in the government of men, in which they stand in the person of God himself, should have high and worthy notions of their function and destination; that their hope should be full of im|mortality; that they should not look to the paltry pelf of the moment, nor to the temporary and transient praise of the vulgar, but to a solid, per|manent existence, in the permanent part of their nature, and to a permanent fame and glory, in the example they leave as a rich inheritance to the world.
Such sublime principles ought to be infused into persons of exalted situations, and religious establishments provided, that may continually revive and enforce them. Every sort of moral, every sort of civil, every sort of politic insti|tution, aiding the rational and natural ties that connect the human understanding and af|fections to the divine, are not more than neces|sary, in order to build up that wonderful struc|ture, Man; whose prerogative it is, to be in a great degree a creature of his own making; and who when made as he ought to be made, is des|tined to hold no trivial place in the creation. But whenever man is put over men, as the better nature ought ever to preside, in that case more particularly, he should as nearly as possible be approximated to his perfection.
The consecration of the state, by a state religi|ous establishment, is necessary also to operate with an wholesome awe upon free citizens; because, in order to secure their freedom, they must en|joy some determinate portion of power. To
