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.
We answer thus: God is Power because in His His own Self He contains all power beforehand and exceeds it, and because He is the Cause of all power, and produces all things by a power which may not be thwarted nor circumscribed, and because He is the Cause wherefrom Power exists whether in the whole system of the world or in any particular part? Yea, He is Infinitely Powerful not only in that all Power comes from Him, but also because He is above all power and is Very Power, and possesses that excess of Power which produces in infinite ways an infinite number of other existent powers; and because the infinitude of powers which is continually being multiplied to infinity can never blunt that transcendently infinite 3 activity of His Power whence all power comes ; and because of the unutterable, unknowable, inconceivable greatness of His all-transcendent Power which, through its excess of potency, gives strength to that which is weak and maintains and governs the lowest of its created copies, even as, in those things whose power strikes our senses, very brilliant illuminations can reach to eyes that are dim and as loud sounds can enter ears dull of hearing. (Of course that which is wz¢erly incapable of hearing is not an ear, and that which cannot see at all is not an eye. 1)
1 The highest power our minds can conceive is that of the angels. But God has the dominion over them, and hence His power is of a yet higher kind such as we cannot conceive.
2 Since the ultimate Godhead is undifferentiated God’s power is conceived of as an undifferentiated or potential energy.
3 The inexhaustible multiplication of things in this world, though it should go on for ever, is a series made up of separate units. God’s inexhaustible energy is beyond this series because it is one indivisible act. The Undifferentiated transcends infinite divisibility. Cf. IX. 2.
We answer thus. God is Power because in His own Self He contains all power beforehand and exceeds it; because He is the Cause of all power, and produces all things by a power that cannot be thwarted nor circumscribed; and because He is the Cause from which Power exists, whether in the whole system of the world or in any particular part. 2
Indeed, He is Infinitely Powerful, not only in that all Power comes from Him, but also because He is above all power and is Very Power, and possesses that excess of Power which produces, in infinite ways, an infinite number of other existent powers. He is so because the infinitude of powers, continually multiplied to infinity, can never blunt that transcendently infinite 3 activity of His Power from which all power comes; and because of the unutterable, unknowable, inconceivable greatness of His all-transcendent Power, which, through its excess of potency, gives strength to what is weak and maintains and governs the lowest of its created copies.
So too, among the things whose power strikes our senses, very brilliant illuminations can reach eyes that are dim, and loud sounds can enter ears that are dull of hearing. (Of course, that which is utterly incapable of hearing is not an ear, and that which cannot see at all is not an eye. 1)
1 The highest power our minds can conceive is that of the angels. But God has dominion over them, and so His power is of a still higher kind, such as we cannot conceive.
2 Since the ultimate Godhead is undifferentiated, God’s power is conceived of as an undifferentiated or potential energy.
3 The inexhaustible multiplication of things in this world, even if it went on for ever, is a series made up of separate units. God’s inexhaustible energy is beyond this series, because it is one indivisible act. The Undifferentiated transcends infinite divisibility. Cf. IX. 2.