Ill SCIENCE AND MORALS. 143 



Whoever asserts the existence of an omnipo- 

 tent Deity, that he made and sustains all things, 

 and is the causa causarum, cannot, without a con- 

 tradiction 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 comination of omnis- 

 cience 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 



" Omnia quae sunt in tempore, sunt Deo ab aeterno 

 praesentia, non solum ea ex ratione qua habet rationes 

 rerum apud se presentes, ut quidam dicunt, sed quia ejus 

 intuitius fertur ab aeterno supra omnia, prout sunt in sua 

 praesentialitate. Unde manifestum est quod contingentia 

 infallibiliter a Deo cognoscuntur, in quantum subduntur 

 divino conspectui secundum suam praesentialitatem ; et 

 tamen sunt futura contingentia, suis causis proximis 

 comparata." 



[As I have not said that Thomas Aquinas is professed- 

 ly a determinist, I do not see the bearing of citations 

 from him which may be more or less inconsistent with 

 the foregoing.] 



