Chapter 65 — Solution of the objections on the part of the accidents

Having solved the difficulty about place, we have now to reply to the objection that arises out of the remaining accidents. For there is no denying that the accidents of bread and wine remain, seeing that one’s senses are an infallible witness to them.

And yet Christ’s body and blood are not affected by them, since this could not happen without their being altered; nor are they susceptible of such accidents, as neither is the substance of air. It follows, then, that they are without a subject as explained above, namely, only dimensive quantity subsists without a subject, and affords a support to the other accidents.

Nor is it impossible that an accident be without a subject by the divine power. We must judge of the upholding of things as of their production into being. Now the divine power can produce the effects of any second causes whatsoever without these second causes, even as it could fashion man without seed, and cure a fever without the operation of nature. This is because God’s power is infinite, and because he bestows on every second cause its active energy; thus he can uphold the existence of the effects of second causes without the second causes themselves. Thus, then, in this sacrament he upholds the accident in its being, although the subject that upheld it is no longer there.

This is especially applicable to dimensive quantities, which the Platonists also held to subsist even of themselves, since we can think of them as separate. Now it is evident that God can do more in his works than the mind can in its thoughts.

And it is peculiar to dimensive quantity, as compared with other accidents, that it is individualized by itself. The reason is that position (which is the order of the parts in the whole), is included in the very notion of it; since it is defined as quantity having position. (Aristotle, Categories, ch. 4.) Now, wherever it is possible to understand various parts of the same species, we must understand individual distinction, since many things of the same species must be many individuals. For this reason, we cannot apprehend several whitenesses, except inasmuch as they are in various subjects; but we can apprehend several lines even as considered in themselves, because, since position is contained in the notion of a line, difference of position suffices for distinction of lines.

And, since dimensive quantity alone is by its very nature sufficient to occasion a multiplicity of individuals in the same species, it would seem to be the foundation of this multiplicity. Thus in the genus of substance multiplicity is according to material dimensions. In fact, it is inconceivable in matter apart from dimensions, seeing that without quantity, all substance is indivisible, as the Philosopher states. (Aristotle, Physics, bk. 1.)

Now it is evident that as regards other accidents, the number of individuals in the same species depends on the number of subjects. Consequently, since in this sacrament we postulate per se subsistent dimensions, which are the foundation of the other accidents, it does not follow that these accidents are not individualized, because they retain the dimensions which are the foundation of individuality.