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of my text , ( taken , indeed , in somewhat of a different sense from the first application of them , ) " And what shall we do ? " Thus dispirited , he soon learns to check his feelings as vain and romantic , and to content himself with the idea that these matters belong only to those above him ; or if he still cherishes ideas once so fondly entertained , they prey upon bis urind , turn to improper asperity , or consume themselves in unprofitable and visionary projects . It is , therefore , the aim of this discourse to shew what we , and all those who compose the mass of common life , can do to promote the welfare of their country ; to give an object to that ardour which wastes itself in wishes ; which , in obscure bosoms , burns like a sepulchral lamp , without enlightening or warming mankind ; to shew that every man can do something , nay , much , in the common cause , ; and , in short , to give a bent
and direction to some of the best feelings of human Jiature . You will observe that I go upon the supposition of your having felt this enlarged wish of benefiting a whole community , that you are capable of taking an interest in something beyond yourselves , and the narrow circle of your own connexions , and that you have contemplated with affectionate reverence the majestic idea of a public . Those who have not , may , without blame , content themselves with the duties of common Christians , as there is no express
precept for patriotism . The happiness of a community is nothing else but the aggregate happiness of all tbe individuals which compose it , and the virtue of a conamuaity , from whence its happiness must proceed , is nothing else but-the multiplied virtue of individuals . Each man , therefore , has committed to his own peculiar guardianship a portion of the welfare of the state , for which
he is strictly answerable . It is the first duty of the patriot to reform himself . Every man owes to the state one good citizen ; his efforts to this point will be sure of success . He needs no oratory , no superior talents , to prevail here ; he only needs be an honest man * But to be an honest man , easy as it is to the lowest situation and capacity , involves in it a praise which high-sounding titles and swelling pretensions do not always reach .
It is his duty to take care , first , that he does no mischief ; and next , that he renders himself capable of doing good to his country . It is his duty , by temperance and habits of hardy and active exertion , to preserve , if God has favoured him with it , a sound and healthful body , of a firm and vigorous tone , fit to defend his country if ever ( and such is the mutability of human prosperity that none can tell how soon that ever may be near ) his personal services should be called for , fit- to maintain himself and those who depend
upon him , that so he may never come to be a burden upon his country . And , indeed , who that has honour or spirit can bear the thoughts of lying like lumber on the land ; helpless , fed by others , defended by others , protected by others ; with an imperious train of wants , increasing in exact p roportion with his own debility and helplessness ; of the great political body an excrescence rather than a limb ? Who can bear to be of a class whom , if some ventilating wind were to arise and sweep them from the
face of the earth , society would never miss by the want of any one service they have ever rendered to it ? Would you be a patriot , therefore , cultivate your capacities o £ personal usefulness . In the next place , every man may do good by exerting himself among those who are within his sphere of influence . We all have such a sphere , find it is much more extensive than is usuall y imagined . Do any of you bear the honourable title of fathers and heads of families ; and are those families seed-beds of virtue , of nurseries of vice ? Do you . educate your
Untitled Article
362 A Discourse , by Mrs . Barbauld .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1828, page 362, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2561/page/2/
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