MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA TREATISE I.13. THE INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF GOD.
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA
TREATISE I.
13. THE INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF GOD.
I. God is known to us with perfect certitude ; at the
same time we cannot now, and never shall fully understand
Him. The infinite heights and the infinite depths of His
nature, and the multitudinous aspects which His perfections
present to us cannot be grasped and sounded by any less
perfect than Himself. " The things that are of God no one
knoweth but the Spirit of God " (1 Cor. ii. 11). God is in
comprehensible. Man possesses the light of nature for the
investigation of truth. His natural faculties, exercised upon
the world around him, discover to him the existence of God
and some of His attributes, His greatness, wisdom, goodness,
and others. " The invisible things of Him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, His eternal power also and divinity " (Rom.
i. 20). But our science, while penetrating boldly into the
secrets of the universe, is checked at the threshold of God s
sanctuary. It is unable to analyse and catalogue the divine
mysteries ; it requires to be refined and elevated first by
supernatural grace. God, to our natural faculties, is like a
great fire beyond the horizon. We have evidence of its
existence and know something of what it must be by the
volumes of smoke ; but we do not know of its details, and
still less do we profit by its light and heat and varied power.
Take care not to trust too much to natural faculties and
mental cultivation in the things of God. As towards God
natural science is profoundest ignorance.
II. To satisfy our desires for the unattainable, God gives
us a second light, that of faith and revelation. This is of
the supernatural order. By this we are able to receive and
assimilate knowledge about the Trinity, the Incarnation,
the future life, the moral law, the Church ; knowledge which
is most positive and certain, and yet cannot be gained by
natural investigations, nor proved by natural tests. One
ray of this light does more for our intelligence, in spiritual
matters, than years of study and all the instruments of the
laboratory. We may compare this higher light to those
marvellous rays which penetrate through solid substance
and convey to us a picture of metals or bones enclosed
within. Unless we have the secret, no accumulation of
ordinary light in its greatest intensity is of any avail. At
present even the supernatural light reveals God only as
"through a glass in an obscure manner" (1 Cor. xiii. 12).
Yet it gives us a knowledge such as worldly wisdom never
acquires : a knowledge that is primarily spiritual, but enables
us to understand many of the secrets of life, of the practical
sciences, of history. Be grateful for the gift of revelation
and faith, but do not expect that it will dispel all clouds
and explain all difficulties.
III. When we shall have been proved faithful and admitted to the presence of God we shall become capable of a
higher manifestation of God by the light of glory. Our eyes
will be opened, our intellect perfected, and God will be
disclosed to our sight. Then we shall know things, which
here below eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart
conceived. We shall receive a special influx from God, or
a light, which will enable us to apprehend the Beatific
Vision. Yet even then the angels and the blessed will find
God still unfathomable. For eternity they will go on, progressing in mental illumination and in ever new delights,
and yet will never arrive at the end. God will remain for
ever beyond all human capacity, however enlarged ; for He
will always be infinite, and we shall always have a finite
receptivity. How miserable then will be the lot of those
who have been content with the light of nature, have refused
to receive or acknowledge the light of faith, and have there
by excluded themselves from the light of glory ! They will
remain in the darkness of ignorance for ever. Take care so
to profit by faith here as to merit the fulness of illumination
hereafter.
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES BELLORD, D.D.
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