CHAPTER II.

Of the Second Title, under which we are obliged to Virtue and to the Service of God, namely, the Benefit of Creation.

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E are obliged to keep GOD's Commandments and to practise virtue, not only for what GOD is in Himself, but also for what He is to us, that is, by reason of His innumerable benefits. And although we have treated of them elsewhere, for different purposes, we will here speak of them, to see the great obligation that we are under to serve their Giver.

The first Benefit is that of Creation, of which, because it is so well known, I will say only, that by this benefit man is bound to give himself up wholly to the service of the LORD Who created him, for by all laws a man is debtor for what he has received. Since then by this Benefit he received his existence, that is, his body with all its senses, and his soul with all its powers, it follows that he is bound to employ every one of these in the service of the Maker, on pain of being a robber and ungrateful to the Bestower of such great good. For if a man builds a house, who is to use the house but the owner who built it? And if he plants a vineyard, whose is the fruit to be but the planter's? And if he has a son, whom is the son more bound to serve than the father who begat him? And for this cause the Law sets few limits to a father's power over his children, because, as he has given them existence, he is therefore their master. If a father, then, has such rights over his son, what must He have from Whom all fatherhood is derived in Heaven and earth? (Eph. iii. 14, 15.)

And if, as Seneca says, those who receive benefits are bound to imitate fertile lands, which give much more than they receive, how can we return such gratitude as this to GOD? for whatever we may give to Him, it cannot be more than we receive. And if they fail to keep this law who give not more than they receive, what shall we say of one who does not prize even what he has received? And if, as Aristotle says, the debt that is due to GOD and to fathers cannot be entirely paid, what can be paid to GOD, Who has given us so much more than the fathers of this world? And if it is a great crime for a son to be rebellious and disobedient to his father, what is it to be so to GOD, who is a Father by so many titles, and in comparison with Whom none is worthy of the name of father? With good reason, therefore, does He complain of them by a Prophet, saying, "If I be a Father, where is Mine honour? and if I be a Master, where is My fear?" (Mal. i. 6.) And another Prophet expresses his indignation in more burning words, saying, "Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy FATHER that hath bought thee? Hath He not made thee, and estabblished thee? (Deut. xxxii. 6.) These are they who neither lift up their eyes to Heaven, nor turn them inward upon themselves (Ps. xvii. 11), for if they did it they would inquire of themselves concerning themselves, and would seek to know their first origin and beginning: that is, who made them, and what he made them for, and by this they would understand what they ought to do. But because they will not do this, they live as if they had made themselves, like that unhappy King whom GOD threatened by a Prophet, saying, “Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh, King of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself" (Ezek. xxix. 3.) These words are said at least practically by those who live in forgetfulness of their Creator, as if they had made themselves, and acknowledged no maker. The blessed S. Augustine acted otherwise: by knowledge of his origin, he aimed at knowledge of his Creator. He says in a Soliloquy, "I turned to myself, and entered into myself, and asked myself, Who art thou? And I answered myself,

A reasonable and mortal man. And I began to inquire what this was, and said, Whence, O my GOD, did this soul originate? whence but from Thee? Thou art He that made us, and not I myself. Thou art He by Whom I live, and by Whom all things live and have their being. For can any be his own fashioner? Is there any one from whom life and existence proceed besides Thee? Art not Thou the Supreme Being from Whom all being comes? Art not Thou the Fount of Life from Which all life proceeds? Thou, LORD, hast made me, and without Thee nothing is made. Thou art my Maker, and I am Thy handiwork. Thanks be given then to Thee, O LORD, by Whom I live, and all things live. Thanks to Thee, my Former, because Thy Hands have formed and fashioned me. Thanks to Thee, my Light, for by Thy Light I have found Thee, and have found myself also."

