two created beings, or simply two beings, one able to come and go and act himself, and the other unable to do so, reason would judge the first to be more perfect than the second. Likewise, if we presented to reason two created beings, or simply two beings, one living, knowing, and capable, and the other having neither life, knowledge, nor power, reason would judge the first to be more perfect than the second.

The very same reasoning by which we know that His possessing life, knowledge, and power is an attribute of perfection also establishes that His having voluntary acts and speech subsisting in Him—through which He produces things distinct from Himself—is an attribute of perfection.

Rational people agree that entities which move, or are capable of motion, are more perfect than entities incapable of motion. Likewise, they agree that entities possessing knowledge, power, hearing, and sight, or capable of possessing these attributes, are more perfect than entities which neither possess them nor are capable of possessing them.

This approach is among the strongest ways of establishing the divine attributes. The early generations used it as an argument, establishing that whoever worships a god who neither hears, sees, nor speaks has worshipped a deficient, defective, and impaired lord. They established that these are attributes of perfection, and that whoever lacks them is deficient.