On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology — trans. C. E. Rolt
The translator’s English as printed (C. E. Rolt). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
THE DIVINE NAMES IOI this Exemplar,1 or be it Final or Efficient or Formal or Material Cause—in a word, all Beginning, all Conservation, and all Ending, or (to sum it up) all things, that have being are derived from the Beautiful and Good. Yea, and all things that have no substantial | being? super-essentially exist in the Beautiful and Good: this is the transcendent Beginning and the transcendent Goal of the universe. For, as Holy Scripture saith: “Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”3 And hence all things must desire and yearn for and must love the Beautiful and the Good. Yea, and because of It and for Its sake the inferior things yearn for the superior under the mode of attraction, and those of the same rank have a yearning towards their peers under the mode of mutual communion ; and the superior have a yearning towards their inferiors under the mode of providential kindness ; and each hath a yearning towards itself under the mode of cohesion,4 and all things are moved by a longing for the Beautiful and Good, to accomplish every outward work and form every act of will. And true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the Creator of all things Himself yearneth after all things, createth all things, perfecteth all things, conserveth all things, attracteth all things, through nothing but excess of Goodness. Yea, and the Divine Yearning is naught else than a Good Yearning towards the Good for the mere sake of the Good. For the Yearning which createth all the goodness of the world, being pre-existent abundantly in the Good Creator, allowed Him not to remain unfruitful in Himself, but moved Him to exert the abundance of His powers in the production of the universe.1
1 The exemplar is the formal cause before this is actualized in the object embodying it. The principle in an oak tree constituting it an oak is the formal cause. But before there were any oak trees this principle existed as an exemplar. The final cause is the beneficent purpose the oak tree serves. In the Aristotelian classification exemplar and final cause would be classed together as final cause.
* This means either (1) that actually non-existent things (e.g. the flowers of next year which have not yet appeared, or those of last year, which are now dead) have an eternal place in God ; or else (2) that evil things have their true being, under a different form, in Him.
3 Rom: xis 36.
* In the whole of this passage D. is thinking primarily of Angels and men, or at least of sentient creatures. But he would see analogies of such activity in the inanimate material world.
this Exemplar,1 or be it Final, Efficient, Formal or Material Cause — in a word, all Beginning, all Conservation and all Ending, or (to sum it up) all things that have being are derived from the Beautiful and Good. And all things that have no substantial being2 exist super-essentially in the Beautiful and Good: this is the transcendent Beginning and the transcendent Goal of the universe. For, as Holy Scripture says: “Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”3
And so all things must desire, yearn for and love the Beautiful and the Good. Indeed, because of It and for Its sake the inferior things yearn for the superior under the mode of attraction; those of the same rank yearn towards their peers under the mode of mutual communion; the superior yearn towards their inferiors under the mode of providential kindness; and each yearns towards itself under the mode of cohesion;4 and all things are moved by a longing for the Beautiful and Good to accomplish every outward work and form every act of will.
And true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the Creator of all things Himself yearns after all things, creates all things, perfects all things, conserves all things and attracts all things, through nothing but excess of Goodness. Yes, and the Divine Yearning is nothing other than a Good Yearning towards the Good for the mere sake of the Good. For the Yearning which creates all the goodness of the world, existing beforehand in abundance in the Good Creator, did not allow Him to remain unfruitful in Himself, but moved Him to exert the abundance of His powers in the production of the universe.1
1 The exemplar is the formal cause before it is actualized in the object that embodies it. The principle in an oak tree which makes it an oak is the formal cause; but before there were any oak trees this principle existed as an exemplar. The final cause is the beneficent purpose the oak tree serves. In the Aristotelian classification, exemplar and final cause would be grouped together as final cause.
2 This means either (1) that actually non-existent things (e.g. next year’s flowers, which have not yet appeared, or last year’s, which are now dead) have an eternal place in God; or else (2) that evil things have their true being, under a different form, in Him.
3 Rom: xis 36.
4 Throughout this passage D. is thinking primarily of Angels and men, or at least of sentient creatures. But he would see analogies of such activity in the inanimate material world.