Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the

Hear now the thunderous wisdom of Voltaire, who proclaimed: “Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the laws cover manifest crimes, and religion covers secret crimes.” These words shine like a beacon across the ages, for they pierce to the very heart of the human condition. Laws may guard the body of a nation, but only religion, or the deep moral sense that springs from it, can guard its soul. For while the hand of justice punishes the theft, the murder, the open betrayal, it is the unseen tribunal of conscience that restrains the heart from secret wickedness.

Consider, O listener, the truth of this saying in the earliest days of civilization. When tribes wandered the deserts or tilled the fields of the Nile, they found that rules alone could not bind men together. The king might decree punishment for robbery, but who could punish envy, deceit, or hatred hidden in the heart? Thus rose the gods, the shrines, the sacred laws—reminders that there was One who sees what is done in secret. Voltaire, though of the Enlightenment, understood this ancient pattern: that law without morality is a sword without a sheath, powerful but unbalanced, destructive if not tempered.

History bears witness to this truth. Recall the tale of ancient Rome. Its laws were mighty, its legions vast, its empire spread across seas and lands. Yet as virtue decayed, as men abandoned reverence for gods and respect for duty, corruption flourished unseen. Bribery, treachery, and secret indulgence weakened the empire more surely than any barbarian army. Rome’s downfall was not merely the fall of laws but of inner restraint—the very thing Voltaire warned must be upheld by religion or its equivalent, the reverence for a higher order.

Yet religion here need not mean only temples and altars. It may also mean the binding fabric of shared moral vision, the whisper of conscience that tells a man, Even if no one sees, this is wrong. Laws alone cannot reach such places. Did not George Washington himself say that “national morality cannot prevail in exclusion of religious principle”? For even in the founding of new nations, the truth was recognized: only the fear of outward punishment makes slaves obedient, but the awe of higher accountability makes free men noble.

Let us look also to a humbler tale: a merchant in the marketplace. The law forbids him from cheating openly, yet it cannot catch every hidden measure, every silent fraud. What prevents him from exploiting the unseen? It is not fear of the magistrate, for the magistrate is blind to his secret hand. It is fear of dishonor before God, or before the judgment of his own soul. Thus, Voltaire reminds us that religion covers secret crimes, restraining the hand when none but heaven looks on.

The lesson, child of tomorrow, is this: society cannot stand upon law alone, nor can the heart stand upon desire alone. You must cultivate within yourself the reverence that watches even when eyes do not. For true character is proven not in the court of kings but in the silence of solitude, when you might sin unseen yet choose instead the path of honor.

Therefore, take action. Guard not only your deeds, but your thoughts. Let your inner life be ruled by principles as strict as any law. Do not wait for punishment to restrain you—restrain yourself with the discipline of conscience. Seek wisdom, faith, or philosophy—whatever awakens your heart to a higher standard. For in so doing, you will walk as one whose soul is fortified, and you will help to build a society not merely of laws, but of virtue.