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Reply. Christ did not know by this knowledge all things without
exception, because all things cannot be known by species abstracted
from the senses, and so by this knowledge He did not have quiddative
knowledge of the angels, or also of all past, present, or future
sensible singulars.[1244] By this knowledge, however, He knew
everything capable of being known by the abstractive faculty, because
Christ's intellective power was most excellent.
Objection. But Christ did not have experimental knowledge of all
these things.
Reply to first objection. But from those things of which Christ had
experimental knowledge, He came to acquire knowledge of everything
else in this order by means of this actual experimental knowledge,
namely, by induction and deduction, understanding causes from
effects, effects from causes, like from like, contraries from
contraries, according to the power of His intellective faculty.
Reply to second objection. "Thus in seeing heavenly bodies Christ
could comprehend their powers and the effects they have upon other
things here below."
Wherefore Christ's soul by this acquired knowledge did not know the
rate of acceleration of falling objects, and hence the universal law of
gravitation. St. Thomas, long before Newton, in explaining the
following text of St. Paul, "Comforting one another, and so much
the more as you see the day approaching,"[1245] wrote this most
profound comment: "One might say, why must we advance in faith? It
is because natural motion, the more it approaches its terminus, the
more it increases in intensity. It is the contrary with force. But
grace inclines in a natural way. Therefore those in a state of grace,
the nearer they approach their end, the more they must increase [in
grace] "[1246] in accordance with the scriptural text: "'The
path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forward and increaseth
even to perfect day."[1247]
If St. Thomas, considering natural motion, such as that of a
falling stone, observes not only that natural motion is swifter toward
the end, but also that the connatural motion of souls toward God,
their ultimate end, must be for them swifter as they approach nearer to
God and are attracted by Him. If St. Thomas sees this,
formulating, as it were, the law of attraction not only for bodies but
also for spirits that tend toward God, what must have been the
knowledge of Christ's most sublime intellect, even by means of
acquired knowledge !
This article presupposes the doctrine of inequality in human souls,
notwithstanding their specific identity, as St. Thomas says: "The
better the disposition of a body, the better the soul allotted to
it."[1248]
Hence, as St. Thomas says in another of his works: "We see real
aptitude for vigorous thought in persons who are delicately
constructed.... Likewise those in whom the imaginative,
estimative, and memorative powers of the soul are better developed are
better disposed for the act of understanding."[1249] Providence
eternally decreed in the case of Christ that this body of His should
be better disposed for His soul.[1250] Christ's body was
formed miraculously in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
destined for that most sublime soul united personally with the Word.
Christ's intellect was far nobler than the intellects of Plato,
Aristotle, Augustine, and others.
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