Article 10

In the tenth article, the question is raised whether a workman is able to handle a hammer or do something else naturally without the angels moving the celestial bodies. (This question is nearly identical to that of the eighth article of De 43 articulis.)

There is no manifest truth in regard to this. It is clear, indeed, that all mixed bodies are conserved in being by the motion of the celestial bodies (That is, those consisting of two or more elements. See Summa Contra Gentiles, Bk. 2 chs 15, 30, 56, 89 & 90 and De Potentia q. 6 a. 6 c.) because they are both conserved and destroyed due to the manner of celestial motion and are generated, conserved, and destroyed depending upon the withdrawal or approach of certain celestial bodies. If, then, what was said is understood in such a way that if the motion of the heavenly bodies which comes about by the angels were to cease, the consequence would be that the arms of the workers would lose their strength, the noise of the hammers would no longer be heard, and human bodies—and indeed all mixed bodies—would be corrupted in accordance with the ordering of nature (unless preserved by a supernatural power), what is said would hold true. For if the body of a craftsman were to decompose, it is manifest that he would not be able to move his hand to the hammer. But if, on the contrary, we understand what was said such that human bodies would be preserved in being by the supernatural power of God even if the motion of heaven were to cease, it would be necessary to say that human bodies would remain and either have the same relationship to the souls which they now have or even that they would be more subject to them. Accordingly, as the soul of a craftsman is now able to move the hand towards the hammer, it would be able to do so even if the motion of heaven were to cease. This would only be the case, however, if the divine wisdom would preserve hammers in the same state just as human bodies would be conserved, which seems unlikely. Nor does what is said stand in opposition to what is said about the division of the air because even if the air were incorruptible in the case of the motion of heaven ceasing, it would not lose its own nature; inasmuch as it is easily divisible on account of its humidity and subtlety, it could be an instrument of vocal praise. (St. Thomas seems to be referring to a common question that was raised at the time even though the article itself does not explicitly ask the question. Henry of Ghent (1217-1293), for instance, discusses the question "Utrum laus vocalis beatorum erit in Gloria" and in doing so raises the issues pertaining to the aeris divisione. See Henrico de Gandavo, Quodlibet VII, edited by G.A. Wilson (Leuven, 1991), 44-47.)