Note 26 — Chapter I · MR. CULPEPPER MAKES A PROPOSAL—A RENCOUNTER IN A CHURCHYARD. (continued 2)

Id communiter materia prima nominatur, quod est in genere substantiæ ut potentia quædam intellecta præter omnem speciem et formam, et etiam præter privationem; quæ tamen est susceptiva formarum et privationum.—De Spirit. Creaturis, art. 1. We can hardly conceive how the matter thus abstracted from all forms can be understood to remain “not under privations.” When we conceive the matter without any form, we conceive it as deprived of all forms. The thing is evident. Materia absque forma intellecta cum privatione etiam intelligitur, says S. Thomas himself, De Potentia, q. 4., a. 1.