(17:18) Further (to say a word here concerning the intellect and the will
which we attribute to God), if intellect and will appertain to the eternal
essence of God, we must take these words in some significations quite
different from those they usually bear. (19) For intellect and will, which
should constitute the essence of God, would perforce be as far apart as the
poles from the human intellect and will, in fact, would have nothing in
common with them but the name; there would be about as much correspondence
between the two as there is between the Dog, the heavenly constellation,
and a dog, an animal that barks. (20) This I will prove as follows: If
intellect belongs to the divine nature, it cannot be in nature, as ours
is generally thought to be, posterior to, or simultaneous with the things
understood, inasmuch as God is prior to all things by reason of his
casualty ([xvi] Coroll. i.). (17:21) On the contrary, the truth and formal
essence of things is as it is, because it exists by representation as such
in the intellect of God; Wherefore the intellect of God, in so far as it
is conceived to constitute God's essence, is, in reality, the cause of
things, both of their essence and of their existence. (22) This seems to
have been recognized by those who have asserted, that God's intellect,
God's will, and God's power, are one and the same.
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