Page:Conciones ad populum. Or, Addresses to the people (IA concionesadpopul00cole).pdf/35

 Yes! there are those who have loved Freedom with wise ardor, and propagated its principles with unshaken courage! For it was ordained at the foundation of the world, that there should always remain Pure Ones and uncorrupt, who should shine like Lights in Darkness, reconciling us to our own nature,

That general Illumination should precede Revolution, is a truth as obvious, as that the Vessel should be cleansed before we fill it with a pure Liquor. But the mode of diffusing it is not discoverable with equal facility. We certainly should never attempt to make Proselytes by appeals to the selfish feelings—and consequently, should plead for the Oppressed, not to them. The Author of an essay on political Justice considers private Societies as the sphere of real utility—that (each one illuminating those immediately beneath him,) Truth by a gradual descent may at last reach the lowest order. But this is rather plausible than just or practicable. Society as at present constituted does not resemble a chain that ascends in a continuity of Links.—There are three ranks possessing an intercourse with each other: these are well comprized in the super-