“May they not possibly be more successful than their mother country has been in preserving that reverence and authority which is due to the laws,--to those who make, and to those who execute them? May not a method be invented of procuring some tolerable share of the comforts of life to those inferior useful ranks of men to whose industry we are indebted for the whole? _Time and discipline may discover some means to correct the extreme inequalities of condition between the rich and the poor, so dangerous to the innocence and the happiness of both._”[428] Beautiful words! And in the same spirit the prophet discerns increasing opportunities of progress:-- “The diversity of new scenes and situations, which so many growing states must necessarily pass through, _may introduce changes in the fluctuating opinions and manners of men which we can form no conception of_. And not only the gracious disposition of Providence, but the visible preparation of causes, _seems to indicate strong tendencies towards a general improvement_.”[429] To a spirit so elevated the obligations of duty are the same for nations as for individuals, and he nobly vindicates the duty of the Christian preacher “to point out the laws of justice and equity which must ultimately regulate the happiness of states as well as of individuals,” and which he declares “are no other than those benevolent Christian morals which it is the province of this Society to teach, transferred from the duties of private life to the administration of public affairs.”[430] Then again he declares amazement, in which all but hardened politicians will unite, at seeing “how slowly in all countries the principles of natural justice, which are so evidently necessary in private life, have been admitted into the administration of public affairs.” And, in the same spirit, he announces:-- “A time, I doubt not, will come, in the progressive improvement of human affairs, when the checks and restraints we lay on the industry of our fellow-subjects and the jealousies we conceive at their prosperity will be considered as the effects of a mistaken policy, prejudicial to all parties, but chiefly to ourselves.”[431] Then, after presenting it as “a noble effort of virtuous ambition … to make our country great and powerful and rich, not by force or fraud, but by justice, friendship, and humanity,” this remarkable sermon concludes with calling attention to “the plain good rules so often repeated to us in Scripture,” which “lie before the eyes of men like medicinal herbs in the open field.”[432]