Chapter 68 — Of the effects of divinity, and first, of being

After considering the truths which pertain to the unity of the divine essence and to the Trinity of persons, we turn to a study of the effects of the divinity. Now, the first effect wrought by God in things is existence itself, which all other effects presuppose, and on which they are based. Anything that exists in any way must necessarily have its origin from God. For in all things that are arranged in orderly fashion, we find universally that what is first and most perfect in any order is the cause of whatever follows in that order. Thus fire, which is hot in the highest degree, is the cause of heat in all other heated bodies. For imperfect things are always found to have their origin from perfect things; seeds, for instance, come from animals and plants. But, as we showed above, God is the first and most perfect being. Therefore, he must be the cause of being in all things that have being.

Again, whatever has some perfection by participation is traced back, as to its principle and cause, to what possesses that perfection essentially. Thus molten iron participates in fireness from that which is fire by its essence. We showed above that God is existence itself; hence existence belongs to him in virtue of his essence, but pertains to all other things by way of participation. For there is no other thing whose essence is its existence, since being that is absolute and subsistent essentially cannot but be one, as was shown above. Therefore, God must be the cause of existence of all things that are.