Chapter XVI. Of Meditation on the Being of God

WHAT God is, He Himself, Who has perfect knowledge of Himself, has told us, when He answered and said: "I Am that I Am."

And this which is here declared concerning God, may not be attributed to any creature; neither to Princes, nor Kings, nor Emperors, neither to Angels, nor to the whole world when taken together; because every thing has its being dependent upon God, and is in itself simply nothing.

And from this appears the vanity of man's love for creatures, and of his attachment for them, when he should love the Creator in them, and the creatures only according to the will of his Lord; his love is vain, because he loves vanities. It is vain, because he thinks to satisfy himself with those things which are nothing in themselves. It is vain, because he wearies himself to possess those things which, when they are obtained, rob and slay their possessors.

If then you would love as you ought to love, love God, Who fills and satisfies the heart.