CHAPTER XLVIII

OF THE UNITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE IN THE TRINITY OF THE PERSONS

The most high and superessential Unity of the Divine Nature, where the Father and the Son possess Their nature in the unity of the Holy Ghost—above the comprehension and understanding of all our powers, in the naked being of our spirit—is a supernal stillness, wherein God broods above all creatures in the created light. This most high Unity of the Divine Nature is living and fruitful; for, out of this same Unity, the Eternal Word is incessantly born of the Father. And, through this birth, the Father knows the Son; and, in the Son, all things. And the Son knows the Father; and all things in the Father. For they are one Simple Nature. From this mutual contemplation of the Father and the Son, in the eternal radiance, there flow forth an eternal content⁵³⁵³    The Flemish “welbehagen” is perhaps more accurately translated “well-being,” “comfort” or “good pleasure.” Cf. The Book of Truth, cap. 10. The idea intended is the complete and blissful self-comprehension and self-satisfaction of the Divine Essence; the “perfect round” which is enringed in love. So Dante— “O luce eterna, che sola in te sidi, sola t’intendi, e, da te intelletta ed intendente te, ami ed arridi!” (Par. xxxiii. 124.) and a fathomless love, and that is the Holy Ghost. And through the Holy Ghost, and through the Eternal Wisdom, God inclines Himself towards each creature in particular, and lovingly endows and enkindles each one, according to its worth and the state into which it has been put and to which it has been destined by its virtues and by the Eternal Providence of God. And thereby all good spirits, in heaven and on earth, are moved to virtue and righteousness.