THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



does not need from us that we should ascribe to 

 Him the properties that belong to the utmost superi- 

 ority, even to the perfection, of the human nature. 

 For- that reason understanding and will are denied. 

 Thought, as an attribute of God, does not include the 

 presentation of the idea in itself, but it designates 

 only the possibility of bringing forth ideas. Thought, 

 therefore, is as much as the capacity of thinking. 

 Ideas belong to God only so far as He is thought of 

 as the Intellectus (Understanding); but the Intellectus 

 itself is subordinate to the absolute thought. God is 

 called the free cause (Causa Libera) ; but that means 

 only that there is nothing beyond himself by which 

 he can be compelled to action. Since he is the only 

 substance, so he acts solely according to the laws of 

 his own nature. Free will or spontaneity in the 

 ordinary meaning of the words (meaning a choice a 

 rejection of the one and the preference for another, 

 or an absoluteness and sovereignty which from two 

 contradictory and opposed things can bring forth the 

 one equally as well as the other) is strongly denied. 



This action of the will is denied because it seems 

 to be incompatible with the idea of the most perfect 

 Being. " God acts from necessity or according to 

 necessary laws. From the infinite nature of God 

 follows all that is infinite in an endless manner and 

 forever with like necessity; exactly as from the 



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