Note 147 — THE CATHOLIC WORLD. VOL. XVIII., No. 106.—JANUARY, 1874.[138]

A being and its constituent principles may be said to have a certain dependence on one another, inasmuch as they have such an essential connection with one another that the one cannot be conceived apart from the other. But this so-called "dependence" means only correlation and "mutual exigency"; and therefore does not entail a priority of nature of the one with respect to the other. In a being, which is strictly one in its entity, there are three principles: an act, its term, and the actuality of the one in the other. The act has only a priority of origin with respect to its essential term, and both have only a priority of origin with regard to their formal actuality. They depend on one another in the sense explained, but not from one another. We shall treat of them in a future article.