(2) A man without the knowledge of God is simply so far an imperfect man. He is only partially educated, only partially developed. He is like a person who has not the colour sense and cannot see the beauty of the autumn leaves ; or like a person who has a defect of the brain and cannot put two ideas together; or ^ Andrew Wellwood. ^ W. Holman JBentley, 320.
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like a person who, having had a very narrow experience, can form no opinion of things beyond his ken, and judges the whole world by the little town in which he lives or the people according to the neighbours whom he knows. A man without a knowledge of God is simply a man who has left out of his study the most important and also accessible of all truths, that piece of know- ledge which is not so much a branch of the tree as the root of the tree itself, the knowledge upon which all sound living and all sound thinking must ultimately depend ; for one who has missed God in the universe has found himself in a universe which has no key, no meaning, no goal, nothing intelligible, and his own mind therefore reflects the meaninglessness and the chaos of the godless universe in which he imagines that he lives.
Acquaint thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste His works. Admitted once to His embrace, Thou shalt perceive that thou wast blind before : Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart. Made pure, shall relish with divine delight Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought,^
II.
The Peace which comes from Acquaintance with God.
Personal acquaintance with God brings peace to the soul. This peace is twofold : —
1. It is peace with God. — The enmity of the carnal mind is slain, Divine love has vanquished the spirit of opposition, all barriers are broken down ; the soul glides from the storm-swept sea of doubt, fear, and uncertainty into the calm haven of God's assured forgiveness and acceptance. The disquieted conscience finds rest from upbraiding ; being justified by faith, the believer now has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation to him, he has passed out of death into life.
% From a boy I had been led to consider that my Maker and I, His creature, were the two beings, luminously such, in rerum
^ Cowper.
io8 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD
natura. I will not here speculate, however, about my own feelings. Only this I know full well now, and did not know then, that the Catholic Church allows no image of any sort, material or immaterial, no dogmatic symbol, no rite, no sacrament, no Saint, not even the Blessed Virgin herself, to come between the soul and its Creator. It is face to face, " solus cum solo," in all matters between man and his God. He alone creates ; He alone has redeemed; before His awful eyes we go in death; in the vision of Him is our eternal beatitude.^
Dear Angel, say. Why have I now no fear at meeting Him ? Along my earthly life, the thought of death And judgment was to me most terrible. I had it aye before me, and I saw The Judge severe e'en in the Crucifix. Now that the hour is come, my fear is fled; And at this balance of my destiny, Now close upon me, I can forward look With a serenest joy.^
2. It is also the peace of God. — God's peace is not merely a negative thing, not merely the removal of enmitv and dispersion of wrath. It is like music. Harmony is the perfection of sound, not the absence of sound. The return of the soul in penitence and faith to God, and its union with Him in peace leads at once to harmonious commerce and reciprocal affection between the two spirits — finite and infinite. As the Divine Eewarder lifts upon those who diligently seek Him the light of His countenance all tumult subsides, peace at once takes possession and establishes its sovereignty. The immutable promise is, " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee ; because he trusteth in thee." The perfect attitude of trust, with the mind un- waveringly stayed upon God as the sure support and never-failing help, secures perfect permanent peace.
^ The central thought of religion is of a peace that is beyond the unrest of life, of a harmony that transcends all its discords, of a unity of purpose which works through all the confiict of the forces of nature, and the still more intense conflict of the wills of men.2
^ J. H. Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, 195.
" J. H. Newman, Verses on Various Occasions, 244. * Edward Caird.
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Acquaint thyself with God !
Know thou His tender love ; So shall the healing sunshine fall
Upon thee from above. Acquaint thyself with God !
In Him alone is peace, — Eest for the weary child of time,
And everlasting bliss.
Acquaint thyself with God!
Choose thou the better part ; So shall His heavenly sunlight be
The day-spring of thy heart. Acquaint thyself with God !
He bids thee seek His face, That thus thy youthful soul may taste