JOHN M. KELLY LIBRARY
Donated by
The Redemptorists of
the Toronto Province
from the Library Collection of
Holy Redeemer College, Windsor
University of
St. Michael s College, Toronto
THEODICY.
VOL. II.
THEODICY:
ESSAYS ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE
BY
ANTONIO ROSMINI SERBATI
Translated with some omissions from the Milati Edition of
r;v, zyzQai Ss av^sls Tispi o^osvof
syyiyvsrce.i (pSovoy.
Plato, in the " Timccu\
VOL. II
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA
A
1912
HOLY REDEEMER LIBRARY, WjJJ&Oft
imprimatur :
ALOYSIUS EMERY,
Prcep. Provinc. Inst. Char.
bstat :
HENRICUS PARKINSON, S.T.I).
Censor Deputatus.
imprimatur :
EDMUNDUS CANONICUS SURMONT,
Vicarius Generalis
Westmonasterii, die 14 August), 1911.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
BOOK THE THIRD.
(Continued.)
the Law of the Least Means applied to the Government of Divine
Providence.
CHAP. PACK
XII. The Problem which Essential Wisdom had to solve in
order to trace out the mode of operation to be fol
lowed by Essential Goodness ..... 3
XIII. The Principle to be followed in solving the Problem of
the Wisdom that creates and governs the world . 9
XIV. First Consequence : When God can obtain a given
quantity of good by the use of Created Entities and
Activities, it is not fitting that He should obtain it
by an extraordinary and immediate intervention of
His Power . . . . . . . i r
XV. Continuation. Necessity of Secondary Causes . . 14
Second Consequence : When God has by His Govern
ment obtained all the good He can obtain from all
the Activities of His Creatures, it is in accordance
with His Goodness that He should add His own
immediate action, so as to produce in them and to
derive from them that good which they, in whatever
way governed, could not by themselves yield, main
taining, however, in the case of this Supernatural
Action also, the Law of the Least Means. 16
vi Contents.
CHAP. I AGK
XVII. Third Consequence : Law of Excluded Superfluity . 29
XVIII. Fourth Consequence : Law of the Permission of Evil . 40
XIX. Recapitulation, and connexion with what follows . . 56
XX. Fifth Consequence: It was fitting that God should
place the beings He willed to create, in connexion
with one another, so as to form of them a single
harmonious whole ....... 60
XXI. Sixth Consequence: It was fitting that the Universe
should be ordered according to the Law of Continu
ity, or Gradation ....... 7^
XXII. Seventh Consequence: It was fitting that the Universe
should be ordered according to the Law of Variety,
in the Actuations and Modifications of beings . . 89
XXIII. Continuation. The Law of Wisdom has for its end the
complete realization of the several species, not the
multiplication of Individuals. Law of Excluded
Equality 98
XXIV. Eighth Consequence: Law of Unity in God s Action . 129
XXV. Ninth Consequence: It was necessary that the World
should be governed in accordance with the Laws of
Wisdom as expounded above, in order that there
might result from it the Glory of God, the end for
which the Universe was created .... 148
XXVI. Continuation . . . . . . . . .186
XXVII. Tenth Consequence: God follows in His Action the
Law of Heroism, thai is to say, the Law of Extremes 200
X X V 1 1 1 . Continuation. - Law of Antagonism 208
XXIX. Continuation.- Issue of Antagonism .... 312
XXX. Continuation.- Forces God brings together in the Conflict 329
XXXI. Eleventh Consequence : Law of Celerity is Action . . 356
Contents. vii
CHAP. PAGE
XXXII. Twelfth Consequence : Law of the Accumulation of
Goods -371
XXXIII. Thirteenth Consequence : Law of Germ. . . . 389
XXXIV. On the Absolute Measure of Good and of Evil . . . 392
XXXV. Of Providence in regard of the Good of Particular Indivi
duals . . . . . . . . .412
XXXVI. Conclusion 437
Appendix A. ......... 443
ON
DIVINE PROVIDENCE
BOOK III.
(Continued.)
