those dangers which Jesus Christ himself hath pointed out to us in the gospel, as being attached to it.
I mean only to establish this truth, — that you may do more for God than the common people; that infinitely more advantages accrue to religion from the piety of a single person of distinction, than from that of almost a whole people of believers; and that you are so much the more culpable when you neglect God, in proportion to the glory that he would draw from your fidelity, and that your virtues have more extended consequences for the edification of believers.
The first is the example. A soul from among the people who fears God, glorifies him only in his own heart: he is a child of light, who walks, as I may say, amid darkness: he pays his own homage, but he attracts no others to him. Shut up in the obscurity of his fortune, he lives under the eyes of God alone; he wishes that his name be glorified, and, by these desires, he renders to him that glory which he cannot do by his examples: his virtues tend to his own salvation; but they are as lost for the salvation of his brethren: he is here below as a treasure hidden in the earth, which the vineyard of Jesus Christ beareth unwittingly, and of which he maketh no use.
But for you, my brethren, who live exposed to the view of the public, and whose eyes are always upon you, your virtuous examples become equally shining as your names: you spread the good savour of Jesus Christ wherever that of your rank and titles is spread: you make the name of the Lord to be glorified wherever your own is known. The same elevation which makes you to be known upon the earth, likewise informs all men what you do for heaven. The wonders of grace are every where seen in your national advantages: the people, the cities, the provinces, who are continually hearing your names repeated, feel awakened with them, that idea of virtue which your examples have attached to them. You honour piety in the opinion of the public: you preach it to those whom you know not: you become, says the prophet, like a signal of virtue raised up amid the people: a whole kingdom has its eyes upon you, and speaks of your examples, and even abroad your piety becomes equally known as your birth.
Now, amid this general estimation, what attraction to virtue for the people! First, the great models are more striking, and, when countenanced by the great, piety becomes as it were fashionable with the people. Secondly, that idea of weakness commonly attached to virtue is dissipated from the moment that you ennoble it, as I may say, with your names, and that they can produce your examples in honour of it. Thirdly, the rest of men no longer blush at modesty and frugality, when they see, in your instance, that modesty is perfectly compatible with greatness; and that to shun luxury and profusion is so far from being a subject of shame to any rank whatever, that, on the contrary, it adds lustre and dignity to the highest rank and birth. Fourthly, how many weak souls, who would blush at virtue, are confirmed by your example, are no longer afraid of acting as you act, and who even pride them-
