But the greatest piece of management, which we find _the Devil_ has concern'd himself in of late, in the matter of religion, seems to be that of the mission into _China_; and here indeed _Satan_ has acted his master-piece: It was, no doubt, much for his service that _the Chineses_ should have no insight into matters of religion, I mean, that we call christian; and therefore, tho' _Popery_ and the _Devil_ are not at so much variance as some may imagine, yet he did not think it safe to let the general system of Christianity be heard of among them in _China_. Hence when the name of the christian religion had but been received with some seeming approbation in the country of _Japan_, _Satan_ immediately, as if alarm'd at the thing, and dreading what the consequence of it might be, arm'd the _Japoneses_ against it with such fury, that they expell'd it at once. It was much safer to his designs, when, if the story be not a fiction, he put that _Dutch_ witicism into the mouths of the States commanders, when they came to _Japan_; who having more wit than to own themselves Christians in such a place as that, when the question was put to them, answered negatively, _That they were not_, but that _they were of another religion call'd_ Hollanders. However, it seems the diligent _Jesuits_ out-witted the Devil in _China_, and, as I said above, over-shot him in his own Bow; for the mission being in danger _by the Devil and the_ Chinese _Emperor_'s _joining together_, of being wholly expell'd there too, as they had been in _Japan_, they cunningly fell in with the ecclesiasticks of the country, and joining the priestcraft of both religions together, they brought _Jesus Christ_ and _Confucius_ to be so reconcilable, that the _Chinese_ and the _Roman_ idolatry appeared capable of a confederacy, of going on hand in hand together, and consequently of being very good friends. This was a master-piece indeed, and, _as they say_, almost frighted _Satan_ out of his wits; but he being a ready manager, and particularly famous for serving himself of the rogueries of the priests, fac'd about immediately to the mission, and making a virtue of necessity, clapt in, with all possible alacrity, with the proposal[1]; so the _Jesuits_ and he form'd a _hotch-potch_ of _religion_ made up of _Popery_ and _Paganism_ and calculated to leave the latter rather worse than they found it, binding the faith of Christ and the philosophy or morals of _Confucius_ together, and formally christening them by the name of _religion_; by which means the politick interest of the mission was preserved; and yet _Satan_ lost not one inch of ground with the _Chineses_, no, not by the planting the Gospel it self, _such as it was_, among them.