These great changes in men's ideas were thought to be due to the advancement in scientific knowledge, and the resulting freedom of thought, which for a time inaugurated the worship of rea- son. But beyond the circle of truth already con- quered appeared new and unknown abysses, and man found himself still a slave, oppressed by natural laws, in bondage to his passions. Then his presumption vanished. He fell back into uncertainty and doubt. Better armed and wiser, undoubtedly, but his necessities increased with the means of satisfying them. Disenchanted, his old instincts came back to him; he sought a higher Power, — but could find none. Every- thing conspired to break up the traditions of the past ; the pride of reason, fully persuaded of its own power, as well as the aggravating stubbornness of orthodoxy. By a strange con- tradiction, the pride of intelligence increased with universal doubt which shattered all opinions. All the Sages having declared that the new theories regarding the universe were contrary to religious explanations, pride refused to make fur- ther researches. The defenders of orthodoxy have done little to facilitate matters. They did not understand that their doctrine was the fountain- head of all progress, and that they turned that stream from its natural direction by opposing the discoveries of science and all political changes. The strongest proof of the truth of a doctrine
