Every sort of moral, every sort
of civil, every sort of politic institution, aiding the rational and
natural ties that connect the human understanding and affections to
the divine, are not more than necessary in order to build up that
wonderful structure 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 destined 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 religious establishment
is necessary, also, to operate with a wholesome awe upon free
citizens, because, in order to secure their freedom, they must enjoy
some determinate portion of power. To them, therefore, a religion
connected with the state, and with their duty toward it, becomes
even more necessary than in such societies where the people, by the
terms of their subjection, are confined to private sentiments and
the management of their own family concerns. All persons possessing
any portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with
an idea that they act in trust, and that they are to account for their
conduct in that trust to the one great Master, Author, and Founder
of society.
This principle ought even to be more strongly impressed upon the
minds of those who compose the collective sovereignty than upon
those of single princes.
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