Philosophy the Handmaid of Theology · §1

Only God is necessary being: real being divides into creator and creature

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First Exercise. On being and essence.

Article I. The first division of real being is set out, and it is shown that God alone is necessary being.

Real being is first divided into finite and infinite — that is, into creator and creature. This division is commonly handed down and proposed in many other ways. Some put it thus: one being is from itself, another from another. Others thus: of beings, some are or exist by essence, others by participation. Others thus: one being is necessary, another contingent. The glorious God is infinite being, having existence from no other; he is likewise being by essence, and supremely necessary. Creatures, however, are finite beings, having existence from another; and therefore they are not necessary, but contingent.

2. The first two ways of proposing this division need no explanation; the last two are not so clear, and therefore they call for a longer account. I will begin from the last division, which is into necessary being and contingent being. The glorious God is called necessary being because it is necessary that he always exist in act. For God cannot deprive himself of his own being — that is, of the act of existence — nor can anything else do so, since he does not depend on another. Creatures, however, are contingent beings; that is, they exist contingently. For they hang upon the conserving power of a freely acting cause — that is, of God — who, before he gave them being, could have refused to give it, and after he has given it can take it away.

3. Many objections are usually raised here about the necessity of separated substances, of the heavenly bodies, of prime matter, of universal natures, and of necessary propositions, to which philosophers ascribe eternal truth. But because those thorny questions deter many by their difficulty and call them away from philosophical studies, I omit them and go on to other matters that are more necessary and more pleasant.

Latin

EXERCITATIO PRIMA De Ente & Essentia. ART. I. Affertur prima divisio Entis realis, & ostenditur solum DEUM esse Ens necessarium. Ens reale, primo dividitur, in finitum & infinitum; hoc est, in creatorem & creaturam: quae quidem divisio, multis aliis modis tradi & proponi solet: quidam enim hanc divisionem sic proponunt; Ens aliud est a se, aliud ab alio: alii sic; Entium alia sunt seu existunt per essentiam, alia per participationem: alii sic; Ens aliud est necessarium, aliud contingens. DEUS gloriosus est ens infinitum, ab alio non habens existentiam: item est Ens per essentiam, & summe necessarium: Creaturae vero sunt entia finita, ab alio existentiam habentia; ideoque non necessaria, sed contingentia. 2. Duo primi modi proponendi hanc divisionem, explicatione non egent: duo vero postremi, non ita perspicui sunt: idcirco longiorem explicationem postulant: ego exordiar a postrema divisione, quae est in Ens necessarium, & Ens contingens. Dicitur DEUS gloriosus Ens necessarium; quia necesse est eum semper actu existere; neque enim potest DEUS privare seipsum suo esse, id est, existentiae actu; neque aliud quidpiam id potest, cum ab alio non pendeat. Creaturae vero sunt entia contingentia; id est, contingenter existunt: pendent enim a conservativa virtute causae libere agentis; id est, DEI, qui antequam dedit iis esse, potuit illud non dare; & postquam dedit, potest auferre. 3. Multa hic objici solent de necessitate substantiarum separatarum, corporum caelestium, materiae primae, naturarum universalium, & propositionum necessariarum, quibus aeterna veritas Philosophis tribuitur: verum quia spinosae istae quaestiones, multos sua difficultate deterrent, & avocant a studiis Philosophicis: ego, iis omissis, ad alia pergam, quae magis necessaria & jucunda sunt.

About this text

Robert Baron, Philosophia Theologiae Ancillans (Philosophy in Service to Theology): the first exercise, on being and essence, and the second, on the origin of the soul and the spread of sin — newly rendered from Latin. Later exercises are not in this volume.

English follows locked 1658 Oxford Latin. Prima Art. I-XII from IA PDF leaves ~15-53. Secunda Art. I-XV from PDF leaves 56-107 / printed pp.54-105 (tess+pdftotext+DjVu). No modern English copied. Exercitatio Tertia+ remain.

Catalogue & scope

Wing B887. IA bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_philosophia-theologi-an_baron-robert_1658. Exercitatio Prima Art. I-XII; Exercitatio Secunda Art. I-XV (De origine animae & propagatione peccati). Not whole Philosophia (213 pp). Exercitatio Tertia+ remain.

Witnesses

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This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.