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3. He is, however, without doubt, a substance, or, if it be
better so to call it, an essence, which the Greeks call onsia. For
as wisdom is so called from the being wise, and knowledge from
knowing; so from being comes that which we call essence. And who is
there that is, more than He who said to His servant Moses, "I am
that I am;" and, "Thus shall thou say unto the children of
Israel, He who is hath sent me unto you?" But other things that
are called essences or substances admit of accidents, whereby a
change, whether great or small, is produced in them. But there can
be no accident of this kind in respect to God; and therefore He who
is God is the only unchangeable substance or essence, to whom
certainly BEING itself, whence comes the name of essence, most
especially and most truly belongs. For that which is changed does not
retain its own being; and that which can be changed, although it be
not actually changed, is able not to be that which it had been; and
hence that which not only is not changed, but also cannot at all be
changed, alone falls most truly, without difficulty or hesitation,
under the category of BEING.
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