TED HIS CHILDREN BUT TO MAKE THEM UNHAPPY?

In spite of the injustice with which all religions are pleased to
blacken the Divinity, men can not consent to accuse Him of iniquity;
they fear that He, like the tyrants of this world, will be offended by
the truth, and redouble the weight of His malice and tyranny upon them.
They listen, then, to their priests, who tell them that their God is a
tender Father; that this God is an equitable Monarch, whose object in
this world is to assure Himself of the love, obedience, and respect of
His subjects; who gives them the liberty to act, in order to give them
occasion to deserve His favors and to acquire eternal happiness, which
He does not owe them in any way. In what way can we recognize the
tenderness of a Father who created the majority of His children but for
the purpose of dragging out a life of pain, anxiety, and bitterness upon
this earth? Is there any more fatal boon than this pretended liberty
which, it is said, men can abuse, and thereby expose themselves to the
risk of eternal misery?

XCII.--THE LIFE OF MORTALS, ALL WHICH TAKES PLACE HERE BELOW, TESTIFIES
AGAINST MAN'S LIBERTY AND AGAINST THE JUSTICE AND GOODNESS OF A
PRETENDED GOD.

In calling mortals into life, what a cruel and dangerous game does the
Divinity force them to play! Thrust into the world without their wish,
provided with a temperament of which they are not the masters, animated
by passions and desires inherent in their nature, exposed to snares
which they have not the skill to avoid, led away by events which they
could neither foresee nor prevent, the unfortunate beings are obliged to
follow a career which conducts them to horrible tortures.

Travelers assert that in some part of Asia reigns a sultan full of
phantasies, and very absolute in his will. By a strange mania this
prince spends his time sitting before a table, on which are placed six
dice and a dice-box. One end of the table is covered with a pile of
gold, for the purpose of exciting the cupidity of the courtiers and of
the people by whom the sultan is surrounded. He, knowing the weak point
of his subjects, speaks to them in this way: "Slaves! I wish you well;
my aim is to enrich you and render you all happy. Do you see these
treasures? Well, they are for you! try to win them; let each one in turn
take this box and these dice; whoever shall have the good luck to raffle
six, will be master of this treasure; but I warn you that he who h