ATTRIBUTES 63
the powers and perfections of the Creator. But these refracted images of Him in finite things cannot furnisli grounds for any adequate idea of the Infinite Being. Hence, in constructing a synthetic idea of God, before one can apply to the Divinity any con- cept or term expressing a perfection found in created being, it must be subjected to rigorous correction. The profound disparity between the Divine perfection and the intimations of it presented in the world-copy may be broadly laid down under two heads. (1) Num- ber. — The perfections of creatures are innumerable, the Divine perfection is one. (2) Diversity. — Created perfections differ endlessly in kind and degree; the Divine perfection is uniform, simple. It is not a totality of various perfections; absolutely simple, the Divine perfection answers to every idea of actual or conceivable perfection, without being determined to the particular mode of any. Hence, when any attribute expressing modes characteristic of the world of being that falls within the range of our experience is applied to God its signification ceases to be identical with that which it has in every other case. Yet it retains a real meaning in virtue of the ratio which exists between the finite being and its Infinite analogue. In philosophical phrase, this use of terms is called analogical predication, in contra- distinction to univocal, in which a word is predicated of two or more subjects in precisely the same sense. (See Analogy.)
II. Source of our N.\tur.\l Knowledge op God. — To correct, as far as possible, the inadequate character of the concepts through which we must formulate our idea of God, the first step is to dis- tinguish created perfection into two kinds, viz., mixed perfections and pure perfections. A pure per- fection is one whose exact concept does not include any note formally expressive of defect or limitation; the content of the idea is entirely positive. The idea of a mixed perfection, on the contrary, formally or directly connotes, along with what is positive in the perfection, some privation or deficiency. Ex- amples of the former are power, truthfulness, will; as an instance of the latter, materiality may be offered. For, though the reality that belongs to matter is, of course, a participation of existence and activity, yet the concept of it connotes the imper- fections of that particular kind of existence which is composite and subject to disintegration. Again, personality is a pure perfection; for, as Catholic philosophy teaches, though the finite character of hinnan personality comes into play in the awakening of self-consciousness, yet limitation is not an essential constituent of personality. All terms that stand for piire perfections are predicated analogically of God, and are designated attributes in the wide sense of the word. When terms which signify mixed per- fections are predicated of God, the analogy becomes so faint that the locution is a mere metaphor.
III. Inductive Development of Attributes. — The elaboration of the idea of God is carried out along three converging lines: (1) The positive way of causality. — In virtue of the principle that what- ever excellence is contained in an effect is repre- sented in the efficiency of the cause, reason affirms that every positive perfection of created being has its transcendental analogue in the first cause. Hence, from the existence of an intelligent being, man, in the cosmos, we rightly infer that God is intelligent, that is to say, His infinite perfection is superabund- antly adequate to all the operations of intellect. (2) The negative way. — If we fix our attention pre- cisely on the Infinity of God, then, focusing the negation not upon the positive content of any created perfection, but upon the fact that, because it is finite it is determined in kind and limited in degree, we may afiirm that it is not found in (iod. We may say, e. g., that He is not intelligent. The
ATTRIBUTES
meaning of the statement is not that God lacks in-
telligence, but that in Him there is not intelligence
exactly as we know it. Again, since there is no
imperfection in God, every concept of defect, priva-
tion, and limitation must be negated of God. Many
negative names, it is true, are applied to God; as
when, for instance. He is said to be immutable,
uncaused, infinite. It should, however, be care-
fully observed that some attributes, which, from the
etymological point of view, are negative, convey,
nevertheless, a positive meaning. Failure to per-
ceive this obvious truth has been responsible for
much empty dogmatism on the impossibility of
forming any concept of the Infinite. The basic note
in the idea of the Infinite is existence, actuality, per-
fection; the negative note is subordinate. Further-
more, since the force of the latter note is to deny any
and all limitations to the actuality represented by
the former, its real import is positive, like the can-
cellation of a minus sign in an algebraic formula; or,
it discharges the function of an exponent and raises
actuality to the nth power. (3) Way of eminence. —
The concept of a perfection derived from created
things and freed of aU defects, is, in its application
to God, e.xpanded without limit. God not only
possesses every excellence discoverable in creation,
but He also possesses it infinitely. To emphasize
the transcendence of the Divine perfection, in some
cases an abstract noun is substituted for the corre-
sponding adjective; as, God is Intelligence; or, again,
some word of intensive, or exclusive, force is joined
to the attribute; as, God alone is good, God is good-
ness itself, God is all-powerful, or supremely power-
ful.
IV. Deductive Development. — Having estab- lished the existence of God from metaphysical, physical, and moral arguments, the theologian selects some one of the attributes which these proofs au- thorize him to predicate of the Divinity and, by unfolding its implications, reaches a number of other attributes. For instance, if God is Pure Actuality, that is, free from all static potency, it follows that, since cliange implies a transition from an antecedent potential condition to a subsequent condition in which the potentiality is realized, God is immutable. Here we reach the point where the term Attribute is employed in its strict sense.
V. Essence .^nd Attributes. — Transcendentally one, absolutely free from composition, the Divine Be- ing is not, and may not be conceived as. a fundamen- tal substrate in which qualities or any other modal determinations inhere. The reality to which the various attributes are ascribed is one and indivisible. — "Qua; justitia," says St. Augustine, "ipsa bonitas; quEe bonitas, ipsa beatitudo." — In this respect, the relation of the attributes to the Divine nature might be illustrated by the various reflections of one and the same object from a concave, a convex, and a plane mirror. Nevertheless, to systematize the idea of God, and to draw out the rich content of the knowledge resulting from the proofs of God's exist- ence, some primary attribute may be chosen as representing one aspect of the Divine perfection from w'hich the others may be rigorously deduced. Then arises a logical scheme in which the derivative attributes, or perfections, stand towards one another in a relation somewhat similar to that of the essence and the various properties and qualities in a material substance. In this arrangement the primary per- fection is termed the metaphysical essence, the others are called attributes. The essence, too, may be regarded as that characteristic which, above all others, distinguishes the Deity from everything else. Upon the question, which attribute is to be considered primary, opinions differ. Many eminent theologians favour the conception of pure actuality (Actus Purus), from which simplicity and infinity are directly de-
