Latest / Summa Contra Gentiles, First Book (On God) / 037 - Xxxvii That God Is Good

Transcript

037 - Xxxvii That God Is Good · Summa Contra Gentiles, First Book (On God)

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty seven of Suma Contragentilees, First Book on God
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: by Saint Thomas aquinas translated by the Fathers of the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: English Dominican Province. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty seven. That God is good. The goodness of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: God may be concluded from his perfection, which we have proved,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: for that by reason of which a thing is said
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to be good is its own virtue. Since the virtue
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of any thing is that which makes its subject good
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and renders its work good. And for Second Book of Ethics,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: chapter six. Now virtue is a perfection, since we say
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: that a thing is perfect when it attains its proper virtue,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: as stated in the Seventh Book of Physics. Wherefore a
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: thing is good from the fact of its being perfect
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and God Absequently, everything desires its own perfection as its
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: proper good. Now it has been proved that God is perfect,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: therefore he is good. Again, it has been proved above
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: that there is an immovable first mover, which is God.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Now he moves as a mover, absolutely immovable, and this
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: moves as the object of desire. Wherefore God, since he
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: is the first immovable mover, is the first object of desire. Now,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a thing is desired in two ways, either because it
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: is good or because it seems good. The former is
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: that which is good, for the seeming good does not
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: move per se, but according as it has some appearance
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of good, whereas the good moves per se. Therefore, the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: first object of desire, which is God, is good. Further,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the good is that which all things desire, which the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: philosopher quotes as very well said confer the First Book
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of Ethics, chapter one. Now all things desire to be
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: in act according to their mode, which is evident from
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the fact that everything, by its nature shrinks from corruption. Wherefore,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the essential notion of the good is to be in act.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: And consequently, evil, which is opposed to good, results from
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the privation of act by potentiality, as the philosopher declares
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: in the Ninth Book of Metaphysics. Now God is a
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: being in act and not in potentiality, as we have
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: proved above. Therefore he is truly good. Moreover, the bestowal
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: of being and goodness proceeds from goodness. This is proved
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: from the very nature of the good, from the notion
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: it conveys. For the good of a thing is naturally
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: its act and perfection. Now, a thing acts through being
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: in act, and by acting it bestows being and goodness
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: on other things. Wherefore it is a sign of a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: thing's perfection that it is able to produce its like.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: As the philosopher declares in the fourth Book of Meteorology, Again,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the notion of the good is that it is something appetible,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and this is an end, and the end moves the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: agent to act. Hence, good is said to be diffusive
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: of self and being. Now this diffusion is becoming to God,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: for it has been shown above that he is the
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: cause of being in other things, since he is the
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: per se necessary being. Therefore he is truly good. Wherefore
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: it is said in the Psalm, how good is God
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to Israel, to them that are of a right heart,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: And in Lamentations three twenty five, the Lord is good
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to them that hope in Him, to the soul that
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: seeketh Him. End of Chapter thirty seven, read by Michael Shane, Craig,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Lambert Elsie