FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   350   351   352   353   354   355   356   357   358   359   360   361   362   363   364   365   366   367   368   369   370   371   372   373   374  
375   376   377   378   379   380   381   382   383   384   385   386   387   388   389   390   391   392   393   394   395   396   397   398   399   >>   >|  
Nom. iv) that "the first good and beautiful is an object of love and dilection to all." But God is goodness and beauty itself. Therefore He is hated by none. Obj. 2: Further, in the Apocryphal books of 3 Esdras 4:36, 39 it is written that "all things call upon truth . . . and (all men) do well like of her works." Now God is the very truth according to John 14:6. Therefore all love God, and none can hate Him. Obj. 3: Further, hatred is a kind of aversion. But according to Dionysius (Div. Nom. i) God draws all things to Himself. Therefore none can hate Him. _On the contrary,_ It is written (Ps. 73:23): "The pride of them that hate Thee ascendeth continually," and (John 15:24): "But now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father." _I answer that,_ As shown above (I-II, Q. 29, A. 1), hatred is a movement of the appetitive power, which power is not set in motion save by something apprehended. Now God can be apprehended by man in two ways; first, in Himself, as when He is seen in His Essence; secondly, in His effects, when, to wit, "the invisible things" of God . . . "are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Rom. 1:20). Now God in His Essence is goodness itself, which no man can hate--for it is natural to good to be loved. Hence it is impossible for one who sees God in His Essence, to hate Him. Moreover some of His effects are such that they can nowise be contrary to the human will, since _to be, to live, to understand,_ which are effects of God, are desirable and lovable to all. Wherefore again God cannot be an object of hatred if we consider Him as the Author of such like effects. Some of God's effects, however, are contrary to an inordinate will, such as the infliction of punishment, and the prohibition of sin by the Divine Law. Such like effects are repugnant to a will debased by sin, and as regards the consideration of them, God may be an object of hatred to some, in so far as they look upon Him as forbidding sin, and inflicting punishment. Reply Obj. 1: This argument is true of those who see God's Essence, which is the very essence of goodness. Reply Obj. 2: This argument is true in so far as God is apprehended as the cause of such effects as are naturally beloved of all, among which are the works of Truth who reveals herself to men. Reply Obj. 3: God draws all things to Himself, in so far as He is the source of being, since all things, in as much as they are, tend to be
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   350   351   352   353   354   355   356   357   358   359   360   361   362   363   364   365   366   367   368   369   370   371   372   373   374  
375   376   377   378   379   380   381   382   383   384   385   386   387   388   389   390   391   392   393   394   395   396   397   398   399   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

effects

 

things

 

Essence

 

hatred

 

apprehended

 
contrary
 

Himself

 

object

 
goodness
 

Therefore


punishment
 
written
 

Further

 

argument

 
Wherefore
 

desirable

 

understand

 

lovable

 

impossible

 
Moreover

nowise

 

natural

 
forbidding
 

essence

 

naturally

 

inflicting

 
beloved
 

source

 
reveals
 
consideration

inordinate

 

Author

 
infliction
 

prohibition

 

debased

 

repugnant

 

Divine

 

Dionysius

 

aversion

 
ascendeth

continually

 

Apocryphal

 

beauty

 

dilection

 

beautiful

 
Esdras
 

motion

 

understood

 

invisible

 
appetitive