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NEW CONCEPTIONS OF HISTORY: MONTESQUIEU, VOLTAIRE, TURGOT.
The theory of human Progress could not be durably established by abstract arguments, or on the slender foundations laid by the Abbe de Saint-Pierre.

It must ultimately be judged by the evidence afforded by history, and it is not accidental that, contemporaneously with the advent of this idea, the study of history underwent a revolution.

If Progress was to be more than the sanguine dream of an optimist it must be shown that man's career on earth had not been a chapter of accidents which might lead anywhere or nowhere, but is subject to discoverable laws which have determined its general route, and will secure his arrival at the desirable place.

Hitherto a certain order and unity had been found in history by the Christian theory of providential design and final causes.