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Two things, Christian reader, particularly excite
the will of man to good. A principle of justice is
one, the other the profit we may derive therefrom.
All wise men, therefore, agree that justice and
profit are the two most powerful inducements to move
our wills to any undertaking. Now, though men seek
profit more frequently than justice, yet justice is
in itself more powerful; for, as Aristotle teaches,
no worldly advantage can equal the excellence of
virtue, nor is any loss so great that a wise man
should not suffer it rather than yield to vice. The
design of this book being to win men to virtue, we
shall begin by showing our obligation to practice
virtue because of the duty we owe to God. God being
essentially goodness and beauty, there is nothing
more pleasing to Him than virtue, nothing He more
earnestly requires. Let us first seriously consider
upon what grounds God demands this tribute from us.
But as these are innumerable, we shall only treat of
the six principal motives which claim for God all
that man is or all that man can do. The first; the
greatest, and the most inexplicable is the very
essence of God, embracing His infinite majesty,
goodness, mercy, justice, wisdom, omnipotence,
excellence, beauty, fidelity, immutability,
sweetness, truth, beatitude, and all the
inexhaustible riches and perfections which are
contained in the Divine Being. All these are so
great that if the whole world, according to St.
Augustine, were full of books, if the sea were turned
to ink, and every creature employed in writing, the
books would be filled, the sea would be drained, and
the writers would be exhausted before any one of His
perfections could be adequately expressed. The same
Doctor adds, "Were any man created with a heart as
large and capacious as the hearts of all men
together, and if he were enabled by an extraordinary
light to apprehend one of the divine attributes, his
joy and delight would be such that, unless supported
by special assistance from God, he could not endure
them." This, then, is the first and chief reason
which obliges us to love and serve God. It is a truth
so universally acknowledged that even the Epicureans,
who endeavored to destroy all philosophy by denying a
Divine Providence and the immortality of the soul,
nevertheless maintained religion, or the worship due
to God. One of these philosophers (Cicero, De
Natura Deorum) proves the existence of God by strong
and undeniable arguments. He proclaims the greatness
and sovereignty of His admirable perfections, which
oblige us to reverence and adore Him, and shows that
for this reason alone, independently of any other
title, God has a right to our love and service. If
we treat a king, even out of his own dominion, with
respect and honor purely because of the dignity of
his person, though we owe him nothing, with how much
more justice should we render honor and service to
this King and Lord, who, as St. John tells us, bears
written "on his garment, and on his thigh: KING OF
KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS"! (Apoc. 19:16). This is He
who hath "poised with three fingers the bulk of the
earth." (Is. 40:12). All beings are in His power;
He disposes of them as He wills. It is He who propels
the heavenly bodies, commands the winds, changes the
seasons, guides the elements, distributes the waters,
controls the stars, creates all things; it is He, in
fine, who, as King and Lord of the universe,
maintains and nourishes all creatures. Nor is His
kingdom acquired or inherited. By His very nature it
is for Him an inherent right. Just as man is above,
the ant, for example, so is the Divine. Substance in
an eminent degree above all created things, and the
whole universe is no more than one of these little
insects compared to Him. If this truth were so
manifest to the Epicureans, otherwise unworthy of the
name of philosophers, how much clearer ought it not
be to us, who have been illumined by the light of
true Christian philosophy! For this latter teaches
us, in fact, that among the innumerable reasons which
oblige us to serve God, this is the greatest; and
though men were endowed with a thousand hearts and a
thousand bodies, this reason alone should be
sufficient to cause them to devote them all to His
love and service. Though of all motives this is
the most powerful, yet it has the least influence on
the imperfect. The reason for this is that, on the
one hand, they are more moved by self-interest,
self-love having deep root in their hearts; and on
the other, being still ignorant, and novices in the
ways of God, they are unable to appreciate His
grandeur and beauty. Had they a better knowledge of
His perfections, His beauty would enrapture their
souls and cause them to love Him above all things.
