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*H Save me, O Lord, for there is now no saint: truths are decayed from among the children of men.
Ver. 2. Save. David, persecuted by Saul, (Bossuet) or Absalom; (Grot.) the captives at Babylon; (C.) our Saviour suffering, or coming to judge; (S. Aug.) in a word, any just man who sees the corruption of men, may use this language. H. — We cannot open the writings of the prophets, or of the Fathers, without meeting with such complaints. Heb. "no saint;" chasid, "pious" (Pagn. H.) clement person. C. — Truths. Heb. "people of veracity." C. — Bias said, "All men are bad;" (Clem. strom. 1.) or, as Laertius expresses it, "Most people are wicked." Hence few are chosen. H. — Christ is the truth. If we admire his doctrine, let us put it in practice. Bert.
* Summa
*S Part 1, Ques 16, Article 6
[I, Q. 16, Art. 6]
Whether There Is Only One Truth, According to Which All Things Are True?
Objection 1: It seems that there is only one truth, according to which all things are true. For according to Augustine (De Trin. xv, 1), "nothing is greater than the mind of man, except God." Now truth is greater than the mind of man; otherwise the mind would be the judge of truth: whereas in fact it judges all things according to truth, and not according to its own measure. Therefore God alone is truth. Therefore there is no other truth but God.
Obj. 2: Further, Anselm says (De Verit. xiv), that, "as is the relation of time to temporal things, so is that of truth to true things." But there is only one time for all temporal things. Therefore there is only one truth, by which all things are true.
_On the contrary,_ it is written (Ps. 11:2), "Truths are decayed from among the children of men."
_I answer that,_ In one sense truth, whereby all things are true, is one, and in another sense it is not. In proof of which we must consider that when anything is predicated of many things univocally, it is found in each of them according to its proper nature; as animal is found in each species of animal. But when anything is predicated of many things analogically, it is found in only one of them according to its proper nature, and from this one the rest are denominated. So healthiness is predicated of animal, of urine, and of medicine, not that health is only in the animal; but from the health of the animal, medicine is called healthy, in so far as it is the cause of health, and urine is called healthy, in so far as it indicates health. And although health is neither in medicine nor in urine, yet in either there is something whereby the one causes, and the other indicates health. Now we have said (A. 1) that truth resides primarily in the intellect; and secondarily in things, according as they are related to the divine intellect. If therefore we speak of truth, as it exists in the intellect, according to its proper nature, then are there many truths in many created intellects; and even in one and the same intellect, according to the number of things known. Whence a gloss on Ps. 11:2, "Truths are decayed from among the children of men," says: "As from one man's face many likenesses are reflected in a mirror, so many truths are reflected from the one divine truth." But if we speak of truth as it is in things, then all things are true by one primary truth; to which each one is assimilated according to its own entity. And thus, although the essences or forms of things are many, yet the truth of the divine intellect is one, in conformity to which all things are said to be true.
Reply Obj. 1: The soul does not judge of things according to any kind of truth, but according to the primary truth, inasmuch as it is reflected in the soul, as in a mirror, by reason of the first principles of the understanding. It follows, therefore, that the primary truth is greater than the soul. And yet, even created truth, which resides in our intellect, is greater than the soul, not simply, but in a certain degree, in so far as it is its perfection; even as science may be said to be greater than the soul. Yet it is true that nothing subsisting is greater than the rational soul, except God.
Reply Obj. 2: The saying of Anselm is correct in so far as things are said to be true by their relation to the divine intellect. _______________________
SEVENTH
*S Part 1, Ques 16, Article 8
[I, Q. 16, Art. 8]
Whether Truth Is Immutable?
Objection 1: It seems that truth is immutable. For Augustine says (De Lib. Arbit. ii, 12), that "Truth and mind do not rank as equals, otherwise truth would be mutable, as the mind is."
Obj. 2: Further, what remains after every change is immutable; as primary matter is unbegotten and incorruptible, since it remains after all generation and corruption. But truth remains after all change; for after every change it is true to say that a thing is, or is not. Therefore truth is immutable.
Obj. 3: Further, if the truth of an enunciation changes, it changes mostly with the changing of the thing. But it does not thus change. For truth, according to Anselm (De Verit. viii), "is a certain rightness" in so far as a thing answers to that which is in the divine mind concerning it. But this proposition that "Socrates sits", receives from the divine mind the signification that Socrates does sit; and it has the same signification even though he does not sit. Therefore the truth of the proposition in no way changes.
Obj. 4: Further, where there is the same cause, there is the same effect. But the same thing is the cause of the truth of the three propositions, "Socrates sits, will sit, sat." Therefore the truth of each is the same. But one or other of these must be the true one. Therefore the truth of these propositions remains immutable; and for the same reason that of any other.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Ps. 11:2), "Truths are decayed from among the children of men."
_I answer that,_ Truth, properly speaking, resides only in the intellect, as said before (A. 1); but things are called true in virtue of the truth residing in an intellect. Hence the mutability of truth must be regarded from the point of view of the intellect, the truth of which consists in its conformity to the thing understood. Now this conformity may vary in two ways, even as any other likeness, through change in one of the two extremes. Hence in one way truth varies on the part of the intellect, from the fact that a change of opinion occurs about a thing which in itself has not changed, and in another way, when the thing is changed, but not the opinion; and in either way there can be a change from true to false. If, then, there is an intellect wherein there can be no alternation of opinions, and the knowledge of which nothing can escape, in this is immutable truth. Now such is the divine intellect, as is clear from what has been said before (Q. 14, A. 15). Hence the truth of the divine intellect is immutable. But the truth of our intellect is mutable; not because it is itself the subject of change, but in so far as our intellect changes from truth to falsity, for thus forms may be called mutable. Whereas the truth of the divine intellect is that according to which natural things are said to be true, and this is altogether immutable.
