Chapter 1 On God the creator of all things

The holy, catholic, apostolic and Roman church believes and acknowledges that there is one true and living God,
creator and lord of heaven and earth, almighty, eternal, immeasurable, incomprehensible, infinite in
will, understanding and every perfection.
Since he is
one, singular, completely simple and unchangeable spiritual substance,

he must be declared to be in reality and in essence,

distinct from the world, supremely happy in himself and from himself, and inexpressibly loftier than anything besides himself which either exists or can be imagined.
This one true God,
by his goodness and almighty power, not with the intention of increasing his happiness, nor indeed of obtaining happiness, but in order to manifest his perfection by the good things which he bestows on what he creates, by an absolutely free plan, together from the beginning of time brought into being from nothing
the twofold created order, that is
the spiritual and the bodily, the angelic and the earthly,
and thereafter the human which is, in a way, common to both since it is composed of spirit and body¹⁰.
Everything that God has brought into being he protects and governs by his providence, which reaches from one end of the earth to the other and orders all things well¹¹ . All things are open and laid bare to his eyes¹² , even those which will be brought about by the free activity of creatures.