Therefore we shall furnish some considerations from
the mystical theology of St. Denis which will help
them to apprehend the perfections of the Master they
serve. To lead us to a knowledge of God, St. Denis
teaches us first to turn our eyes from the qualities
or perfections of creatures, lest we be tempted to
measure by them the perfections of the Creator. Then,
turning from the things of earth, he raises our souls
to the contemplation of a Being above all beings, a
Substance above all substances, a Light above all
lights � rather a Light before which all light is
darkness � Beauty above all beauties and before which
all other beauty is but deformity. This is what we
are taught by the cloud into which Moses entered to
converse with God, and which shut out from his senses
all that was not God. (Ex. 24:16,18). And the action
of Elias, covering his face with his cloak when he
saw the glory of God passing before him, is a lively
expression of the same sentiment. (3Kg. 19:13).
Therefore, to contemplate the glory of God, man must
close his eyes to earthly things, which bear no
proportion to this supreme Being. We shall better
understand this truth if we consider with more
attention the vast difference between this uncreated
Being and all other beings, between the Creator and
His creatures. The latter without exception have had
a beginning and may have an end, while this eternal
Being is without beginning and without end. They all
acknowledge a superior and depend upon another, while
He has no superior and is the supreme Arbiter of all
things. Creatures are composed of various substances,
while He is a pure and simple Being; were He composed
of diverse substances it would presuppose a being
above and before Him to ordain the composition of
these substances, which is altogether impossible.
Creatures are subject to change; God is immutable.
They all admit of greater perfection; they can
increase in possessions, in knowledge. God cannot
increase in perfection, containing within Himself all
perfection; nor in possessions, for He is the source
of all riches; nor in knowledge, for everything is
present to His eternal omniscience. Therefore
Aristotle calls Him a pure act � that is, Supreme
Perfection, which admits of no increase. The needs of
creatures subject them to movement and change; God,
having no necessities, is fixed and immovable, and
present in all places. We find in all creatures
diversities which distinguish them one from another,
but the purity of God's Essence admits of no
distinction; so that His Being is His Essence, His
Essence is His Power, His Power is His Will, His Will
is His Understanding, His Understanding is His Being,
His Being is His Wisdom, His Wisdom is His Justice,
His Justice is His Mercy. And though the last two
attributes are differently manifested, the duty of
mercy being to pardon, that of justice to punish, yet
they are one and the same power. The Divine Being
thus comprises in its unity apparently opposite
qualities and perfections which we can never
sufficiently admire; for, as St. Augustine observes,
"He is a profoundly hidden God, yet everywhere
present; He is essentially strength and beauty; He is
immutable and incomprehensible; He is beyond all
space, yet fills all the universe; invisible, yet
manifest to all creatures; producing all motion, yet
is Himself immovable; always in action, yet ever at
rest, He fills all things and is circumscribed by
nothing; He provides for all things without the least
solicitude; He is great without quantity, therefore
He is immense; He is good without qualification, and
therefore He is the Supreme Good." (Meditations, 19
and 20). Nay, "One is good, God." (Matt. 19:17).
Finally, all created things having a limited being,
their power is likewise limited; the works they
accomplish, the space they fill, their very names,
are no less limited. Human words can define them;
they can be assigned a certain character and reduced
to a certain species. But the Divine Substance cannot
be defined nor comprehended under any species, nor
can It be confined to any place, nor can any name
express It. Though nameless, therefore, as St. Denis
says, It yet has all possible names, since It
possesses in Itself all the perfections expressed by
these names. As limited beings, therefore,
creatures can be comprehended; but the Divine
Essence, being infinite, is beyond the reach of any
created understanding. For that which is limitless,
says Aristotle, can only be grasped by an infinite
understanding. As a man on the shore beholds the sea,
yet cannot measure its depth or vastness, so the
blessed spirits and all the elect contemplate God,
yet cannot fathom the abyss of His greatness nor
measure the duration of His eternity. For this reason
also God is represented "seated upon the cherubim"
(Dan. 3:55 and Ps. 17:11), who, though filled with
treasures of divine wisdom, continue beneath His
majesty and power, which it is not given them to
grasp or understand. This is what David teaches
when he tells us that God "made darkness His covert"
(Ps. 17:12), or, as the Apostle more clearly
expresses it, He "inhabiteth light inaccessible."
