On the record
They spring from custom and popular faith, silently operating with internal power, not from the imposed will of a lawgiver.
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gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Sumner highlights that institutions arise from customs and collective beliefs rather than being forced by laws.
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It is true, doubtless, that there are various races of men; but there is but one great Human Family, in which Caucasian, Ethiopian, Chinese, and Indian are all brothers, children of one Father, and heirs to one happiness.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
The first is a heavenly sentiment, from God: the other is a device of this world.
They who strive after it, Ixion-like, embrace a cloud.
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