This, then, is the first of the Divine Benefits, and the foundation of all the rest. For they all presuppose existence, which is given us by this Benefit, and therefore they bear the same relation to it that accidents do to the substance with which they are connected. See how great this Benefit is, and how worthy of gratitude. Now, if GOD so carefully requires gratitude for His Benefits, which He does not for His own advantage but ours, what will He demand for this, which is the foundation of all the others? Especially as it is GOD's way to be most bountiful in granting mercies, and most strict, if we may use the word, in exacting gratitude, not that it is any gain to Him, but because it is our obligation. Thus, we read in the Old Testament, that He had no sooner bestowed any benefit on His people, than He immediately gave orders that there should be a perpetual memorial and thanksgiving for it. He brought His people out of Egypt, and immediately, even before they came out, He ordered a most solemn feast to be kept in memory of it. (Exod. xii. 14.) He smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt for their sake, and immediately commanded that all the first-born of His people, from that time forth, should be consecrated to Him, in remembrance of this benefit. (Exod. xiii. 11-15.) He fed them with manna forty years in the wilderness, and when He began to send it, He commanded them to take a

pot, and put a certain quantity in it, and lay it up before the Testimony, that the generations to come might remember this benefit. (Exod. xvi. 32, 33.) Shortly after He gave them a signal victory over Amalek, and, as soon as it was gained, He said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua." (Exod. xvii. 14.) Now, if the LORD was so very careful to provide that temporal benefits should be kept in His people's memory with everlasting thanksgiving, what thanks will He require for this immortal blessing— an undying soul? This is why the holy Patriarchs were so careful to build altars, and to set up memorials whenever they received any especial benefit from GOD, (Gen. xii. 7, 8, xiii. 4, xxii. 14;) this made them even write the memorial of the benefits that they received in the names of the children that He gave them, lest they should ever forget them. (Gen. xl. 1.) And from this a Saint concludes, that we ought to remember GOD oftener than we draw our breath: for, as we always are, so we ought always to be giving thanks for the existence that we have received.

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So firm is the bond of this obligation, that even the philosophers of this world cry aloud to men not to be ungrateful to GOD. Epictetus, a renowned Stoic philosopher, speaks thus: "O man, be not ungrateful to that Supreme Power, but give Him thanks for the senses of sight and hearing, and far more for the life that He has given thee, and for the things wherewith it is sustained, for ripe fruits, and wine, and oil, and all His other gifts, and far more for the gift of reason which enables thee to use them all, and to know their value." Now, if a heathen philosopher demands this gratitude of us for these common gifts, what should be the thanks of a Christian, who has so much more light of faith, and who has received so much more!

common benefits are What do I owe Him

But thou wilt say, perchance, These rather works of nature than Gifts of GOD. especially for the order and arrangement of things that always follow their regular course? These are not the words of a Christian, but of a heathen; nay, not of a heathen, but of a brute. That thou mayest see this clearly, hear the reproof of the same philosopher, who says, "Wilt thou say that thou

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receivest these benefits from Nature? O ungrateful! Dost not thou understand that thou art only changing the Name of GOD? What is Nature but GOD, Who is the essence of Nature? Thus, thou thankless man, thou dost not excuse thyself by saying that thou owest this debt to Nature, and not to GOD, seeing that there is no Nature apart from GOD. If thou borrowest something of Lucius Seneca, and then sayest that thy debt is to Lucius, and not to Seneca, thou dost not change thy creditor, but only his name."

But not only this obligation of justice, but also our own need and poverty compel us to have this regard to our Creator, if after our creation we desire to attain to our proper felicity and perfection. To understand this, know that all things that are born are usually imperfect at their birth. Something they have, and something is lacking, which must be completed after, and the completion must be given by the hand that commenced the work, so that the beginning and the completion proceed from the same cause. And therefore all effects in general return to these causes to receive their final perfection. Plants stretch upwards towards the sun and root themselves as deeply as they can in the soil which gives them life. Fish will not leave the water which engendered them. A chicken, as soon as it is hatched, creeps under the hen's wings, and follows her wherever she goes. And a lamb does the same, keeping close to its mother's side, knowing her amongst a thousand mothers of the same colour, and cleaving to her, as if it would say, "Here I got what I have, here I shall receive what I lack."

This is universally the case with natural things, and it would be so with works of art, if they had sense or movement. If a painter finished a figure, but omitted the eyes, and the figure could feel the want, what would it do? where would it go? Certainly not to the house of a king or a prince, for they, as such, could not satisfy its desire, but to the house of the artist, whom it would entreat to finish perfecting it. And wherein, O reasonable creature, does thy case differ from this? Thou art not yet finished. Much is wanting to make thee completely perfect. The design is hardly finished, all the brilliancy and beauty of the work are yet to be given. And this is shown