MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA TREATISE I. 2. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
LE SUEUR, Eustache
St Bruno at Prayer
1645-48
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA TREATISE
TREATISE I.
2. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
I. God exists. This is the first truth of all truths ; it is
eternally true, before all ages, without beginning ; it is a
necessary truth, for the opposite is inconceivable ; it is the
most important of all truths, for all things affirm it, and all
depend upon it ; and it is for ever unchangeable. This truth
is the foundation of that most universal, most constant of
all phenomena, Religion. Around this all civilizations have
grown up ; because this alone furnishes a rational ground
for virtue, for that suppression of natural savagery and
selfishness which is necessary for social life. The recognition of this truth makes all the difference between high
and noble lives, and noxious, degraded, animal lives. To all
those who aspire to higher things, even though conscious of
sin and depressed by their weakness, the existence of God
is a source of strength and hope and joy. It gives them an
ideal that is higher than mere matter, a hope that raises
them above this world and enables them to bear its dis
appointments, courage to repent, and assurance of pardon.
How miserable the lot of those who have deprived them
selves of all this, who possess nothing and believe in nothing
but themselves and possessions and pleasures ! Thank God
for having revealed so clearly this most glorious truth.
Keep it always before your eyes and in your right hand, by
continual remembrance of God, and by doing all your works
for His glory.
II. The existence of God is not only revealed, it is also
a truth of the natural order, enforced on our recognition by
the material world around us. " For by the greatness of
the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may
be seen so as to be known thereby " (Wisd. xiii. 5). The
world proclaims the existence of a first principle, greater
than itself, from which all things proceeded. The immensity,
the splendour, the order of the universe, the perfection of
GOD.
the most insignificant but countless details, make known a
great Being of infinite power and wisdom and goodness. So
distinct is this teaching that the lowest barbarians, unable
for the rest to rise above material things, yet hold firmly,
with greater or less distinctness, this transcendent truth.
Some individuals, no doubt, have rejected this doctrine ; but
we need not be surprised that humanity, like every other
class of beings, has its aborted or atavic forms. " The light
of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us; Thou hast
given gladness in my heart " (Ps. iv. 7). Look with reverence on this world which God has made. It is a revelation of God to us, and is not made superfluous by the
higher and supernatural revelation ; each illustrates the
other. Search for God in each and you will find Him.
III. How shall we conceive to ourselves this supreme
existence? Pagans have thought of God under human,
unworthy, even degraded attributes. There are whole
classes of Christians who transform the Deity into their
own likeness, instead of modelling themselves upon Him.
They attribute to God their own points of view ; or they
judge of His works as if they knew His motives, and as
if His works were those of man. Watch for this tendency
in yourself and suppress it. St. John represents the Divinity as universal light and life filling all things, and dazzling
the comprehension of the world. We may think of Him
as one supreme, boundless, formless, changeless spirit, the
tranquil source of all the exuberant life and energy of the
universe ; as manifested to us in the mysterious Trinity,
and visibly in that Divine Person who became Jesus Christ.
St. Augustine tells us that if we would approach to the
idea of God we must think of Him as Supreme Love. See
into what a sublime region we rise at once when we turn
to God ! How far above the sordid cares and pleasures of
the world ! Live always in this region. Let this great truth,
like the sun, shine ever before your eyes and illumine your
life.
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