Every thing speaks of
Him, and proclaims His holy name to you. All that you see, all that
you hear and feel must recall to your mind some gift of His love, or
some effect of His mercy. All creatures in heaven and on earth are
like so many voices which, mingling in a harmonious concert, sing to
you His praises and publish His mercies.
Do you listen to them? Do they not pass you unperceived like the
flitting zephyrs' leaving no trace to mark their passage. Did you
ever seriously try to render an account of the attributes of God, and
particularly of His goodness and justice? of His goodness to endear
Him to all, and of His justice to make Him be feared by all. Have you
considered well that to know God is to know all, because He is the
Author of all creation possessing in Himself to an infinite degree
all the perfections of His creation?
He who does not labor to obtain a knowledge of God can scarcely
obtain any knowledge of himself. How is it possible for us to know
what we are while we ignore what God is for us and what we owe Him?
Oh, how few there are who know themselves! The first condition
necessary to secure this knowledge, so important and so precious, is
profound humility, which unsparingly reveals the real motive of all
our actions, the uncompromising antagonist of our pride and self-love.
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