eds from the
ruler (enimvero neque nobilem, neque ingenuum, nec libertinum quidem
armis praeponere, regia utilitas est). Folly is set in great dignity,
and the rich (either in virtue and wisdom, in the goods of the mind,
or those of fortune upon that balance which gives them a sense of the
national interest) sit in low places. I have seen servants upon horses,
and princes walking as servants upon the earth." Sad complaints, that
the principles of power and of authority, the goods of the mind and
of fortune, do not meet and twine in the wreath or crown of empire!
Wherefore, if we have anything of piety or of prudence, let us raise
ourselves out of the mire of private interest to the contemplation of
virtue, and put a hand to the removal of "this evil from under the sun;"
this evil against which no government that is not secured can be good;
this evil from which the government that is secure must be perfect.
Solomon tells us that the cause of it is from the ruler, from those
principles of power, which, balanced upon earthly trash, exclude the
heavenly treasures of virtue, and that influence of it upon government
which is authority. We have wandered the earth to find out the balance
of power; but to find out that of authority we must ascend, as I said,
nearer heaven, or to the image of God, which is the soul of man.

The soul of man (whose life or motion is perpetual contemplation or
thought) is the mistress of two potent rivals, the one reason, the other
passion, that are in continual suit; and, according as she gives up her
will to these or either of them, is the felicity or misery which man
partakes in this mortal life.

For, as whatever was passion in the contemplation of a man, being
brought forth by his will into action, is vice and the bondage of sin;
so whatever was reason in the contemplation of a man, being brought
forth by his will into action, is virtue and the freedom of soul.

Again, as those actions of a man that were sin acquire to himself
repentance or shame, and affect others with scorn or pity, so those
actions of a man that are virtue acquire to himself honor, and upon
others authority.

Now government is no other than the soul of a nation or city: wherefore
that which was reason in the debate of a commonwealth being brought
forth by the result, must be virtue; and forasmuch as the soul of a
city or nation is the sovereign power, her virtue must be law. But the
government whose law is virtue, and wh