Democracy and the State

It has never yet been seen, or clearly announced, that democracy, as such, / is no proper element in the constitution of a state. The idea of a state is / undoubtedly a government [Greek: ek ton aristou] -- an aristocracy. Democracy / is the healthful life-blood which circulates through the veins and / arteries, which supports the system, but which ought never to appear / externally, and as the mere blood itself.

A state, in idea, is the opposite of a church. A state regards classes, and / not individuals; and it estimates classes, not by internal merit, but / external accidents, as property, birth, &c. But a church does the reverse / of this, and disregards all external accidents, and looks at men as / individual persons, allowing no gradation of ranks, but such as greater or / less wisdom, learning, and holiness ought to confer. A church is, / therefore, in idea, the only pure democracy. The church, so considered, and / the state, exclusively of the church, constitute together the idea of a / state in its largest sense.