ty, wills something
naturally, as man's will naturally tends to happiness; and likewise
God naturally wills and loves Himself; whereas in regard to things
other than Himself, the will of God is in a way, undetermined in
itself, as above explained (Q. 19, A. 3). Now, the Holy Ghost
proceeds as Love, inasmuch as God loves Himself, and hence He
proceeds naturally, although He proceeds by mode of will.

Reply Obj. 4: Even as regards the intellectual conceptions of the
mind, a return is made to those first principles which are naturally
understood. But God naturally understands Himself, and thus the
conception of the divine Word is natural.

Reply Obj. 5: A thing is said to be necessary "of itself," and "by
reason of another." Taken in the latter sense, it has a twofold
meaning: firstly, as an efficient and compelling cause, and thus
necessary means what is violent; secondly, it means a final cause,
when a thing is said to be necessary as the means to an end, so far
as without it the end could not be attained, or, at least, so well
attained. In neither of these ways is the divine generation
necessary; because God is not the means to an end, nor is He subject
to compulsion. But a thing is said to be necessary "of itself" which
cannot but be: in this sense it is necessary for God to be; and in
the same sense it is necessary that the Father beget the Son.
_______________________

THIRD ARTICLE [I, Q. 41, Art. 3]

Whether the Notional Acts Proceed from Something?

Objection 1: It would seem that the notional acts do not proceed from
anything. For if the Father begets the Son from something, this will
be either from Himself or from something else. If from something else,
since that whence a thing is generated exists in what is generated, it
follows that something different from the Father exists in the Son,
and this contradicts what is laid down by Hilary (De Trin. vii) that,
"In them nothing diverse or different exists." If the Father begets
the Son from Himself, since again that whence a thing is generated, if
it be something permanent, receives as predicate the thing generated
therefrom just as we say, "The man is white," since the man remains,
when not from white he is made white--it follows that either the
Father does not remain after the Son is begotten, or that the Father
is the Son, which is false. Therefore the Father does not beget the
Son from something, but from nothing.

Obj. 2: Further, that whence anything