That thou art a religious, thy profession, thy state, thy habit and tonsure, and the other marks of the religious life declare. See to it whether thou art a religious in truth or only one in name. Consider how thou art fallen and how thou sinnest against the Lord thy God and against His justice if thy deeds do not correspond with thy holy state, if by will or desire thou clingest to the creature rather than to the Creator, or preferrest the creature to the Creator. CHAPTER IX THE CONTEMPLATION OF GOD IS TO BE PREFERRED ABOVE ALL OTHER EXERCISES Whatever exists outside of God is the work of His hands. Every creature is, therefore, a blending together of the actual and the possible, and as such is in its nature limited. Born of nothing, it is surrounded by nothingness, and tends to nothingness.[40] Of necessity the creature depends each moment upon God, the supreme Artist, for its existence, preservation, power of action, and all that it possesses. It is utterly unable to accomplish its own work, either for itself or for another, and is impotent as a thing which is not before that which is, the finite before the infinite. It follows, therefore, that our life, thoughts, and works should be in Him, of Him, for Him, and directed to Him, Who by the least sign of His will could produce creatures unspeakably more perfect than any which now exist. It is impossible that there should be in the mind or heart a thought or a love more profitable, more perfect or more blessed than those which rest upon God, the Almighty Creator, of Whom, in Whom, by Whom, towards Whom all tend. He suffices infinitely for Himself and for others, since from all eternity He contains within Himself the perfections of all things. There is nothing within Him which is not Himself. In Him and by Him exist the causes of all transitory things; in Him are the immutable origins of all things that change, whether rational or irrational. All that happens in time has in Him its eternal principle. He fills all; He is in all things by His essence, by which He is more present and more near to them than they are to themselves.[41] In Him all things are united and live eternally.[42] It is true that the weakness of our understanding or our want of experience[43] may oblige us to make use of creatures in our contemplation, yet there is a kind of contemplation which is very fruitful, good, and real, which seems possible to all. Whether he meditates on the creature or the Creator, every man may reach the point at which he finds all his joy in His Creator, God, One in Trinity, and kindles the fire of Divine love in himself or in others, so as to merit eternal life.