72. Far be it from us to imagine
vicissitudes of bodily change in the Father and Son, as though the
Father sometimes spoke to the Son, and sometimes was silent. We
remember, indeed, that a voice was sometimes uttered from heaven for
us, that the power of the Father’s words might confirm for us the
mystery of the Son, as the Lord says, This voice hath not come from
Heaven for My sake but for your sakes St. John xii. 30.. But the divine nature can dispense
with the various combinations necessary for human functions, the motion
of the tongue, the adjustment of the mouth, the forcing of the breath,
and the vibration of the air. God is a simple Being: we
must understand Him by devotion, and confess Him by reverence. He
is to be worshipped, not pursued by our senses, for a conditioned and
weak nature cannot grasp with the guesses of its imagination the
mystery of an infinite and omnipotent nature. In God is no
variability, no parts, as of a composite divinity, that in Him will
should follow inaction, speech silence, or work rest, or that He should
not will, without passing from some other mental state to volition, or
speak, without breaking the silence with His voice, or act, without
going forth to labour. He is not subject to the laws of nature,
for nature has received its law from Him: He never suffers
weakness or change when He acts, for His power is boundless, as the
Lord said, Father, all things are possible unto Thee St. Mark xiv. 36.. He can do more than human sense
can conceive. The Lord does not deprive even Himself of the
quality of omnipotence, for He says, What things soever the Father
doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner St. John v. 19.. Nothing is difficult, when there
is no weakness; for only a power which is weak to effect, knows the
need of effort. The cause of difficulty is the weakness of the
motive force; a force of limitless power rises above the conditions of
impotence.