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.
5. Let us, then, repeat that all things and all ages derive their existence from the Pre-Existent. All Eternity and Time are from Him, and He which is Pre-Existent is the Beginning and the Cause of all Eternity and Time and of anything that hath any kind of being. All things participate in Him, nor doth He depart from anything that exists; He is before all things, and all things have their maintenance in Him; and, in short, if anything exists under any form whatever, ’tis in the Pre-Existent that it exists and is perceived and preserves its being. Antecedent ! to all Its other participated gifts is that of Being. Very Being is above Very Life, Very Wisdom, Very Divine Similarity and all the other universal Qualities, wherein all creatures that participate must participate first of all in Being Itself; or rather, all those mere Universals wherein the creatures participate do themselves participate in very Being Itself. And there is no existent thing whose essence and eternal nature is not very Being? Hence God receives His Name from the most primary of His gifts when, as is meet, He is called in a special manner above all things, “He which Is.” For, possessing in a transcendent manner Pre-Existence and Pre-Eminence, He caused beforehand all Existence (I mean Very Being) and in that Very Being caused all the particular modes of existence. For all the principles of existent things derive from their participation in Being the fact that they are existent and that they are principles and that the former quality precedes the latter. And if it like thee to say that Very Life is the Universal Principle of living things as such, and Very Similarity of similar things as such, and Very Unity of unified things as such, and Very
5. Let us, then, repeat that all things and all ages derive their existence from the Pre-Existent. All Eternity and Time are from Him, and He which is Pre-Existent is the Beginning and the Cause of all Eternity and Time and of anything that has any kind of being. All things participate in Him, nor does He depart from anything that exists. He is before all things, and all things have their maintenance in Him; and, in short, if anything exists under any form whatever, it is in the Pre-Existent that it exists and is perceived and preserves its being.
Antecedent1 to all Its other participated gifts is that of Being. Very Being is above Very Life, Very Wisdom, Very Divine Similarity, and all the other universal Qualities, in which all creatures that participate must participate first of all in Being Itself; or rather, all those mere Universals in which the creatures participate themselves participate in very Being Itself. And there is no existent thing whose essence and eternal nature is not very Being.2
Hence God receives His Name from the most primary of His gifts when, as is fitting, He is called in a special manner, above all things, “He which Is.” For, possessing Pre-Existence and Pre-Eminence in a transcendent manner, He caused beforehand all Existence (I mean Very Being), and in that Very Being caused all the particular modes of existence. For all the principles of existent things derive from their participation in Being the fact that they are existent and that they are principles, and that the former quality precedes the latter. And if you choose to say that Very Life is the Universal Principle of living things as such, and Very Similarity of similar things as such, and Very Unity of unified things as such, and Very