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Objection 1: It would seem that corporeal creatures are not from
God. For it is said (Eccles. 3:14): "I have learned that
all the works which God hath made, continue for ever." But visible
bodies do not continue for ever, for it is said (2 Cor.
4:18): "The things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal." Therefore God did not make visible
bodies.
Objection 2: Further, it is said (Gn. 1:31): "God saw
all things that He had made, and they were very good." But
corporeal creatures are evil, since we find them harmful in many ways;
as may be seen in serpents, in the sun's heat, and other things.
Now a thing is called evil, in so far as it is harmful. Corporeal
creatures, therefore, are not from God.
Objection 3: Further, what is from God does not withdraw us from
God, but leads us to Him. But corporeal creatures withdraw us from
God. Hence the Apostle (2 Cor. 4:18): "While we look not
at the things which are seen." Corporeal creatures, therefore, are
not from God.
On the contrary, It is said (Ps. 145:6): "Who made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them."
I answer that, Certain heretics maintain that visible things are not
created by the good God, but by an evil principle, and allege in
proof of their error the words of the Apostle (2 Cor. 4:4),
"The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers." But
this position is altogether untenable. For, if things that differ
agree in some point, there must be some cause for that agreement,
since things diverse in nature cannot be united of themselves. Hence
whenever in different things some one thing common to all is found, it
must be that these different things receive that one thing from some one
cause, as different bodies that are hot receive their heat from fire.
But being is found to be common to all things, however otherwise
different. There must, therefore, be one principle of being from
which all things in whatever way existing have their being, whether
they are invisible and spiritual, or visible and corporeal. But the
devil is called the god of this world, not as having created it, but
because worldlings serve him, of whom also the Apostle says, speaking
in the same sense, "Whose god is their belly" (Phil. 3:19).
Reply to Objection 1: All the creatures of God in some respects
continue for ever, at least as to matter, since what is created will
never be annihilated, even though it be corruptible. And the nearer a
creature approaches God, Who is immovable, the more it also is
immovable. For corruptible creatures endure for ever as regards their
matter, though they change as regards their substantial form. But
incorruptible creatures endure with respect to their substance, though
they are mutable in other respects, such as place, for instance, the
heavenly bodies; or the affections, as spiritual creatures. But the
Apostle's words, "The things which are seen are temporal," though
true even as regards such things considered in themselves (in so far as
every visible creature is subject to time, either as to being or as to
movement), are intended to apply to visible things in so far as they
are offered to man as rewards. For such rewards, as consist in these
visible things, are temporal; while those that are invisible endure
for ever. Hence he said before (2 Cor. 4:17): "It worketh
for us . . . an eternal weight of glory."
Reply to Objection 2: Corporeal creatures according to their nature
are good, though this good is not universal, but partial and limited,
the consequence of which is a certain opposition of contrary qualities,
though each quality is good in itself. To those, however, who
estimate things, not by the nature thereof, but by the good they
themselves can derive therefrom, everything which is harmful to
themselves seems simply evil. For they do not reflect that what is in
some way injurious to one person, to another is beneficial, and that
even to themselves the same thing may be evil in some respects, but
good in others. And this could not be, if bodies were essentially
evil and harmful.
Reply to Objection 3: Creatures of themselves do not withdraw us
from God, but lead us to Him; for "the invisible things of God are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Rm.
1:20). If, then, they withdraw men from God, it is the fault
of those who use them foolishly. Thus it is said (Wis.
14:11): "Creatures are turned into a snare to the feet of the
unwise." And the very fact that they can thus withdraw us from God
proves that they came from Him, for they cannot lead the foolish away
from God except by the allurements of some good that they have from
Him.
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