Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/163

ator consists in the eternal subjection of this creation to fixed and immutable laws, which are the perpetual manifestation of his sovereign will, so there is no union between God and man except that man, who is separated from God by sin, returns to him, either as impenitent to experience his justice, or as purified to enjoy his mercy.

If, after having attentively and separately considered the angelical and human prevarications, and found them to be each a perturbation by accident, but in essence a harmony, we consider both prevarications at the same time, we shall behold with admiration the manner in which their harsh dissonances are changed into marvelous accords by the irresistible power of the divine Thaumaturgus.

We must here observe, before proceeding further, that all the beauty of creation consists in the fact that each thing is, in itself, as a reflection of some one of the divine perfections; so that all united present a faithful likeness of his sovereign beauty. From the splendid orb which illumines space to the humble lily that lies unnoted in the valley, and from the most obscure depths of the valleys that are adorned with lilies to the height of the heavens, resplendent with worlds, all creatures, each in its own manner, recount, one to the other, the wonders of the Lord, and they altogether attest his ineffable perfections, and sing in an endless canticle his excellence and glory. The heavens show forth his omnipotence, the seas his grandeur, the earth his fecundity, and the stupendous masses of clouds figure to us the footstool of his throne. The lightning is his will, the thunder-bolt his voice. He broods in sublime silence over the abyss, and the impetuous hurricane and tem-