Chapter VI.—The Love of God, in
His Nature Superior to All Creatures, is Acquired by the Knowledge
of the Senses and the Exercise of Reason.
8. Not with uncertain, but with assured
consciousness do I love Thee, O Lord. Thou hast stricken my heart
with Thy word, and I loved Thee. And also the heaven, and earth, and all that is therein, behold, on every side they say that I should love Thee; nor do they cease to speak unto all, “so that they are without excuse.” But more profoundly wilt Thou have mercy on whom Thou wilt have mercy, and compassion on whom Thou wilt have compassion, otherwise do both heaven and earth tell forth Thy praises to deaf ears. But what is it that I love in loving Thee? Not corporeal beauty, nor the splendour of time, nor the radiance of the light, so pleasant to our eyes, nor the sweet melodies of songs of all kinds, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs pleasant to the embracements of flesh. I love not these things when I love my God; and yet I love a certain kind of light, and sound, and fragrance, and food, and embracement in loving my God, who is the light, sound, fragrance, food, and embracement of my inner man—where that light shineth unto my soul which no place can contain, where that soundeth which time snatcheth not away, where there is a fragrance which no breeze disperseth, where there is a food which no eating can diminish, and where that clingeth which no satiety can sunder. This is what I love, when I love my God.
9. And what is this? I asked the earth; and it
answered, “I am not He;” and whatsoever are therein made the
same confession. I asked the sea and the deeps, and the creeping
things that lived, and they replied, “We are not thy God, seek
higher than we.” I asked the breezy air, and the universal air
with its inhabitants answered, “Anaximenes was deceived, I am not God.” I
asked the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars: “Neither,” say
they, “are we the God whom thou seekest.” And I answered unto
all these things which stand about the door of my flesh, “Ye have
told me concerning my God, that ye are not He; tell me something
about Him.” And with a loud voice they exclaimed, “He made
us.” My questioning was my observing of them; and their beauty
was their reply. And I
directed my thoughts to myself, and said, “Who art thou?” And I
answered, “A man.” And lo, in me there appear both body and
soul, the one without, the other within. By which of these should I
seek my God, whom I had sought through the body from earth to
heaven, as far as I was able to send messengers—the beams of mine
eyes? But the better part is that which is inner; for to it, as
both president and judge, did all these my corporeal messengers
render the answers of heaven and earth and all things therein, who
said, “We are not God, but He made us.” These things was my
inner man cognizant of by the ministry of the outer; I, the inner
man, knew all this—I, the soul, through the senses of my body. I
asked the vast bulk of the earth of my God, and it answered me, “I am not He, but He made me.”