Note 114 — Chapter IV · ON GOD

The justification of faith is somewhat over-subtle: ‘jam vero ista quae per sensus comprehenduntur occasiones sunt quae nos ad formandum de Deo Anticipationem inducunt. Cum sit autem duplex potissimum sensus, auditus scilicet et visus,’ etc. (I. 292). To auditus pertains the anticipatio which arises from hearing about God, i.e. from authority, primarily the authority of the Bible. It should be noted that this knowledge of God is an intuition, like that which grasps axiomatic truths. In both cases belief is due to ‘seeing’ (intuiting) the necessity of the conjunction of ideas expressed in the words: it is therefore relative to the individual’s development. This argument is two-edged: for we can either say ‘idiots do not comprehend God,’ or, ‘those who do not comprehend God are idiots’ [ut quantumcunque aliqui hominum mutili aut nascantur aut fiunt, hoc non obstat quin homines dicantur habere ab ipsa natura suorum membrorum integritatem ita quantumvis aliqui aut nascantur aut fiant Athei, etc., I. 290.]