of good will—shall diffuse through all ranks and degrees a universal fragrance of affection which will bind the interests, feelings and associations of men in one united mass. So is the course onward. Truth is a high mountain, but man will ascend the heights. All that is of an opposite nature will be subdued by the love of truth. The world will be cleansed and renovated, and then our race will stand forth in the brightness and beauty of its nature. One universal good, one constituting principle, one spring of thought and action, one grand and lofty aspiration—the love and quest of perfection. All will compose but one body therein, and the organs thereof will reciprocally assist and promote the good of each other. There will be no absorbents, no excrescences, no superfluous or imperfect parts, as there will be no wretchedness, individual or general, and no distress. Then will the race be perfect, even as its prototype, the man Adam; and the Earth will be one garden, the true Eden of existence, with humanity as one nation standing erect therein, free from spot or blemish. Then shall that great Tree, concealed so long from mental view but the roots whereof are eternal, assume its true form and spread its branches over the nations of the world. All interests beneath it will be one interest, all morals one glory of light and righteousness. It is the true Tree of knowledge, and its fruits will be the beatitude of mankind. This will be the true millennium, when the united voices of the world will
unite in the grand chorus: "Peace on earth, good will to men."
These prophetic thoughts are based upon the principle that as truth is positive and eternal it must subdue error, which is only temporal and artificial, and as knowledge is truth in its realisation1 it must overcome its opposites, being ignorance, superstition, vice and misery. The one is the root of those laws which control the universe, while the others belong to crushed and perverted understanding. The hand of truth and wisdom is omnipotent and must prevail.2