Nothing could be well more prejudicial to his race, than this
extravagant theory; which, as we shall prove, has become the source of
innumerable evils. Man has been for thousands of years trembling before
idols of his own creation--bowing down before them with the most servile
homage--occupied with disarming their wrath--sedulously employed in
propitiating their kindness, without ever advancing a single step on
the road he so much desires to travel. He will perhaps continue the same
course for centuries to come, unless by some unlooked for exertion on
his part, he shall happen to discard the prejudices which blind him; to
lay aside his enthusiasm for the marvellous; to quit his fondness for
the enigmatical; rally round the standard of his reason: unless, taking
experience for his guide, he march undauntedly forward under the banner
of truth, and put to the rout that host of unintelligible jargon, under
the cumbrous load of which he has lost sight of his own happiness;
which has but too frequently prevented him from seeking the only means
adequate either to satisfy his wants, or to ameliorate the evils which
he is necessarily obliged to experience.