Reply Obj. 1: Augustine is speaking of divine truth.
Reply Obj. 2: The true and being are convertible terms. Hence just as being is not generated nor corrupted of itself, but accidentally, in so far as this being or that is corrupted or generated, as is said in _Phys._ i, so does truth change, not so as that no truth remains, but because that truth does not remain which was before.
Reply Obj. 3: A proposition not only has truth, as other things are said to have it, in so far, that is, as they correspond to that which is the design of the divine intellect concerning them; but it is said to have truth in a special way, in so far as it indicates the truth of the intellect, which consists in the conformity of the intellect with a thing. When this disappears, the truth of an opinion changes, and consequently the truth of the proposition. So therefore this proposition, "Socrates sits," is true, as long as he is sitting, both with the truth of the thing, in so far as the expression is significative, and with the truth of signification, in so far as it signifies a true opinion. When Socrates rises, the first truth remains, but the second is changed.
Reply Obj. 4: The sitting of Socrates, which is the cause of the truth of the proposition, "Socrates sits," has not the same meaning when Socrates sits, after he sits, and before he sits. Hence the truth which results, varies, and is variously signified by these propositions concerning present, past, or future. Thus it does not follow, though one of the three propositions is true, that the same truth remains invariable. _______________________
*H They have spoken vain things, every one to his neighbour: with deceitful lips, and with a double heart have they spoken.
Ver. 3. Deceitful. Heb. "flattering;" and of course not fee from deceit. Bert. —
*H May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things.
Ver. 4. Lips. "The saints do not curse, but foretell what will happen." S. Jer. — Heb. "the Lord will destroy" the deceitful, (Bert.) who mean to injure men; (H.) and the proud, who attack God and religion, which they pretend they can prove (Bert.) to be a mere fiction, by their superior eloquence! H.
*H Who have said: We will magnify our tongue: our lips are our own: who is Lord over us?
Ver. 5. Own. "We have lips," (Sym.) or eloquence to gain our cause against these miserable exiles. C. — Lord. Heb. adon, "master." We admit of no superior, neither in heaven nor on earth. H. — Such was the haughtiness of Pharao, &c. Ex. v. 2. and 4 K. xviii. 19. Dan. iii. 15. C.
*H By reason of the misery of the needy, and the groans of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety: I will deal confidently in his regard.
Ver. 6. Arise, and redeem lost man; (Theod.) or, protect my servants (C.) from such insolent oppressors. H. — Regard. This may be put in the mouth of the afflicted. C. — "I will place my confidence in the Saviour, and will act boldly in him." H. — His promises give me full assurance, v. 7. The Heb. seems to be incorrect, and very different from what the ancients read. C. — S. Jer. has, "I will place their aid in salvation;" (H.) which he explains of Jesus Christ. See Is. xii. 2. C. — Moderns insert many words. "I will save him, that they may learn to trust in me." German. — "I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him." Prot. Or "would ensnare him." Margin. We may better translate, "I will put in safety, the Lord will act freely herein;" or, "safety which will act freely upon him," the poor. Bert. — "I will raise up a Saviour, who with his breath will destroy the wicked." Prin. disc.
* Footnotes
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Proverbs
30:5
Every word of God is fire tried: he is a buckler to them that hope in him.
*H The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth, refined seven times.
Ver. 7. Pure words, very different from those of the deceitful, v. 3. C. — Earth, dross, or in the crucible, or "for the ruler of earth:" (Pagnin. H.) current money. If we alter the Heb. a little, it may be, "with care, (bahalil, which is never elsewhere used for a crucible) gold refined seven times;" often, (Prov. xxiv. 16.) or as much as possible. C.
*H Thou, O Lord, wilt preserve us: and keep us from this generation for ever.
Ver. 8. This corrupt generation; or, both in this world and in the next. Heb. "preserve them;" the just, or thy words. C. — "And thou wilt keep him." Pagn. — Prot. marg. i.e. "Every one of them." S. Jerom reads, "us." H.
*H The wicked walk round about: according to thy highness, thou hast multiplied the children of men.
Ver. 9. About. Their life is a circle of relapses; or rather they continually attack the just, (C.) but their designs are made subservient to their advancement in virtue, by the power of God. T. — Heb. "They (the just) shall go round the wicked, when baseness shall have raised herself up, on account of the children of men." When God shall have restored the Jews to liberty, the Babylonians shall be, in their turn, oppressed by Cyrus and the Persians, whom they now despise: or, when the miserable shall be placed in power, the wicked shall not dare to approach them. C. — "The wicked shall walk round about, when the vilest of the sons of men shall be exalted." S. Jerom. H. — The former have spent their life in vanity, and shall be kept for ever out of the kingdom of heaven; as the error of the Platonists, who assert that all things will come to pass again, the world being compared to a wheel, is manifestly refuted by Scripture, which assures us that God will preserve the just from this generation, (S. Aug.) and the wicked will knock at the door, like the foolish virgins, and will be rejected with, I never knew you. Matt. xxv. S. Jer. or some other learned author. W. — For some suspect that the commentary which goes under the name of S. Jerom, is not in the state in which it came from his hands. — H.