A king of Macassar, tired of the idolatry of his fathers, took a notion one day to leave it.  The monarch’s council deliberated for a long time to know whether they should consult Christian or Mohammedan Doctors.  In the impossibility of finding out which was the better of the two religions, it was resolved to send at the same time for the missionaries of both, and to accept the doctrine of those who would have the advantage of arriving first.  They did not doubt that God, who disposes of events, would thus Himself explain His will.  Mohammed’s missionaries having been more diligent, the king with his people submitted to the law which he had imposed upon himself; the missionaries of Christ were dismissed by default of their God, who did not permit them to arrive early enough.  God evidently consents that chance should decide the religion of nations.

Those who govern, always decide the religion of the people.  The true religion is but the religion of the prince; the true God is the God whom the prince wishes them to worship; the will of the priests who govern the prince, always becomes the will of God.  A jester once said, with reason, that “the true faith is always the one which has on its side ‘the prince and the executioner.’”

Emperors and executioners for a long time sustained the Gods of Rome against the God of the Christians; the latter having won over to their side the emperors, their soldiers and their executioners succeeded in suppressing the worship of the Roman Gods.  Mohammed’s God succeeded in expelling the Christian’s God from a large part of the countries which He formerly occupied.  In the eastern part of Asia, there is a large country which is very flourishing, very productive, thickly populated, and governed by such wise laws, that the most savage conquerors adopted them with respect.  It is China!  With the exception of Christianity, which was banished as dangerous, they followed their own superstitious ideas; while the mandarins or magistrates, undeceived long ago about the popular religion, do not trouble themselves in regard to it, except to watch over it, that the bonzes or priests do not use this religion to disturb the peace of the State.  However, we do not see that Providence withholds its benefactions from a nation whose chiefs take so little interest in the worship which is offered to it.  The Chinese enjoy, on the contrary, blessings and a peace worthy of being envied by many nations which religion divides, ravages, and often destroys.  We can not reasonably expect to deprive a people of its follies; but we can hope to cure of their follies those who govern the people; these will then prevent the follies of the people from becoming dangerous.  Superstition is never to be feared except when it has the support of princes and soldiers; it is only then that it becomes cruel and sanguinary.  Every sovereign who assumes the protection of a sect or of a religious faction, usually becomes the tyrant of other sects, and makes himself the must cruel perturbator in his kingdom.