Natural Knowledge of God in the Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquina

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of God that flows from the vision of His essenoe is inoomparably superior
to that derived from His effectsl His effeots are only God's similitudes;
they are not God.
In our present state, however, the names given to God
from His effeot. help us to aoquire true and certain knowl.dge of Him;
, .
.. 0 • .,
that knowl.dge il necessarily imperfeot because it consists of concepts
deriv.d from oreaturel and predioated by cre.tur.s of the Infinite God
from Who •• 11 creatures proceed.
Like St. Augustin., we addr.ss our.elves to cre.ture., asking them
to tell us what it is 1N lcve, when we love God.
i!1e .arth and everything
in it acknowl.dges that it is only p.rtioipated being; it is not God.
When .... ask creatures to tell us something about God, their unanimous reply
is, "H. made u.".32 Becaus. God gave being to His cre.tures, and
made ore.tures to b., in a manner, like Himself, the perfections of created
forms t.ll us som.thing ot the exc.ll.nc. cf Him, acoording to Whcse
32St• Augu.tin •• fbe Conf.ssions of St. Augustin., translat.d by
E. B. Pus.y, Fred.riok stOk.s Co., N.w YOrk, 1909, p. 269 tt.r
But what do I love wh.n I love Th.e? ••• I a.k.d the e.rth, and it
.nswered m., 'I am not H.'; .nd whatsoever .re in it oonfessed the same ••••
And I replied unto all the things whioh encompassed the door of my flesha
'Ye have told me of ~ God, that ye are not He; t.ll me .omething of Him'.
And they oried out with a loud voic., 'He mad. us'. My questioning th.m,
was my thoughts on th.m, and their form of b •• uty gave the answer •
I
••• beoaus •••• re.son is s.t over their •• nsee to judge on what th.y
report, ••• men can a.k, so that the invisible things ct God are olearly ••• n,
being understood by the thing. th.t ar. made. (Rom. I, 20).