(1Tim. 6:16). The prophet calls this light darkness
because it dazzles and blinds our human vision.
Nothing is more resplendent and more visible than the
sun, as a philosopher admirably remarks, yet because
of its very splendor and the weakness of our vision
there is nothing upon which we can gaze less. So also
there is no being more intelligible in itself than
God, and yet none we understand less in this present
life. Know, therefore, you who aspire to a
knowledge of God, that He is a Being superior to
anything you can conceive. The more sensible you are
of your inability to comprehend Him, the more you
will have advanced in a knowledge of His Being. Thus
St. Gregory, commenting on these words of Job: "Who
doth great things and unsearchable, and wonderful
things without number" (Job 5:9), says, "We never
more eloquently praise the works of the Almighty than
when our tongue is mute in rapt wonder; silence is
the only adequate praise when words are powerless to
express the perfections we would extol." St. Denis also tells us to honor with mute
veneration, and a silence full of love and fear, the
wonders and glory of God, before whom the most
sublime intelligences are prostrate. The holy Doctor
seems to allude here to the words of the prophet as
translated by St. Jerome, "Praise is mute before
thee, God of Sion," giving us to understand,
doubtless, that the most adequate praise is a modest
and respectful silence springing from the conviction
of our inability to comprehend God. We thus confess
the incomprehensible grandeur and sovereign majesty
of Him whose being is above all being, whose power is
above all power, whose glory is above all glory,
whose substance is immeasurably raised above all
other substances, visible or invisible. Upon this
point St. Augustine has said with much beauty and
force, "When I seek my God I seek not corporal grace,
nor transient beauty, nor splendor, nor melodious
sound, nor sweet fragrance of flowers, nor odorous
essence, nor honeyed manna, nor grace of form, nor
anything pleasing to the flesh. None of these things
do I seek when I seek my God. But I seek a light
exceeding all light, which the eyes cannot see; a
voice sweeter than all sound, which the ear cannot
hear; a sweetness above all sweetness, which the
tongue cannot taste; a fragrance above all fragrance,
which the senses cannot perceive; a mysterious and
divine embrace, which the body cannot feel. For this
light shines without radiance, this voice is heard
without striking the air, this fragrance is perceived
though the wind does not bear it, this taste
inebriates with no palate to relish it, and this
embrace is felt in the center of the soul." (Conf.,
L.10, 6; Solil., c. 31). If you would have further proof of the infinite power
and greatness of God, contemplate the order and
beauty of the world. Let us first bear in mind, as
St. Denis tells us, that effects are proportioned to
their cause, and then consider the admirable order,
marvelous beauty, and incomprehensible grandeur of
the universe. There are stars in heaven several
hundred times larger than the earth and sea together.
Consider also the infinite variety of creatures in
all parts of the world, on the earth, in the air, and
in the water, each with an organization so perfect
that never has there been discovered in them anything
superfluous or not suited to the end for which they
are destined; and this truth is in no way weakened by
the existence of monsters, which are but distortions
of nature, due to the imperfection of created causes.
And this vast and majestic universe God created in a
single instant, according to the opinion of St.