THE LAW OF THE LEAST MEANS APPLIED TO THE
GOVERNMENT OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
Ego SAPIENTIA quando proeparabat ccelos, cider am; quan-
do certa lege et gyro vallabat abysses ; quando cethera
firmabat sursum, ct librabat fontes aquarum ; quando
circumdabat mart terminum suum y et legem ponebat
nqtitSj ne transirent fines suos; quando appendebatfun-
damenta terrce CUM EO ERAM CUNCTA COMPONENS
et delectabar per singulos dies, ludens coram eo omni
tempore, ludens in or be terrarum : ET DELICI^I
ESSE CUM FILIIS HOMINUM.
Prov. viii. 12, 2731.
II.
ON
DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
BOOK THE THIRD.
(Continued.)
CHAPTER XII.
THE PROBLEM WHICH ESSENTIAL WISDOM HAD TO
SOLVE IN ORDER TO TRACE OUT THE MODE OF
OPERATION TO BE FOLLOWED BY ESSENTIAL
GOODNESS. (l)
504. That the formula "The principle of the Least
Means" is more accurate than "The principle of the
Least Quantity of Action," is evident from this, that
the word means, corresponding with the word end,
shows that the minimum which is aimed at is a relative
minimum; whereas by saying, "The Least Quantity of
(i) It is not necessary to remind the reader that, in speaking of the opera
tions of the Divine Mind, we make use of human, and therefore, inadequate
language, because we have none more suitable. Of course, the Divine
Intelligence knows all things by one sole act, without any succession of
thoughts or reasoning, and has no need, as we have, on account of
the limitation of our faculties, of solving problems in order to arrive at a
conclusion.
4 On Divine Providence.
Action" it seems that an absolute minimum is indicat
ed. Hence in the universe we can always say that the
least means is used for producing the effect intended ;
but we cannot always say that the least action is used,
unless by changing the meaning of the expression,
namely, by taking in each different case a different rule
for measuring the quantity of the action. Indeed, if
we always insisted on measuring the quantity of the
action by the principle of Maupertuis, " Space multi
plied by velocity/ we should often find ourselves
mistaken. It is true that in many of the movements
which take place in the universe we notice a saving
both of space and velocity, so that nature would then
seem to aim at rendering the motion g entle and free
from violence ; but it is also true that in many a case
it seems to aim at the very reverse, as for instance in
the muscular movements (501), and then force is the
thing economized. At other times what nature appears
to propose to itself is the obtaining of as much motion
as possible by a saving of time, force, and obstacles.
In short, the means is invariably what nature econo
mizes in working for the end proposed ; and that end
varies according to need.
505. Nor does this variation of end afford any
ground for saying that nature is in contradiction with
itself, if we consider what has been said above. We
observed that so long as there is question of matter,
of sensitivity, in one word, of all that constitutes real
Icing as separated from intelligence, no true end can be
found, and therefore, no principle of the least means.
There can only be found forces and energies which
produce what they must produce, neither more nor less;
hence, there can be no room for either maximum or
Problem to be solved. 5
minimum. But if intelligence comes in, and wishes
to obtain a certain effect from nature, then it can
propose to itself that effect as an end, and can find out
the best means of obtaining it. Now, if we speak of
particular ends, intelligence can propose to itself a
variety of them, and very often one opposed to the
other. Thus (not to leave the sphere of material
nature) it will propose to itself sometimes the colloca
tion of a body in a given place, sometimes rapidity,
sometimes quantity of motion, sometimes ease or uni
formity in the movements, sometimes a given form,
etc. ; and it will seek the means relative to each of
these ends, and often find them either in the forces of
nature, or in an artificial distribution and combination
of them. The truth therefore is, not that real nature
itself changes its ends, but that intelligence considers
the operation of nature partially under different rela
tions, now, in order to one effect which it singles out
for itself, and now in order to another contrary effect.
Human intelligence is moved to this by the need it
happens to have of those particular contrary ends for
securing a higher purpose, that of its own satisfaction.
And if we observe that the forces of material nature
are distributed in the universe so as to bring about the
said effects in the easiest and simplest way, namely, by
the use of the least means, this is a manifest proof
that a Supreme Intelligence has given to the forces and
parts of nature the marvellous distribution and com
bination of which we speak.
506. But now our argument must take a much
higher range, in accordance with the object of these
discussions, which is to consider the end contemplated
by Divine Providence, and to show that that end is
6 On Divine Providence.
obtained by the least means, which is the inviolable
law of Wisdom and of Goodness.
