That the Knowledge of God is not a Reasoned Knowledge OUR thought is then reasoned, when we pass from one object of thought to another, as in making syllogisms from principles to conclusions. Reasoning or arguing does not consist in seeing how a conclusion follows from premises by inspection of both together. That is not argument, but judging of argument. His knowledge therefore is not reasoned or argumentative, although He knows the argument and reason of all things.
Every reasoner intues principles with one thought, and the conclusion with another.
There would be no need to proceed to a conclusion from the consideration of premises, if the mere consideration of the premises at once laid the conclusion bare. His knowledge therefore is not argumentative. All argumentative knowledge has something of actuality and something of potentiality, for conclusions are potentially in premises. But in the divine mind potentiality has no place. Things that are known naturally are known without reasoning, as appears in the case of first principles.