Amen! and so be it: and so it will be,--
"Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet; imperiumque pater Romanus habebit."
MADNESS OF INNOVATION.
Novelty is not the only source of zeal. Why should not a Maccabeus
and his brethren arise to assert the honour of the ancient law, and
to defend the temple of their forefathers, with as ardent a spirit as
can inspire any innovator to destroy the monuments of the piety and
the glory of ancient ages? It is not a hazarded assertion, it is a
great truth, that when once things are gone out of their ordinary
course, it is by acts out of the ordinary course they can alone be
re-established. Republican spirit can only be combated by a spirit of
the same nature: of the same nature, but informed with another
principle, and pointing to another end. I would persuade a
resistance, both to the corruption and to the reformation that
prevails. It will not be the weaker, but much the stronger, for
combating both together. A victory over real corruptions would enable
us to baffle the spurious and pretended reformations. I would not
wish to excite, or even to tolerate, that kind of evil spirit which
invokes the powers of hell to rectify the disorders of the earth. No!
I would add my voice with better, and I trust, more potent charms, to
draw down justice and wisdom and fortitude from heaven, for the
correction of human vice, and the recalling of human error from the
devious ways into which it has been betrayed.
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