Ill SCIENCE AND MORALS 143 



Whoever asserts the existence of an omnipotent 

 Deity, that he made and sustains all things, and 

 is the causa causarum, cannot, without a contra- 

 diction in terms, assert that there is any cause 

 independent of him ; and it is a mere subterfuge 

 to assert that the cause of all things can " permit " 

 one of these things to be an independent cause. 



Whoever asserts the combination of omniscience 

 and omnipotence as attributes of the Deity, does 

 implicitly assert predestination. For he who 

 knowingly makes a thing and places it in circum- 

 stances the operation of which on that thing he 

 is perfectly acquainted with, does predestine that 

 thing to whatever fate may befall it. 



Thus, to come, at last, to the really important 

 part of all this discussion, if the belief in a God 

 is essential to morality, physical science offers no 

 obstacle thereto ; if the belief in immortality is 

 essential to morality, physical science has no more 

 to say against the probability of that doctrine than 

 the most ordinary experience has, and it effectually 

 closes the mouths of those who pretend to refute 

 it by objections deduced from merely physical 



presentes, ut quidam dictmt, sed quia ejus intuitus fertur ab 

 aeterno supra omnia, prout sunt in sua praesentialitate. Unde 

 manifestum est quod contingentia infallibiliter a Deo cognos- 

 cuntur, in quantum subduntur divino conspectui secundum 

 suam prsesentialitatem ; et tamen sunt futura contingentia, suis 

 causis proximis comparata." 



[As I have not said that Thomas Aquinas is professedly a 

 determinist, I do not see the bearing of citations from him which 

 may be more or leas inconsistent with the foregoing. ] 