By the end contemplated by Divine Providence, we
mean here the ultimate end, consisting in the greatest
moral perfection of intelligent creatures, and in that which
is its consequence, their greatest eudemonological good, or
greatest happiness. For, as we have seen, intelligent-
moral being cannot have for itself any other end than
intelligent-moral being, and the good of that being ;
nor can anything else be a sufficient reason for its action.
This good forms the absolute and universal end. All
the other ends are relative and partial ; that is to say,
in relation to it they are nothing but means.
The question, therefore, is : u To define the quantity
of moral perfection and happiness it behoved God
to communicate to His creatures in order to prove
Himself supremely good."
We have already seen that this quantum of moral-
eudemonological good could not have been infinite,
because no creature could be infinite (491). But its
amount though finite (and supposing no other con
ditions to be added to the problem), might have in
creased indefinitely according to God s good pleasure.
It remains for us, however, to see if there were no
other condition, no other application of the principle
of the Least Means, limiting that finite quantity ;
for, otherwise, the said quantity would remain inde
finite, or capable of being increased indefinitely.
In fact, it is inconceivable that the Divine Goodness,
being by its nature infinite, could stop at a given
measure of beneficence, unless Wisdom placed a limit
thereto ; in which case the limit would not lessen the
Goodness, but rather perfect and complete it. Never-
Problem to be solved. 7
theless, there would be a diminution in the absolute
quantity of external effect, to make room for an
increased relative quantity, that is to say, a quantity
the greatest possible relatively to the means employed.
This at last enables us to see what was the problem
that had to be solved by Divine Wisdom in order to
trace out the way to be pursued by Divine Goodness
in its operation. It was the following: "To determine
the quantity of moral-eudemonological good to be
distributed by the Creator among His creatures, in
order that this quantity might be the greatest possible
relatively to the means employed in producing it."
For, if in the universe the good produced were the
greatest possible, and the means the least possible,
the universe would be perfect, and an Infinite Goodness
could not have framed anything better.
507. Hence it follows, that if, to constitute such a
universe as is here described, the sins of men and the
loss of the reprobate were seen by God to be indis-
pensable, these evils, far from telling against the
supreme goodness of the Creator, would manifestly
be a corroboration of it.
Now, as we have seen, there is nothing to show that
what is here supposed is an impossibility ; and this
sufficed as an answer to the objections against Divine
Providence. For, if it is not impossible, we must
assume that the Supreme Being has acted in the
manner we have supposed, and framed the universe
such as we have described it. For if we did not
assume this, we should be bound to demonstrate
either that God does not exist, or, if He exists,
that He does not act in a way conformable to His
Divine attributes ; both things equally absurd. To
8 On Divine Providence.
call into doubt the existence of God, supported as it is
by so many other proofs, would require nothing short
of a rigorous demonstration that moral and eudemono-
logical evils can have no place in that one among the
possible worlds which, being wholly governed by the
Law of the Least Means is, for this very reason, a \vork
of Supreme Wisdom and Goodness. If, therefore, no
such demonstration exists, and indeed would be im
possible to a finite mind, it remains proved, both that
there is a God (as is demonstrated in other ways), and
that the evils in question are permitted by Him as
links of a perfectly ordered universe.
But the object which I have proposed to myself
extends much further than this. I am not content with
having established the possibility of the said evils
entering into the universe for the reason that wisdom
governs it according to the Law of the Least Means,
and with having inferred that \vhat was thus possible
ought to be assumed as being actually the fact. I
wish, moreover, to prove in a positive way that the
said evils are found in this our universe precisely for
the reason indicated, namely, in order that it might be
perfect and altogether worthy of God.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE PRINCIPLE TO BE FOLLOWED IN SOLVING THE
PROBLEM OF THE WISDOM THAT CREATES AND
GOVERNS THE WORLD.
508. To prove this, it is necessary first of all to find
a principle which may guide us in applying the Law
of the Least Means to the universe itself; and this
must be the very principle according to which Divine
Wisdom was to solve the great problem, and thus trace
out the way to be pursued in its operation by Divine
Goodness.
