A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Vol.I by Johann Eduard Erdmann 1890

§ 203, 7.]
THOMAS AQUINAS. 435
ceived as willing it must rationally be admitted that He must
exist as love towards Himself, and thus also as Holy Spirit,
who works in us love, just as the Son produces knowledge.
Reference is also made to the traces of trinity in things, and
to its image in man. Among the works of God of which we
could not gain a knowledge by mere reason the incarnation
occupies the first place. Since this removes the effects of
the fall, Thomas is confident that it is conditioned by sin, and
therefore would not have taken place had there been no sin.
When, however, he at the same time calls it the goal of
creation, in which quadam cirailatione perfectio rerum conchiditur,
sin appears clearly as a condition of the highest end,
as felix culpa. He next combats with exegetical weapons
the errors of those who reject with Plotinus the divine
nature in Christ, or with Valentinus and the Manichaeans,
deny Him a human body, or empty the latter of a human
soul, with Arius and Apollinaris, or express themselves heretlcally
in regard to the union of the two natures, as Nestorius,
Eutyches and Macarius had done. The arguments against the
Catholic doctrine drawn from reason are then quoted (chap.
40), and refuted (chap. 41-49). In addition, it is directly
proved why the essential points in the life of Jesus, His
birth from the Virgin, etc., if not unconditionally necessary, are
yet adapted to the case. After remarks similar to the preceding
have been made In regard to original sin, Thomas
returns to this convenientia and decides that the dogma of the
incarnation contains neque impossibilia neque incongrua. The
doctrine of the means of grace, which is taken up in chap. 56,
forms the transition from the works of God to the exaltation
and return of the creatures to God, showing as it does what
He contributes towards this exaltation. The distinction between
the Old and New Testament Sacraments is then pointed
out, and the necessity that there should be seven of the latter
is shown. Baptism and confirmation are considered very
briefly, the eucharist, and especially transubstantiation, and
afterwards the confessional are discussed most fully, and the
subject is brought to a close with the sacrament of marriage,
in connection with which reference is made to what is .said
elsewhere. The third section begins with objections against
the resurrection, which are refuted. Since the soul is the form
of the body and nevertheless immortal, it exists, in its separation
from the body, in a condition contrary to Its nature, so
43 t> SECOND PERIOD OF MEDI/EVAL PHILOSOPHY. [§ 203, 8.
that its subsequent re-embodiment is entirely in accordance
with reason. The new body is called spiritual, because it
will be entirely subordinated to the spirit ;
but it will not be
essentially different from the present body. There can therefore
quite well be bodily punishments after death. Immediately
after death man receives his personal reward. At the
last judgment he is given what is due to him as a member
of the whole. The unchangeableness of the will after death
explains the fact that many remain in condemnation, although
God forgives every penitent. Since man is the end of creation,
everything which has served to lead mortal man to immortality
must come to an end at the close of time as unnecessary.
Among these things Thomas reckons the motion of the
heavens.
8. The express aim of the Szim^na theologica is to give to
beginners in theology a simplified presentation of that which
the theologian must know. The work therefore from a
philosophical point of view is by no means as important as the
Smnma ad Gentiles. Nevertheless it forms a supplement to
the latter, since in the two sections of the second part it treats
practical questions which are entirely omitted in the philosophical
Summa. In prhna secundce the virtues and their
opposites are considered in general, in the secunda secundee
in detail, partly in and of themselves and partly in various
special relations. First the three theological, then the four
cardinal virtues are discussed, and all the other virtues follow
as their daughters. The first thing to be emphasized is the
subordination of the practical to the theoretical. Not only
is visio put before delectatio in the state of blessedness (ii.,
I, qu. 4), but in his theory of the will Thomas always
maintains that we will a thing only when we have first recognised
it as good, but then we cannot do otherwise than will it
i^Ibtd.^ (gCL. 17). On this account reason is the lawgiver for
the will. It is reason which speaks in conscience, and the
latter is thus not incorrectly named after knowledge [sciens).
It has the threefold function of attribution, of prescription,
and of accusation or exculpation {Ibid., qu. 19 and 79). The
part of the soul which has desires furnishes to the law prescribed
by reason the material for conduct in the passions.
Of these love and hate, joy and sorrow, hope and fear are
discussed with especial fulness ;
and it is considered at the same
time in how far they have their station in the pars conctipis-