Of God and His Creatures

That the Contemplative (Intellectual) Virtues are in God

IF Wisdom consists in the knowledge of the highest causes; and God chiefly knows Himself, and knows nothing except by knowing Himself, as the first cause of all (Chap. XLVI), it is evident that Wisdom ought to be attributed to God in the first place. Hence it is said: He is wise of heart (Job ix, 4.); and, All wisdom is of the Lord God, and hath been with him alway (Ecclus i, 1). The Philosopher also says at the beginning of his Metaphysics that Wisdom is a divine possession, not a human.

2. If Knowledge (Science) is an acquaintance with a thing through its proper cause, and God knows the order of all causes and effects, and thereby the several proper causes of individual things (Chapp. LXV, LXVII), it is manifest that Knowledge (Science) is properly in God; hence God is the Lord of sciences (I Kings ii, 3)

3. If the immaterial cognition of things, attained without discussion, is Understanding (Intuition),* God has such a cognition of all things (Chap. L); and therefore there is in Him Understanding. Hence, He hath counsel and understanding (Job xii, 13).


1.93 : That there are in God the Virtues which regulate Action
1.95 : That God can will no Evil