Page:Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness and faction.djvu/87

 unrivaled Excellence; yet in its very Birth it came attended with unalterable Weakness.—It wanted that general Self-Consistence, that entire Unity of Parts, as well as of established Habits, Manners and Principles, suited to the Genius of the State, which was the very Spirit and Support of the Spartan Commonwealth. In this Circumstance, it appears likewise inferior to the Roman Commonwealth; yet, perhaps, superior to that of Athens.

4. The British System of Polity and Religion, perfect in its leading Parts, but imperfectly united and supported, is not upheld in its native Power (like that of ) by correspondent and effectual Rules of Education. The Fundamental Laws of our Country, the Principles and Duties of Christianity, are indeed occasionally explained and taught, in a certain Manner and Degree: But it is in the Power of every Private Man to educate his Child, not only without a Reverence for These, but in an absolute Contempt