Note 352 — THE CONCLUSION: COMPREHENDING A RETROSPECT OF THE LIFE OF DAVID RITTENHOUSE,
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Dr. Rittenhouse had no more faith in the notion entertained by some visionary men, of the attainment of the perfection of virtue, in this life, than he had in the fantastic opinion, maintained also by some, of the perfectibility of human reason. He supposed that we are capable, by a progressive “enlargement of our faculties,” to “advance towards the perfection of the Divinity;” not like those pretenders to philosophy, who, as Mr. Voltaire expresses it, “took it into their heads, by the example of Descartes, to put themselves into God’s place, and create a world with a word!” Our philosopher knew, that pure virtue and perfect reason do not belong to human nature.