ey
are offered to man as rewards. For such rewards, as consist in these
visible things, are temporal; while those that are invisible endure
for ever. Hence he said before (2 Cor. 4:17): "It worketh for us . .
. an eternal weight of glory."

Reply Obj. 2: Corporeal creatures according to their nature are good,
though this good is not universal, but partial and limited, the
consequence of which is a certain opposition of contrary qualities,
though each quality is good in itself. To those, however, who
estimate things, not by the nature thereof, but by the good they
themselves can derive therefrom, everything which is harmful to
themselves seems simply evil. For they do not reflect that what is in
some way injurious to one person, to another is beneficial, and that
even to themselves the same thing may be evil in some respects, but
good in others. And this could not be, if bodies were essentially
evil and harmful.

Reply Obj. 3: Creatures of themselves do not withdraw us from God,
but lead us to Him; for "the invisible things of God are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Rom. 1:20). If,
then, they withdraw men from God, it is the fault of those who use
them foolishly. Thus it is said (Wis. 14:11): "Creatures are turned
into a snare to the feet of the unwise." And the very fact that they
can thus withdraw us from God proves that they came from Him, for
they cannot lead the foolish away from God except by the allurements
of some good that they have from Him.
_______________________

SECOND ARTICLE [I, Q. 65, Art. 2]

Whether Corporeal Things Were Made on Account of God's Goodness?

Objection 1: It would seem that corporeal creatures were not made
on account of God's goodness. For it is said (Wis. 1:14) that God
"created all things that they might be." Therefore all things were
created for their own being's sake, and not on account of God's
goodness.

Obj. 2: Further, good has the nature of an end; therefore the
greater good in things is the end of the lesser good. But spiritual
creatures are related to corporeal creatures, as the greater good to
the lesser. Corporeal creatures, therefore, are created for the sake
of spiritual creatures, and not on account of God's goodness.

Obj. 3: Further, justice does not give unequal things except to the
unequal. Now God is just: therefore inequality not created by God
must precede all inequality created by Him. But an inequality not
created by God ca