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Objection 1: It would seem that the body of the first man was not
made of the slime of the earth. For it is an act of greater power to
make something out of nothing than out of something; because "not
being" is farther off from actual existence than "being in
potentiality." But since man is the most honorable of God's lower
creatures, it was fitting that in the production of man's body, the
power of God should be most clearly shown. Therefore it should not
have been made of the slime of the earth, but out of nothing.
Objection 2: Further, the heavenly bodies are nobler than earthly
bodies. But the human body has the greatest nobility; since it is
perfected by the noblest form, which is the rational soul. Therefore
it should not be made of an earthly body, but of a heavenly body.
Objection 3: Further, fire and air are nobler than earth and
water, as is clear from their subtlety. Therefore, since the human
body is most noble, it should rather have been made of fire and air
than of the slime of the earth.
Objection 4: Further, the human body is composed of the four
elements. Therefore it was not made of the slime of the earth, but of
the four elements.
On the contrary, It is written (Gn. 2:7): "God made man of
the slime of the earth."
I answer that, As God is perfect in His works, He bestowed
perfection on all of them according to their capacity: "God's works
are perfect" (Dt. 32:4). He Himself is simply perfect by the
fact that "all things are pre-contained" in Him, not as component
parts, but as "united in one simple whole," as Dionysius says
(Div. Nom. v); in the same way as various effects pre-exist in
their cause, according to its one virtue. This perfection is bestowed
on the angels, inasmuch as all things which are produced by God in
nature through various forms come under their knowledge. But on man
this perfection is bestowed in an inferior way. For he does not
possess a natural knowledge of all natural things, but is in a manner
composed of all things, since he has in himself a rational soul of the
genus of spiritual substances, and in likeness to the heavenly bodies
he is removed from contraries by an equable temperament. As to the
elements, he has them in their very substance, yet in such a way that
the higher elements, fire and air, predominate in him by their power;
for life is mostly found where there is heat, which is from fire; and
where there is humor, which is of the air. But the inferior elements
abound in man by their substance; otherwise the mingling of elements
would not be evenly balanced, unless the inferior elements, which have
the less power, predominated in quantity. Therefore the body of man
is said to have been formed from the slime of the earth; because earth
and water mingled are called slime, and for this reason man is called
'a little world,' because all creatures of the world are in a way to
be found in him.
Reply to Objection 1: The power of the Divine Creator was
manifested in man's body when its matter was produced by creation.
But it was fitting that the human body should be made of the four
elements, that man might have something in common with the inferior
bodies, as being something between spiritual and corporeal substances.
Reply to Objection 2: Although the heavenly body is in itself
nobler than the earthly body, yet for the acts of the rational soul the
heavenly body is less adapted. For the rational soul receives the
knowledge of truth in a certain way through the senses, the organs of
which cannot be formed of a heavenly body which is impassible. Nor is
it true that something of the fifth essence enters materially into the
composition of the human body, as some say, who suppose that the soul
is united to the body by means of light. For, first of all, what
they say is false---that light is a body. Secondly, it is
impossible for something to be taken from the fifth essence, or from a
heavenly body, and to be mingled with the elements, since a heavenly
body is impassible; wherefore it does not enter into the composition of
mixed bodies, except as in the effects of its power.
Reply to Objection 3: If fire and air, whose action is of greater
power, predominated also in quantity in the human body, they would
entirely draw the rest into themselves, and there would be no equality
in the mingling, such as is required in the composition of man, for
the sense of touch, which is the foundation of the other senses. For
the organ of any particular sense must not actually have the contraries
of which that sense has the perception, but only potentially; either
in such a way that it is entirely void of the whole "genus" of such
contraries---thus, for instance, the pupil of the eye is without
color, so as to be in potentiality as regards all colors; which is not
possible in the organ of touch, since it is composed of the very
elements, the qualities of which are perceived by that sense---or so
that the organ is a medium between two contraries, as much needs be the
case with regard to touch; for the medium is in potentiality to the
extremes.
Reply to Objection 4: In the slime of the earth are earth, and
water binding the earth together. Of the other elements, Scripture
makes no mention, because they are less in quantity in the human body,
as we have said; and because also in the account of the Creation no
mention is made of fire and air, which are not perceived by senses of
uncultured men such as those to whom the Scripture was immediately
addressed.
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