words, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity; yet what do these amount to, so long as there is nothing in the hearts of the people to check the universal selfishness? The catchwords of modern democracy will be powerless among a people who believe in nothing, and care for nothing, but themselves. They may disguise their selfishness in political phrases, as in forms of politeness; yet they will be the same as before — just as unscrupulous of the rights of others, just as eager to grasp everything for themselves. Experiments at self-government by such a people have but little promise of success. Liberty soon runs into license; a spirit of lawlessness ends in anarchy, and anarchy at last is drowned in blood. Human selfishness is a force so explosive that it shatters all the limitations that can be put round it, to compress and confine it, save only a military despotism, in which such experiments at liberty generally end.
For all these ills of society there is but one effectual cure. Religion alone restrains men on the one hand, and inspires them on the other; and without that, as the vital element working in the state, there can never be true liberty. It is God alone "whose service is perfect freedom"; who is the Creator of all men, and before whom all are equal; and looking up to whom in humble love and trust, men feel that they are children of one Father, and are bound heart to heart in universal brotherhood.
