How dangerous then would it be, on this supposition, to show to men the extremity of the chain which unites them together! It is in worldly affairs this knowledge of having received the last favour, which renders them ungrateful towards those from whom they no longer expect any thing; and the same sentiment would weaken the power of morality if our lease was manifestly only for this world. It is then religion which ought to strengthen those ties, and defend the entire system of our duty against the stratagems of reasoning and the artifices of our minds; it is necessary, in order to oblige all men, to consider with respect the laws of morality, to teach them early that the social virtues are an homage rendered to the perfections and to the beneficent intentions of the Sovereign Author of Nature, of that Infinite Being who is pleased with the preservation of order, and the private sacrifices which the accomplishment of this grand design requires. And when I see modern philosophers tracing, with an able hand, the general plan of our duties; when I see them fix with judgment the reciprocal obligations of citizens, and giving, at last, for the basis to this legislation, personal interest and the love of praise: I recollect the system of those Indian philosophers, who, after having studied the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, being perplexed to determine the power which sustained the vaulted firmament, thought they had freed it from difficulty, by placing the universe on the back of an elephant, and this elephant on a tortoise. We shall imitate these philosophers, and, like them, shall never proceed but by degradation, whenever, by endeavouring to form a chain of duties and moral principles, we do not place the last link above worldly considerations, and beyond the limits of our social conventions. CHAP. II. _The same Subject continued. A Parallel between the Influence of Religious Principles, and of Laws and Opinions._ After having examined, as I have just done, in the preceding chapter, if it were possible to found morality on the connexion of private with public interest, it remains for me to consider, if the punishments inflicted by the sovereign, if the sceptre, which public opinion sways, have sufficient power to restrain men, and bind them to the observance of their duty.