finishes and sustains the endless good which your examples have begun. And, in speaking of the authority, why can I not here unfold all the immensity of the fruitful consequences of the piety of the great, which this idea excites in my mind?
First. The protection of virtue. Timid virtue is often oppressed because it wants either boldness to show itself, or protection to defend it; obscure virtue is often despised, because nothing exalts it to the eyes of the senses, and the world is delighted to turn into a crime against piety the obscurity of those who practise it. But, so soon as you adopt its cause, ah! virtue no longer wants protection: you become the interpreters of the godly with the prince, and the channels by which they find continual access to the throne; you bring righteous characters into office, who become public examples; you bring to light servants of God, men of learning and of virtue, who would have remained in the dust, and who, through favour of your support, appear to the public, employ their talents, contribute to the edification of believers, to the instruction of the people, to the consummation of the holy, teach the rules of virtue to those who know them not, will teach them to our descendants, and will hand down, to all ages to come, with the pious monuments of their own zeal, the immortal fruits of that protection with which you have honoured virtue, and of your love for the righteous.
What shall I say? — You strengthen the zeal of the godly in holy undertakings; and your protection animates and enables them to conquer all the obstacles which the demon constantly throws in the way of works which are to glorify God and to contribute to the salvation of souls. What noble foundations and pious designs, now carried into execution, would have failed, if the authority of a righteous man in office had not removed the impediments which rendered their accomplishment apparently impossible!
What more shall I say? — By your examples you render virtue respectable to those who love it not, and they are no longer ashamed of being a Christian from the moment that they therein resemble you. You divest impiety of that air of confidence and of ostentation with which it dares to show itself, and free-thinking ceases to be fashionable as soon as you declare against it. You maintain the religion of our fathers among the people; you preserve faith to the following ages; and often it requires only a single person of rank in a kingdom, firm in faith, to stop the progress of error and innovation, and to preserve to a whole people the faith of their ancestors. The single Esther saved the people and the law of God in a great empire; Matthias individually stood out against foreign altars, and prevented superstitions from prevailing in the midst of Judah. Oh! my brethren, how grand when you belong to Jesus Christ! and with what superior lustre and dignity do your rank and your birth appear in the vast fruits of your piety, than in the luxury of your passions, and in all the vain pomp of human magnificence!
Secondly. The rewards of virtue. You render it honourable by giving it that preference which is its due, in the choice of places