This principle, which results from the things we have
said above, and is found clearly indicated in the Gospel,
may be expressed thus : " The Law of the Least Means
will be maintained when created beings are governed
in such a manner as to draw from their own activities
the greatest good they possibly can yield."
The Law of the Least Action obviously requires that
all created beings, as well as all their activities, should
be utilized to the utmost, so that none of the good
which they can be made to produce may be lost.
509. Jesus Christ seems to have insinuated that
this is exactly what Divine Providence aims at, when
He said that the Father s glory consists in drawing
the greatest fruit from His disciples. " My Father is
the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth
not fruit, He will take away, and every one that
beareth fruit He will purge it, that it may bring forth
TO On Divine Providence.
more fruit." And He gives this reason : " In this is
My Father glorified, that ye bring forth VERY MUCH
(THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF) FRUIT." (i) Here it is
distinctly conveyed that the Providence of God tends
to produce a maximum of good, that is to say, the
greatest fruit that it is possible to gather from His
vine.
510. Now, this great principle may be translated
into another formula, equivalent to the first in value,
but better fitted for our purpose in certain applications
of it. We may word it thus : " The principle of the
Least Means will be maintained when created beings
are so governed that not one of their activities remains
idle, that is to say, fails to bear all that fruit which it
could bear by being properly employed." This same
thing seems to be expressed in the words of Job :
"Nothing upon earth is done without a cause," (2)
namely (as appears from the context), without an end
intended by Providence. Christ, in like manner, has
declared that "not even a sparrow falls to the ground,"
unless by the Will of the Heavenly Father, (3) thereby
giving us to understand that no event in this world,
however small it may be, takes place without a purpose,
but all are directed by the Wisdom of God to the
obtaining of some good.
Such, therefore, is the inviolable law of Divine
Wisdom and Goodness. Every entity, every activity,
every action must yield all the good which it can yield,
these things being of course considered as organic
parts of the universal system.
(l) In the Latin : /// //<;< da rijicatus cst Paler inei/s, i/t FRUC ITM
ri.UKIMt M a f/ e rail s. Jo. xv. I, 2, 8.
(2) Job. v. 6. (3) Matth. x. 29.
CHAPTER XIV.
FIRST CONSEQUENCE : WHEN GOD CAN OBTAIN A GIVEN
QUANTITY OF GOOD BY THE USE OF CREATED
ENTITIES AND ACTIVITIES, IT IS NOT FITTING THAT
HE SHOULD OBTAIN IT BY AN EXTRAORDINARY
AND IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION OF HIS POWER.
511. The incontrovertible and evident principle
last named will enable us to apply the Law of the
Least Means to the government of the universe,
inasmuch as there flow from it as corollaries certain
truths which go to prove that the very evils, moral
as well as eudemonological, which God permits, enter
into the design of an Infinite Goodness, and an Infinite
Wisdom.
The first of these truths is, that " God would not act
wisely if, when He can obtain a given quantity of
good from the entities and activities He has created,
He were instead to obtain it by an immediate and
extraordinary intervention of His own Divine Power/
The reason is obvious. Those entities and activities
from which God did not gather the fruit they were
capable of bearing would remain idle and useless, in
fact, they would be wasted. By His putting forth a
new activity of His own, when an adequate activity
had already been provided, it would come to pass
that a cause was employed equal to two for obtaining
an effect equal to one; whereas this surplusage of
12 On Divine Providence.
force might, if He had so wished, have been applied
to the production of another good different from that
produced by the existing activities. Thus there would
be a force expended foolishly, because without a
sufficient reason.
512. If, therefore, the Wisdom of God, by making
use of creatures and utilizing their activities, might
obtain a net sum of moral and eudemonological good
equal, say, to one hundred, it would give no satis
faction to His Goodness to obtain the same sum of
good by miracles and other extraordinary interven
tions of His Power; seeing that, for this purpose, a
complex of means would have to be used which, by
being differently disposed, might have produced a
sum of good twice as large, so that there would be a
loss of good equal to one hundred.
