Summa contra Gentiles3.62 Chapter LXII. That those who see God will see him for ever

It follows from what has been said that those who obtain ultimate happiness from the divine vision, never fall away from it. Because whatever at one time 1s, and at another time ts not, 1s measured by time, as stated in 4 Phys. xii. Now the vision in question that makes intellectual creatures happy, is not in time but in eternity. Therefore no one can lose it having once become a partaker thereof.

Again. The intellectual creature does not arrive at its last end except when its natural desire is at rest. Now just as it naturally desires happiness, so does it desire perpetuity of happiness: because as it is perpetual in its substance, that which it desires for its own sake and not on account of something else, it desires to have always. Consequently happiness would not be its last end unless it endured for ever. © Besides. Whatever is possessed with love causes sorrow if it be known that at length it will be lost. Now since the vision in question which makes the possessor happy is But if it were not perpetual, they would know this: for it has been shown that in seeing the divine substance, they know perpetual or about to cease eventually. Therefore they quently it would not be true happiness, which should insure from all evil, as we have proved.”

Moreover. That which is moved towards a thing as the end of its movement, is not moved away from it except by violence; as a heavy body, when it is projected upwards. Now it is clear from what has been said that every intellectual substance tends to that vision with a natural desire. Therefore it cannot fall away from it except by violence. But nothing is taken away by violence unless the might of him who takes it exceed that of him who caused it. Now the cause of the divine vision is God, as we proved. Consequently, as no might exceeds God’s, it is impossible for that vision to be taken away by violence. Therefore it will last for ever.

Further. If aman cease to see what he saw hitherto, this will be either because he loses the faculty of sight—as when a man dies or becomes blind, or is hindered in some other way; or because he wishes no longer to see, as when we turn our eyes away from a thing we saw before; or because the object is withdrawn. And this is invariably true, whether we speak of sensitive or of intellective vision. Now the intellectual substance that sees God cannot lose the faculty of seeing God; neither through ceasing to exist, since it is immortal, as we proved above; nor through failure of the light by which it sees God, since that light is received incorruptibly, on the part both of the recipient and of the giver. Nor can it lack the will to enjoy that vision, for it knows its ultimate teh, lx, 2 Ch. xviii. 3Ch. Lb Br Gus lit: Sp. Ll. ch. lv. Tit: 190 happiness to consist in that vision: even as it cannot but desire to be happy. Nor will it cease to see through the withdrawal of the object: because that object which is God is unchangeable; nor does He withdraw himself more than ‘we withdraw from Him. Therefore it is impossible for this beatific vision of God ever to cease.

Again. It is impossible for a man to wish to give up a good which he is enjoying, except on account of some evil that he thinks to be attached to the enjoyment of that good, which enjoyment, at least, is an obstacle to a greater good: for just as the appetite desires nothing except under the aspect of a good, so does it shun nothing except as an evil. But in the enjoyment of that vision there cannot be any evil, since it is the greatest good to which the intellectual creature can attain. Nor is it possible that one who enjoys that vision deem any evil to be in it, or anything to be better than it: because the vision of that Supreme Truth excludes any false opinion. Therefore it is impossible that the intellectual substance which sees God ever desire to lose that vision.

Moreover. The reason why we become weary of what we enjoyed hitherto is that it causes some kind of change, by destroying or diminishing one’s power. Hence fatigue is incidental to the exercise of the sensitive powers through the action of the sensible objects on the bodily organ;—in fact the power may be altogether destroyed by too powerful an object;—and after a time they are loth to enjoy that which hitherto had been a pleasant sensation. For the same reason we become weary in mind after long or concentrated thought, because powers that employ organs of the body are subject to fatigue, and in this life it is not possible to give the mind to thought without employing those organs. Now—the divine substance does not corrupt but, more than anything, perfects the intellect. Nor does any action performed by acorporeal organ concur in the vision of Him. Therefore it is impossible for anyone to be weary of seeing Him, when they have once enjoyed the sight of Him..

Further. Nothing can be wearisome that is wonderful it still moves our desire. Now the created intellect always intellect can comprehend it. Therefore the intellectual consequently it cannot of its own choice desist from it. Besides. If two things were united before, and afterwards not cease except through a fresh change in one of them. Now the created intellect sees God through being, in some way, united to Him, as proved above.’ Consequently if must result from a change either in the divine substance, or is raised above all changes, when it sees the divine substance.

Furthermore. The nearer a thing is to God who is utterly unchangeable, the less changeable and the more enduring God, cannot last for ever, as stated in 2 De Gener. x. But no creature can come nearer to God than one who sees His substance. Therefore the intellectual creature that sees the divine substance, becomes, in a very high degree, unvision. Hence it is said (Ps. lxxxili. 5): Blessed are they ever and ever: and elsewhere (Ps. cxxiv. 1): He shall not be moved for ever that dwellethin Jerusalem. Also (Is. Xxxiil. 21): Thy eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed: neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken:

He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more.

Hereby we refute the error of the Platonists who said that souls after being separated from the body, and obtaining ultimate happiness, begin to desire reunion with the body, and that when the happiness of that life is ended, they are plunged once more into this life of unhappiness: and again that of Origen, who maintained that souls and angels can return from bliss to unhappiness.