SOURCE: An introduction to The Works of Orestes A. Brownson, Vol. I, edited by Henry F. Brownson, Thorndike Nourse, Publisher, 1882, pp. v-xxviii.

In the following excerpt, one of the sons of Orestes Brownson provides an overview of this father's philosophical and religious beliefs.

It should be borne in mind that [Orestes Brownson] became a publicist at the age of only a little over twenty years, and for fifty years was before the public as a preacher, a lecturer, and a writer. Starting with a belief in the progressive perfectibility of the human race, and the denial of all authority except that of humanity, that is, of the people, or the masses, he did not claim that he was in possession of any truth to be taught, or that his views were either mature or sound. Humanity had outgrown the errors of its infancy and was moving on with...