The superior remoteness of the Father is really
inconceivable, in that thought and intelligence are wholly impotent to
go beyond the generation of the Lord; and St. John has admirably
confined the conception within circumscribed boundaries by two words,
“In the beginning was the Word.” For thought
cannot travel outside “was,” nor imagination Φαντασία
is the philosophic term for imagination or presentation, the mental
faculty by which the object made apparent, φάντασμα,
becomes apparent, φαίνεται.
Aristotle, de An. III. iii. 20 defines it as “a movement of
the mind generated by sensation.” Fancy, which is
derived from φαντασία
(φαίνω, ÖBHA=shine) has acquired a slightly different
meaning in some usages of modern speech. beyond “beginning.”
Let your thought
travel ever so far backward you cannot get beyond the
“was,” and however you may strain and strive to see
what is beyond the Son, you will find it impossible to get further than
the “beginning.” True religion, therefore,
thus teaches us to think of the Son together with the
Father.