779. Does man contain in himself the force that impels him onward in the path of progress, or is his progress only the product of instruction?

"Man is developed of himself, naturally. But all men do not progress at the same rate, nor in the same manner; and it is thus that most advances are made to help forward the others, through social contact."

780. Does moral progress always follow intellectual progress?

"It is a consequence of the latter, but does not always follow it immediately." (192-365.)

- How can intellectual progress lead to moral progress?

"By making man comprehend good and evil; he can then choose between them. The

development of free-will follows the development of the intelligence and increases the responsibility of human action."

- How comes it, then, that the most enlightened nations are often the most perverted?

"Complete and integral progress is the aim of existence; but nations, like individuals, only reach it step by step. Until the moral sense is developed in them, they may even employ their intelligence in doing evil. Moral sense and intellect are two forces which only arrive at equilibrium in the long run." (365-751.)

781. Has man the power of arresting the march of progress?

"No; but he has sometimes that of hindering it."

- What is to be thought of the men who attempt to arrest the march of progress, and to make the human race go backwards?

"They are wretched weaklings whom God will chastise; they will be overthrown by the

torrent they have tried to arrest."

Progress being a condition of human nature, it is not in the power of any one to prevent it. It is a living force that bad laws may hamper, but not stifle. When these laws become incompatible with progress, progress breaks them down with all those who attempt to hold them up; and it will continue to do so until man has brought his laws into harmony with the divine justice which wills the good of all, and the abolition of all laws that are made for the strong, and against the weak.

782. Are there not men who honestly obstruct progress while believing themselves to be helping it forward, because, judging the matter from their own point of view, they often regard as "progress" what is not really such?

"Yes; there are persons who push their little pebbles under the great wheel; but they will not keep it from going on."

783. Does the improvement of the human race always proceed by slow progression?

"There is the regular slow progress that inevitably results from the force of things; but, when a people does not advance quickly enough, God also prepares for it, from time to time, a physical or moral shock that hastens its transformation."

Man cannot remain perpetually in ignorance, because he must reach the goal marked out for him by Providence; he is gradually enlightened by the force of things. Moral revolutions, like social revolutions, are prepared, little by little, in the ideas of a people; they go on germinating for centuries, and at length suddenly burst forth, overthrowing the crumbling edifice of the past, which is no longer in harmony with the new wants and new aspirations of the day.

Man often perceives, in these public commotions, only the momentary disorder and confusion that affect him in his material interests; but he who raises his thoughts above his own personality admires the providential working which brings good out of evil. Such commotions are the tempest and the storm that purify the atmosphere after having disturbed it.

784. Man's perversity is very great; does he not seem to be going back instead of advancing, at least, as regards morality?

"You are mistaken. Look at the human race as a whole, and you will see that it is advancing; for it has arrived at a clearer perception of what is evil, and every day witnesses the reform of some abuse. The excess of evil is required to show you the necessity of good and of reforms'."

785. What is the greatest obstacle to progress?

"Pride and selfishness. I refer to moral progress; for intellectual progress is always going on, and would even seem, at the first glance, to give redoubled activity to those vices, by developing ambition and the love of riches, which, however, in their turn, stimulate man to the researches that enlighten his mind, for it is thus that all things are linked together, in the moral world as in the physical world, and that good is brought even out of evil; but this state of things will only last for a time, and will change, as men become aware that, beyond the circle of terrestrial enjoyments, there is a happiness infinitely greater and infinitely more lasting." (See Selfishness, chap, XII.)

There are two kinds of progress, that mutually aid one another, and yet do not proceed side by side – intellectual progress, and moral progress. Among civilised peoples the first is receiving, at the present day, abundant encouragement; and it has accordingly reached a degree of advancement unknown to past ages. The second is very far from having reached the same point; although, if we compare the social usages of periods separated by a few centuries, we are compelled to admit that progress has also been made in this direction. Why then should the ascensional movement stop short in the region of morality any more than in that of intelligence? Why should there not be as great a difference between the morality of the nineteenth and the twenty-fourth centuries as between that of the fourteenth and the nineteenth? To doubt of the continuity of moral progress would be to assume either that the human race has reached the summit of perfection, which would be absurd, or that it is not morally perfectible, which is disproved by experience.