Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/164

pestuous whirlwind declare the terrors of his wrath. 'Tis he that has adorned us, proclaim the flowers of the field; and the heavens declare, 'tis he that has given us our brilliant expanse; the stars cry out, we are as jewels fallen from his splendid vestment; and men and angels bear witness that, in passing before them, he left engraven upon them his most beauteous, glorious, and perfect image. In this way certain things in creation represented the grandeur of God, others his majesty, others again his omnipotence, and, above all, men and angels represented the treasures of his goodness, the marvels of his grace, and the splendor of his beauty. But God is not only perfect and wonderful in beauty, grace, goodness, and omnipotence; he is moreover, and above all these things, if his perfections could be measured, infinitely just and infinitely merciful. It follows from this that the supreme act of creation could not be considered as consummated and perfected, until after having realized, in all their various manifestations, his infinite justice and infinite mercy. And as God could not exercise that special mercy and justice which are applied to the guilty without the prevarication of intelligent and free beings, it follows that this prevarication itself was the occasion of the grandest of all harmonies and the most beautiful of all consonances.

After the prevarication of intelligent and free beings, God shone in the midst of creation with a new and greater splendor. The universe in general was the perfect reflection of his omnipotence; the terrestrial paradise especially exhibited his grace, the heavens his mercy; hell alone reflected his justice; while the earth, placed between these two poles of creation, mirrored at the same time his justice and mercy. When, through