25.8. 8. Of the Pontificate.
When religion has many ministers it is
natural for them to have a chief and for a sovereign pontiff to be
established. In monarchies, where the several orders of the state
cannot be kept too distinct, and where all powers ought not to be lodged
in the same person, it is proper that the pontificate be distinct from
the empire. The same necessity is not to be met with in a despotic
government, the nature of which is to unite all the different powers in
the same person. But in this case it may happen that the prince may
regard religion as he does the laws themselves, as dependent on his own
will. To prevent this inconvenience, there ought to be monuments of
religion, for instance, sacred books which fix and establish it. The
King of Persia is the chief of the religion; but this religion is
regulated by the Koran. The Emperor of China is the sovereign pontiff;
but there are books in the hands of everybody to which he himself must
conform. In vain a certain emperor attempted to abolish them; they
triumphed over tyranny.