Nor is it of any avail, as we have already proved, to
say that the good obtained by the action of created
beings is mixed with evils, which might have been
avoided by an immediate and extraordinary inter
vention of God. For, we have seen that in the eyes of
the universal Ruler of the w r orld, even as is the case in
the affections of humanity, good and evil neutralize
each other, and the sum of good is found in the net
result that remains after the balance has been struck
between both. Granted, then, that in case the created
entities and activities were utilized, the maximum of
good could not be obtained from them without the
admixture of evils, in consequence of the limitation
inherent in all contingent beings ; it would not follow
that God s Power would be bound to interfere, in order
to remove or to prevent those evils ; because such an
interference would involve a loss of good so enormous
No Unnecessary Intervention of God. 1 3
as to lead at last to the absurdity that a great means
had been employed to compass a small end.
513. Now, if it is certain, ist, that it would be
impossible to obtain from created activities all the
good which they can yield, without at the same time
permitting certain evils ; 2ndly, that those evils could
not be done away with, unless by an extraordinary
intervention of God s power; 3rdly, that this inter
vention would be opposed to the Law of Wisdom, which
is that of the Least Means ; we must needs concede that
the evils to which creatures are subject, including
sin and the loss of the reprobate, far from disproving
the Wisdom and Goodness of God, establish them.
CHAPTER XV.
CONTINUATION : NECESSITY OF SECONDARY CAUSES.
514. The truth of \vhich we have just spoken implies,
as a natural sequel, the necessity of secondary causes.
Since the Wisdom and Goodness of God aim at ob
taining the greatest good from creatures, it is clear that
these could not correspond with God s design unless
they were fitted to bear fruit, in other words, unless
they were causes.
515. This fact namely, that if creatures were not
causes, creation would fail to obtain an end worthy of
God should be attentively considered. God, in creat
ing, could only aim at rendering His creatures good,
in imitation of Himself. If creatures were merely
passive, they would have no goodness of their own,
because they would have nothing but what they
receive ; and mere reception is not goodness, much less
moral goodness. Those natures only are capable of
any goodness of their own, and especially of moral
goodness, which can desire and love goodness, and
can operate, and hence become, by their own acts, the
causes of good.
Not only the Wisdom of God but His Power
also manifests itself more clearly by producing
beings that are causes, than by producing beings that
are devoid of action. That is not a full and perfect
power which does not extend to producing other
causes, capable of being perfected in virtue of their
own acts ; for a being which is wholly inert and
Necessity of Secondary Causes. 1 5
powerless to do anything, does not attain to the order
of perfection. And there is a much greater exhibition
of power in producing one cause alone, than in produc
ing immediately a great number of effects, (i)
The Goodness and Wisdom of God, therefore, as well
as the manifestation of His Power required that God
should create beings to act as secondary causes.
516. But the same thing seemed furthermore to be
required by a metaphysical necessity, springing from
the nature of being. For, a being cannot be conceived
as wholly devoid of action ; and if it has some action,
it has, on this very account, to a greater or lesser extent
the nature of a cause. Entity, actuality, cause, are here
synonymous terms. Hence, the concept of beings
which are in no sense causes, seems to involve
contradiction. The more anything is a being, the
more is it a cause. Accordingly, as God could not be
contented with creating only the lowest degree of
entity, so He was not to be contented with creating
only the lowest degree of causes.
517. These arguments which prove the necessity of
secondary causes considered in their nature and taken
singly, are wonderfully strengthened when we consider
the order and harmony of many causes together an
order and harmony which, by combining a vast
(i) St. Thomas, speaking of the existence of secondary causes, has this ad
mirable passage : "The reason why these causes exist must be sought, not
in any deficiency of power in God, but in the immensity of His goodness.
This it is that has prompted Him to communicate a similitude of Himself to
things, not only in that they exist, but also in that they are the causes of
other things ; for in these two ways do all creatures alike attain to similar
ity with God, as we have shown above (Ch. xxi). Moreover, the beauty of
order is thus made to shine forth in created things." (C. Gent., L. III.,
c. 70). See also Summa, p. iii., q. Ixxii. , art. 2.
1 6 On Divine Providence.
number of individual agents into one complex whole,
multiply created good a hundred, or rather a
thousand-fold. But I shall speak of this a little later,
when I come to show the necessity of the things
created by God, being placed in mutual connexion.
518. Now, if it was necessary that the universe
should be formed of causes, it was, as a consequence,
necessary that God should make these causes bear
fruit, that is to say, should obtain from them, taken in
their complex, all the good which they were capable
of producing. This is the application of the Law of the
Least Means, which we purpose to establish.
