There is a vast empire governed by a monarch, whose conduct does but
confound the minds of his subjects. He desires to be known, loved,
respected, and obeyed, but he never shows himself; everything tends to
make uncertain the notions which we are able to form about him. The
people subjected to his power have only such ideas of the character and
the laws of their invisible sovereign as his ministers give them; these
suit, however, because they themselves have no idea of their master, for
his ways are impenetrable, and his views and his qualities are totally
incomprehensible; moreover, his ministers disagree among themselves in
regard to the orders which they pretend emanated from the sovereign
whose organs they claim to be; they announce them diversely in each
province of the empire; they discredit and treat each other as impostors
and liars; the decrees and ordinances which they promulgate are obscure;
they are enigmas, made not to be understood or divined by the subjects
for whose instruction they were intended. The laws of the invisible
monarch need interpreters, but those who explain them are always
quarreling among themselves about the true way of understanding them;
more than this, they do not agree among themselves; all which they
relate of their hidden prince is but a tissue of contradictions,
scarcely a single word that is not contradicted at once. He is called
supremely good, nevertheless not a person but complains of his decrees.
He is supposed to be infinitely wise, and in his administration
everything seems contrary to reason and good sense. They boast of his
justice, and the best of his subjects are generally the least favored.
We are assured that he sees everything, yet his presence remedies
nothing. It is said that he is the friend of order, and everything in
his universe is in a state of confusion and disorder; all is created by
him, yet events rarely happen according to his projects. He foresees
everything, but his foresight prevents nothing. He is impatient if any
offend him; at the same time he puts every one in the way of offending
him. His knowledge is admired in the perfection of his works, but his
works are full of imperfections, and of little permanence. He is
continually occupied in creating and destroying, then repairing what he
has done, never appearing to be satisfied with his work. In all his
enterprises he seeks but his own glory, but he does not succeed in being
glorified. He works but for the good of his subjects, and most of them
lack the necessities of life. Those whom he seems to favor, are
generally those who are the least satisfied with their fate; we see them
all continually revolting against a master whose greatness they admire,
whose wisdom they extol, whose goodness they worship, and whose justice
they fear, revering orders which they never follow. This empire is the
world; its monarch is God; His ministers are the priests; their subjects
are men.