Augustine and St. Clement of Alexandria; from nothing
He drew being, without matter or element, instrument
or model, unlimited by time or space. He created the
whole world and all that is contained therein by a
single act of His will. And He could as easily have
created millions of worlds greater, more beautiful,
and more populous than ours, and could as easily
reduce them again to nothing. Since, therefore,
according to St. Denis, effects bear a proportion to
their cause, what must be the power of a cause which
has produced such effects? Yet all these great and
perfect works are vastly inferior to their Divine
Author. Who could not but be filled with admiration
and astonishment in contemplating the greatness of
such a Being? Though we cannot see it with our
corporal eyes, yet the reflections we have just
indicated must enable us in a measure to conceive the
grandeur and incomprehensibility of His power. St.
Thomas, in his Summa Theologica, endeavors by the
following argument to give us some idea of the
immensity of God: We see, he tells us, that in
material things that which excels in perfection also
excels in quantity. Thus the water is greater than
the earth, the air is greater than the water, and
fire is greater than the air. The first heaven is
more extensive than the element of fire, the second
heaven is more extensive than the first, the third
likewise exceeds the second, and so of the others
till we come to the tenth sphere, or the empyreal
heaven, to the grandeur and beauty of which nothing
in the universe can be compared. Consequently the
empyreal heavens, the finest and noblest of all the
bodies which compose the universe, being incomparably
greater than all the rest, we may infer, adds the
Angelic Doctor, how far God, the first, the greatest,
the most perfect of all beings, spiritual or
corporal, and the Creator of all, exceeds them, not
in material quantity � for He is a pure spirit � but
in every possible perfection. Thus we begin to
understand, in some manner, what are the perfections
of God, since they cannot but be in proportion to His
being. For, as we read in Ecclesiasticus, "According
to His greatness, so also is His mercy with Him." (Ecclus.
2:23). Nor are any of His other attributes less.
Hence He is infinitely wise, infinitely merciful,
infinitely just, infinitely good, and, therefore,
infinitely worthy to be obeyed, feared, and
reverenced by all creatures. Were the human heart
capable of infinite homage, infinite love, it should
offer them to this supreme Master. For if reverence
and homage must be proportioned to the greatness and
dignity of him to whom they are offered, then the
homage we offer God should, if we were capable of it,
be infinite also.
How great, then, is our obligation to love God, had
He no other title to our love and service! What can
he love who does not love such Goodness? What can he
fear who does not fear this infinite Majesty? Whom
will he serve who refuses to serve such a Master? And
why was our will given to us, if not to embrace and
love good? If, therefore, this great God be the
Sovereign Good, why does not our will embrace it
before all other goods? If it be a great evil not to
love and reverence Him above all things, who can
express the crime of those who love everything better
than they love Him? It is almost incredible that
the malice and blindness of man can go so far; but
yet, alas! How many there are who for a base
pleasure, for an imaginary point of honor, for a vile
and sordid interest, continually offend this
Sovereign Goodness! There are others who go further
and sin without any of these motives, through pure
malice or habit. Oh! Incomprehensible blindness! Oh!
More than brute stupidity! Oh! Rashness! Oh! Folly
worthy of demons! What is the chastisement
proportioned to the crime of those who thus despise
their Maker? Surely none other than that which these
senseless creatures will receive � the eternal fire
of Hell. Here, then, is the first motive which
obliges us to love and serve God. This is an
obligation so great that compared to it, all
obligations to creatures, whatever their excellence
or perfections, are only obligations in name. For as
the perfections of creatures are mere imperfections
compared with the perfections of God, so the
obligations resulting therefrom cannot with justice
be considered obligations when contrasted with those
which we owe to God. Nor can our offences against the
creature be regarded as offenses, except in name,
when we remember the guilt we have incurred by our
many sins against God. For this reason David cried
out, "Against thee only, O God, have I sinned" (Ps.
50:6), though he had sinned against Urias, whom he
murdered; against the wife of Urias, whom he
dishonored; and against his subjects, whom he
scandalized. The penitent king knew that his offences
against creatures, notwithstanding their different
degrees of deformity, could not equal the enormity of
his revolt against God. For God being infinite, our
obligations towards Him and our offences against Him
are, in a measure, infinite.
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