ess they fertilize
provinces and enrich kingdoms. At length they pour themselves into the
ocean; where, changing their names but not their nature, they visit
distant nations and other hemispheres, and spread throughout the world
the expansive tide of their beneficence.

It must be confessed, that many of the good effects, of which Religion
is productive to political societies, would be produced even by a false
Religion, which should prescribe good morals, and should be able to
enforce its precepts by sufficient sanctions. Of this nature are those
effects, which depend on our calling in the aid of a Being who sees the
heart, in order to assist the weakness, and in various ways to supply
the inherent defects of all human jurisprudence. But the superior
excellence of Christianity in this respect must be acknowledged, both in
the superiority of her moral code, and in the powerful motives and
efficacious means which she furnishes for enabling us to practise it;
and in the tendency of her doctrines to provide for the observance of
her precepts, by producing tempers of mind which correspond with them.

But, more than all this; it has not perhaps been enough remarked, that
true Christianity, from her essential nature, appears peculiarly and
powerfully adapted to promote the preservation and healthfulness of
political communities. What is in truth their grand malady? The answer
is short; Selfishness. This is that young disease received at the moment
of their birth, "which grows with their growth, and strengthens with
their strength;" and through which they at length expire, if not cut off
prematurely by some external shock or intestine convulsion.

The disease of selfishness, indeed, assumes different forms in the
different classes of society. In the great and the wealthy, it displays
itself in luxury, in pomp and parade; and in all the frivolities of a
sickly and depraved imagination, which seeks in vain its own
gratification, and is dead to the generous and energetic pursuits of an
enlarged heart. In the lower orders, when not motionless under the
weight of a superincumbent despotism, it manifests itself in pride, and
its natural offspring, insubordination in all its modes. But though the
external effects may vary, the internal principle is the same; a
disposition in each individual to make self the grand center and end of
his desires and enjoyments; to over-rate his own merits and importance,
and of course to magnify his cl