PRINCIPIO: ens said of God; Exodus 3:14; analogical not univocal predication
IN THE FIRST PLACE, Being is here put in the place of a genus, and is rightly said of God. For God is in the most perfect manner, because He exists from Himself, as we showed in chapter 2. And hence He imposed on Himself a name from that which is to be (Exodus 3:14), by which He declares that He is BEING SIMPLY, from whom, through whom, and in whom are all things. For so He discerns Himself from others that He says Himself to be simply, but signifies that the rest in a manner are not (Isaiah 40:15, 17; Psalm 62:9).
Yet Being is not said of God altogether in the same way as of creatures. For the ratio of being in God infinitely exceeds that which is in creatures: from which Being is predicated of God and creatures not univocally but analogically — since these are not called beings except by attribution to Him from whom they have it that they are and are called beings. God therefore most properly and substantially is being. Nor do we destroy unity when we say God is being. For the copula here does not couple diverse things, nor several according to the thing, but according to formal rationes conceived by us, and in divine propositions is always taken essentially.
God Himself revealed to Moses that this is His name: I am who I am. Afterwards He said, the LORD your God, God is one. Therefore it is to be established that nothing is said of God more essentially.
Latin
PRINCIPIO, Ens hic loco generis ponitur, recteque dicitur de Deo. Nam Deus perfectissimo modo est, quia a seipso exsistit, ut cap. 2. ostendimus. Atque hinc sibimetipsi ab eo, quod est esse, nomen imposuit, Exod. 3.14. quo declarat, se esse ENS SIMPLICITER, a quo, per quem & in quem sunt omnia. Ita enim se ab aliis discernit ut sese esse dicat simpliciter, cetera vero quodammodo non esse significet, Esai. 40.15.17; Psal. 62.10. Neque tamen eodem modo de Deo, ut de creaturis, ens omnino dicitur. Nam ratio entis in Deo infinite excedit eam, quae est in creaturis: unde non univoce, sed analogice de Deo & creaturis ens praedicatur: quum haec non dicantur entia, nisi per attributionem ad illum, a quo habent, ut entia sint & dicantur. Deus igitur maxime proprie & substantialiter est ens. Neque unitatem destruimus, cum dicimus, Deus est ens. Copula enim hic non copulat diversa: neque plura secundum rem, sed secundum rationes formales a nobis conceptas & semper sumitur in divinis propositionibus essentialiter. Deus ipse revelavit Mosi hoc esse nomen suum: Ego sum, qui sum. postea vero dixit, DOMINUS Deus tuus, Deus unus est. Quapropter statuendum est, de Deo nihil dici essentialius.