Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/57

foundation in an ardent charity, a wonderful humility, and an infinite prudence. What a suprising monarchy, in which the king, being elected, is venerated; and in which, though all are eligible to the supreme command, yet the sovereign power remains intact and undisturbed by domestic wars or civil strife! Where can we find a monarch in which the king chooses the electors, who in their turn elect the king, where all are elected and all are electors? Who does not here perceive the high and hidden mystery of unity perpetually begetting diversity, and diversity perpetually resolving itself into unity? Who does not see here a representation of the concurrence of all things? And who can fail to discover that this wonderful monarchy represents him who, being both true God and true man, unites in himself divinity and humanity, unity and variety?

The occult law which regulates the generation of unity and diversity, must necessarily be the highest, the most universal, the most excellent, and the most mysterious of all laws; because God has subjected all things to it, human and divine, created and uncreated, visible and invisible. It is one in essence, but infinite in its manifestations. All that exists seems to have being only in order to manifest it, and each separate existence reveals it under a new form. In one form it exists in God; in another manner in God made man; in another in his Church; in another in the family; in another in the universe; but it exists in all things in the whole and in each part of the whole. On the one hand it is an invisible and incomprehensible mystery; on the other, without ceasing to be a mystery, it is a visible phenomenon and a palpable fact.

Near the king, whose province is to reign with a sov-