CHAPTER I.
GOD CONTAINS WITHIN HIMSELF, AND CAN PERFORM, AN INFINITE NUMBER OF THINGS SURPASSING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.
If we think, for a moment, of the natural weakness of our intellect, we shall easily see that in God there must be many things which exceed our mental capacity. We believe that the acme of human wisdom has been reached by a certain number of great philosophers; yet even they acknowledge themselves to be baffled by some purely natural phenomena. If, then, men of the very highest order of intelligence have been able to attain merely to a very imperfect knowledge of the everyday things of nature, how can we expect to understand heavenly mysteries, and the Divine truths which are so far above any earthly intelligence?
Again. Although men are all of the same species, they differ so much in mental capacity, that many, although making every effort, could never succeed in understanding matters which are comparatively simple to others. Why then should we wonder, if the angelic mind be so differentiated from the human, that angels know many things which men are quite incapable of comprehending? And as God is infinitely superior to angels, must there not be in Him infinite things surpassing the powers of human reason? And although we can, as a rule, know a cause by its effects; yet when a cause greatly exceeds its effects, the effects do but most imperfectly manifest their cause. Hence, God, being infinitely superior to His effects, can only be most imperfectly known by them.
It is not difficult, furthermore, to prove that God can do infinite things of which the human intellect is incapable. For, as all our knowledge begins from the senses, our intellect can only, naturally, grasp such things as are made clear to it by means of the senses; and whatever efforts we may make, we can never know anything which exceeds the natural order, or which is beyond our imagination. Now, God, being Pure Act and Infinite Power, is not tied down to any order whatsoever, but infinitely exceeds all created things, both spiritual and corporeal. Thus we are constrained to acknowledge, that He can do infinite things which we can never understand. We know, further, not only that He can do, but that He has done many such things, viz., things spiritual and angelic.
We can assign three reasons which make it fitting that God should have done, and should have manifested to the world, many supernatural things, surpassing the capacity of human understanding. First. He has done so with a view to the salvation of mankind. For, as man is made for God, and for a supernatural end, he could not attain to that end, were it not revealed to him by God, together with the means conducive to it. Secondly. God has acted thus, in order to humble man, and to teach him to know his own nothingness as compared to the Divine Majesty. For, in proportion as we realise that we can neither know nor contemplate (save most imperfectly) even things revealed to us, we shall become more lowly minded, and more reverent towards such as are Divine. Thirdly. By the manifold revelation of His mysteries, which God has made to the world, man has acquired a great relish for eternal truths, and has learned to love the Divine goodness and condescension.
Hence, the fact that we cannot understand the truths of Christianity is no reason for rejecting these truths. It is a reason, rather, for making a serious study of the religion which teaches them, and of thus proving to ourselves that it contains nothing either unreasonable or incredible. But to make this more evident, we will (in the succeeding chapters) descend to particular instances.
CHAPTER II.
AN EXAMINATION OF CERTAIN ARTICLES OF THE CHRISTIAN CREED WHICH EXCEED THE LIMITS OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.
We may divide the articles of belief peculiar to Christians, into those that pertain to the Divinity of Christ, and those that concern His Humanity.