These, then, are three aspects (1) to which we have drawn attention, and they are set forth in detail throughout the remaining considerations (2).

Forty-eighth Consideration:
What the theologians mean when they say that the Eternal is neither divisible nor composite is that He is one single entity in external reality, devoid of parts and (3) not subject to the kind of division whereby a whole is broken down into its constituents—like a human being divided into his limbs and members. At the same time, He—glorified be He—is not a universal genus that could be split into its species.

When it is said that speech is not divisible, two senses are intended:

First: that it possesses no parts or sections.

Second: that it is not one of those universals that are apportioned into their species and individuals, as the genus “human” is divided into its kinds, or as the genus “existent” is divided into the eternal and the originated—and likewise the genera of knowledge, speech, and the like (4) into the eternal and the originated.

These two sorts of division and composition are by no means the same. The first denies division with respect to a single entity that exists outside the mind, whereas the second denies division with respect to a universal that never exists externally as a universal. There is no universal “man” outside the mind that could be divided, nor any universal existence (5) that could be divided, nor any universal knowledge or speech that could be divided. Plainly, this was not what he intended to deny; and even if he (6) did deny it, no rational person would argue with him over it—whether concerning created speech or the speech of the Creator—for there is no