Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/22

xviii I say, that it is practiced by men, and has a relation to those who do not practice it, any religion whatsoever will find a greater facility in being practiced, either in the whole or in part, in certain countries than in others, and in certain circumstances than in others, and that whoever says the contrary must renounce all pretensions to sense and understanding."

But the critic has been greatly offended by our author's saying, that when a state is at liberty to receive or to reject a new religion it ought to be rejected; when it is received, it ought to be tolerated. From hence he objects, that the author has advised idolatrous princes, not to admit the Christian religion into their dominions. To this he answers first by referring to a passage in which he says, that the best civil and political laws are, next to Christianity, the greatest blessings that men can give or receive; and adds, "If then Christianity is the first and greatest blessing, and the political and civil laws the second, there are no political and civil laws in any state that can or ought to hinder the entrance of the Christian religion." Rh