Cause Principle Unity

Second dialogue
substance of that man who, in terms of his absolute essence, is totally
unknown.
DICSONO. So that to know the universe is to know nothing of the being
or of the substance of the first principle, because it is like knowing the
accidents of the accidents.
TEOFILO. Correct. But I would not want you to think that I mean
there are accidents in God, or that he could be known through his
accidents.
DICSONO. I do not ascribe to you such dull wit, and I know that it is one
thing to say that all things not belonging to the nature of God are accidents,
and another to say they are his accidents, and still another thing to say that
they are like his accidents. This last is what I believe you are claiming for
the effects of the divine operation: although they are the substance of things,
or rather the natural substances themselves, they are nevertheless like accidents
that are too remote to allow us to achieve cognitive apprehension of
the divine, supernatural essence.
TEOFILO. Well put.
DICSONO. Of the divine substance, therefore, because it is both infinite
and extremely remote from those effects which constitute the outer limit
of the path of our discursive faculty, we can know nothing, except by means
of vestiges, as the Platonists say, or of remote effects, as the Peripatetics
have it, or by means of garments, as the Cabalists say, or of dorsal and back
parts, as the Talmudists say, or of a mirror, shadow and enigma, as the
Apocalyptics claim.
TEOFILO. But there is more: since we do not see that universe perfectly,
of which the substance and principle are so hard to understand, we have far
less basis for knowing the first cause and principle by means of its effects
than we have of knowing Apelles through the statues he creates; for we
can see the entire statue and examine it part by part, but not so the vast and
infinite consequence of divine power. The resemblance, then, must be
understood as not involving proportionality.
DICSONO. So it is and so I understand it.
TEOFILO. Therefore, we shall do well to abstain from discussing such
a lofty subject.
DICSONO. I agree with that, because it suffices, morally and theologically,
to know the first principle in so far as the heavenly gods have
revealed it and the prophets have borne witness to it. Not only every law
and every theology, but all reformed philosophies conclude that it is the
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