TCR 28 - Seeing the 'Back Parts of God'

TCR 28

It has so far been shown that God is one 
and is the very and first Being of everything, 
and that all things which are, 
come into being and subsist in the universe, 
are from Him. 
It follows from this that He is infinite. 
In the following pages it will be proved 
that human reason can see the truth of that 
from very many things in the created universe. 
But although these things can lead 
the human mind to acknowledge 
that the prime Entity (Ens) 
or first Being (Esse) is infinite, 
it still cannot know its nature; 
and therefore cannot define it 
except as the total infinite, 
subsisting in itself 
and thus the very and sole substance; 
and since nothing 
can be predicated of substance without form, 
that it is the very and sole form. 
Yet where does this get us? 
This still does not show what the infinite is like. 
For the human mind, 
for all its loftiness and superb analytical power, 
is finite, 
and there is no way of rendering it 
anything but finite. 
Therefore it is incapable of seeing 
the infinity of God as it is in itself, 
and so seeing God; 
but it can see God in shadow from behind, 
as Moses was told when he begged to see God: 
he was placed in a cleft in the rock 
and saw His back parts (Exodus 33:20-23). 
The 'back parts of God' 
mean what is visible in the world, 
and in particular 
what can be perceived in the Word.