pertain to the Divine Essence; (2) those which regard the distinction of persons; (3) those which concern the origin of creatures from Him.  As to the Divine Essence we shall inquire (1) whether God exists; (2) what is, or rather what is not, the manner of His existence; (3) how He acts through His knowledge, will, and power.  Under the first heading we shall ask whether God’s existence is self-evident, whether it can be demonstrated, and whether God does exist.”

Similar subdivisions precede each question as it comes up for discussion, so that the student is enabled to take a comprehensive view, and perceive the bearing of one problem on another as well as its place in the wide domain of theology.  As a consequence, those who are familiar with the ‘Summa’ find in it an object-lesson of breadth, proportion, and orderly thinking.  Its chief merit, however, lies in the fact that it is the most complete and systematic exhibition of the harmony between reason and faith.  In it, more than in any other of his works, is displayed the mind of its author.  It determines his place in the history of thought, and closes what may be called the second period in the development of Christian theology.  Scholasticism, the high point of intellectual activity in the Church, reached its culmination in Thomas Aquinas.

His works have been a rich source of information for Catholic theologians, and his opinions have always commanded respect.  The polemics of the sixteenth century brought about a change in theological methods, the positive and critical elements becoming more prominent.  Modern rationalism, however, has intensified the discussion of those fundamental problems which St. Thomas handled so thoroughly.  As his writings furnish both a forcible statement of the Catholic position and satisfactory replies to many current objections, the Thomistic system has recently been restored.  The “neo-scholastic movement” was initiated by Leo XIII. in his Encyclical ‘AEterni Patris,’ dated August 4th, 1879, and its rapid growth has made Aquinas the model of Catholic thought in the nineteenth century, as he certainly was in the thirteenth.

The subjoined extracts show his views on some questions of actual importance, with regard not alone to mediaeval controversies, but to the problems of the universe, which will press on the minds of men twenty-five hundred years in the future as they did twenty-five hundred years in the past.

[Illustration:  Signature:  Edw.  A. Pace]

ON THE VALUE OF OUR CONCEPTS OF THE DEITY

Part I—­From the ‘Summa Theologica’