Chapter 22 — That in God all perfections are one

If we gather together the various points established thus far, we perceive that all perfections in God are in reality one. For we have shown above that God is simple. But where there is simplicity, there can be no difference between the things that are present. Hence, if the perfections of all things are in God, they cannot be different in him. Therefore, we are left with the conclusion that they are all one in him.

This is made clear by considering the cognitive powers. For a higher power knows by one and the same knowledge all that is known by lower powers through different knowledges, for all that the sight, the hearing, and the other senses perceive, the intellect judges with a power that is one and simple. Something similar is clear in the sciences: the lower sciences are multiplied in accord with the various classes of beings that constitute their objects, yet one science that is higher than them concerns itself with everything; this is called first philosophy. The same situation is observed in civil power: in the royal power, which is one, are included all the powers which are distributed through various offices within the jurisdiction of the kingdom. In the same way perfections, which in lower things are multiplied according to the diversity of these things, must be united in the pinnacle of being, that is, in God.