far off. Yet in this knowledge of God consists our eternal life and
man's supreme happiness. In this way, in former times, certain
worthy philosophers searched for God, and especially that great
thinker Aristotle, who tried to discover the Author of Nature from
the order of nature and its course. He sought earnestly, and he was
convinced from the well-ordered course of nature that there must of
necessity be one Prince and Lord of the whole universe--He whom we
call God. About this God and Lord we know this much, that He is an
immortal Substance, eternal, without before or after, simple, bare,
unchangeable, an incorporeal and essential Spirit, whose substance
is life and energy, whose most penetrating intelligence knows all
things in and by itself, whose essence in itself is an abyss of
pleasures and joys, and who is to Himself, and to all who shall
enjoy Him in a future life, a supernatural, ineffable, and most
sweet happiness. The maiden, when she heard this, looked up, and
said: These things are sweet to tell and sweet to hear, for they
rouse the heart, and lift the spirit up far beyond itself.
Therefore, father, tell me more about these things. The servitor
said: The Divine Essence, about which we speak, is an intelligible
or intellectual Substance of such a kind, that it cannot be seen in
itself by mortal eyes; but it can be discerned in its effects, even
as we recognise a fine artist by his works. As the Apostle teaches
us, "The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made." For the
creatures are a kind of mirror, in which God shines. This knowledge
is called speculation, by which we contemplate the great Architect
of the world in His works. Come now, look upward and about thee,
through all the quarters of the universe, and see how wide and high
the beautiful heaven is, how swift its motion, and how marvellously
its Creator has adorned it with the seven planets, and with the