The danger which I have just pointed out always exists, but it is not al-
ways equally visible. In some ages governments seem to be imperish-
able, in others the existence of society appears to be more precarious than
the life of man. Some constitutions plunge the citizens into a lethargic
somnolence, and others rouse them to feverish excitement. When go-
vernments appear to be so strong, and laws so stable, men do not per-
ceive the dangers which may accrue from a union of Church and State.
When governments display so much inconstancy, the danger is self-evi-
^ent, but it is no longer possible to avoid it ; to be effectual, measures
fnust be taken to discover its approach.
In proportion as a nation assumes a democratic condition of society,
and as communities display democratic propensities, it becomes more and
more dangerous to connect religion with political institutions ; for the
^ime is coming when authority will be' bandied from hand to hand, when
political theories will succeed each other, and when men, laws, and con-
stitutions will disappear or be modified from day to day, and this not for a
season only, but unceasingly. Agitation and mutability are inherent
in the nature of democratic republics, just as stagnation and inertness
are the law of absolute monarchies.
