Page:Philosophical Review Volume 3.djvu/164



T. THOMAS was eminently a practical man. He dealt with the living issues of his age. But he was also a man of transcendent genius, and therefore in his writings we may expect to find the solution of many questions that vex even the modern mind. It is, therefore, no loss of time for us to inquire, at least briefly, in this paper, into some of the fundamental principles of his philosophy. And if we begin with that question of paramount importance to-day, the existence of God, our justification will be found in the words of M. Jourdain (La philosophie de St. Thomas d'Aquin, tome I, p. 184, 185): "There is not a single one of St. Thomas' works that does not begin with the discussion of the existence and attributes of God. St. Thomas, who is above all a theologian, follows the order of existence and not that of cognition. He begins with the first cause of all creatures; he shows how this cause has made and preserved them all. According as he penetrates the extent and fecundity of the power of this cause, he describes its works, which are first pure spirits and then human souls. He pauses to consider the human soul whose spirituality he demonstrates and whose faculties he analyzes. He then asks, What is the end of man? and what are his duties? He studies the different questions of moral philosophy, at first in a general way, and then with respect to particular obligations. Such is the invariable procedure of St. Thomas, whether he writes for theologians by profession like himself, or addresses himself to infidels or philosophers, as in his Summa contra gentiles." So far Jourdain. Let us then glance at his method of treating the fundamental question of the existence of God. The keen intellect of St. Thomas sees more clearly than ordinary intelligences the great difficulties that beset the discussion of the existence and attributes of the Supreme Being. It is indeed a subject so far beyond finite intelligence in the vastness of its infinitude