h
those highest moods which, with us, last a brief space, it being
impossible they should be permanent; whereas, with Him they are
permanent, since His ever-present consciousness is pleasure itself. And
it is because they are vivid states of consciousness, that waking, and
perception, and thought, are the sweetest of all things. Now essential
perception is the perception of that which is most excellent,... and the
mind perceives itself by participating of its own object of perception;
but it is a sort of coalescence of both that, in the Divine Mind,
creates a regular identity between the two, so that with God both (the
thinker and the thought, the subject and object) are the same. In
possession of this prerogative, He subsists in the exercise of energy;
and the contemplation of his own perfections is what, to God, must be
most agreeable and excellent. This condition of existence, after so
excellent a manner, is what is "so astonishing to us when we examine
God's nature, and the more we do so the more wonderful that nature
appears to us. The mood of the Divine existence is essential energy,
and, as such, it is a life that is most excellent, blessed, and
everlasting.[752]

[Footnote 752: "Metaphysics," bk. xi. ch. vii.]

The theology of Aristotle may be summed up in the following sentences
selected from book xi. of his "Metaphysics:"

"This motionless cause of motion is a necessary being; and, by virtue of
such necessity, is the all-perfect being. This all-pervading principle
penetrates heaven and all nature. It eternally possesses perfect
happiness; and its happiness is in action. This primal mover is
immaterial; for its essence is in energy. It is pure thought--thought
thinking itself--the thought of thought. The activity of pure
intelligence--such is the perfect, eternal life of God. This primal
cause of change, this absolute perfection, moves the world by the
universal desire for the absolute good, by the attraction exercised upon
it by the Eternal Mind--the serene energy of Divine Intelligence."

It can not be denied that, so far as it goes, this conception of the
Deity is admirable, worthy, and just. Viewed from a Christian
stand-point, we at once concede that it is essentially defective. There
is no clear and distinct recognition of God as Creator and Governor of
the universe; he is chiefly regarded as the Life of the universe--the
Intellect, the Energy--that which gives excellence, and perfection, and
gladnes