519. Hence also the necessity that the natural
order, and the subordination of secondary causes
should be maintained, as far as was possible, without
interruption in the course of the universe.
520. As beings are constant natures, so also they
are constant causes. As they are harmoniously linked
together, so they have a permanent order. Hence,
another truth of great value, namely, that " It is in
accordance with Divine Wisdom that the universe
should be regulated by general and permanent laws,
not by singular and arbitrary actions."
521. This truth, which flows from the fact that
the universe is a complex of beings which are causes,
of substances which have an action of their own, may
also be proved by the immediate application of the
principle of the Least Means. For, there is a much
smaller expenditure of God s action in His leaving
created natures to act with their own laws and forces,
than in His intervening at every turn to do that Himself
which can be done by the said laws and forces.
CHAPTER XVI.
SECOND CONSEQUENCE : WHEN GOD HAS BY HIS
GOVERNMENT OBTAINED ALL THE GOOD HE CAN
OBTAIN FROM ALL THE ACTIVITIES OF HIS CREA
TURES, IT IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS GOODNESS
THAT HE SHOULD ADD HIS OWN IMMEDIATE ACTION,
SO AS TO PRODUCE IN THEM AND TO DERIVE FROM
THEM THAT GOOD WHICH THEY, IN WHATEVER
WAY GOVERNED, COULD NOT BY THEMSELVES
YIELD ; MAINTAINING, HOWEVER, IN THE CASE OF
THIS SUPERNATURAL ACTION ALSO, THE LAW OF
THE LEAST MEANS.
522. The second corollary which follows spontane
ously from the above principle is this : " The immedi
ate and supernatural intervention of God s Power in
creation is not by any means impossible. It cannot,
however, take place except for obtaining such good as
created beings, in whatever way governed, could not
produce by themselves, but could produce if aided by
God."
523. This intervention does in fact take place when
there is question of communicating grace, whereby the
creature is raised to a supernatural order. For, it
would be impossible for man ever to attain to the
perception of God, to communicate immediately with
God, unless God of His own free Goodness communi
cated Himself to him. (i) In short, no man could ever,
(i) And the same must be said of all other intellective-moral creatures.
II. C
1 8 On Divine Providence.
by his natural powers, perform one single act belonging
to the supernatural order, and much less establish
himself habitually in this order.
524. The communication of Divine grace is like a
new creation : by it a new entity, a new power is made
to exist in man.
But in this very gift which God bestows gratuitously
on His creature outside the order of nature a gift so
befitting a Goodness which, being infinite, tends to
produce all the good possible God maintains the
Law of Wisdom, the Law of the Least Means. In
other words, He gave His grace in such measure, and
so distributed, that, being conjoined with the activities
proper to human nature, it may produce the maximum
of fruit. Hence :
525. I. No gift of grace is ever lost; none is
ever given by God uselessly, that is to say, without
bearing that fruit which God proposes to Himself in
giving it. We find this truth expressed by God Him
self, Who, in Isaias says : " My word shall not return
to Me void." (i)
526. II. In giving grace, God takes into account
the dispositions of His creature, and foresees the use
(i) "And as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and return
no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring,
and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater ; so shall My word be,
which shall go forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but
shall do whatever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent
it" (Is. Iv. 10, 11). By saying that His word goes forth from His mouth,
God signifies that grace comes immediately from Him, and not from any
creature. He says that His word " shall do whatever He pleases, and shall
prosper in the things for which He sent it ; " because, although not every
grace sanctifies or converts the individual to whom it is given, owing to the
resistance he opposes to it, nevertheless, it obtains other ends, other kinds of
good at which God aimed in giving it.
God intervenes when necessary. 19
which His creature will make of it, together with all
the consequences which will ensue, not only in the
individual himself to whom He gives the grace, but
also in other individuals, indeed, in all mankind, nay,
in all intelligent creatures. He gives it exactly at the
time when, and in the quantity in which He foresees
that, conjoined with the activities both natural and
supernatural of the creature, it will produce a greater
fruit than could be obtained from it by distributing
it in any other manner whatever.
527. Thus, let us suppose for example, that the
quantity of grace which there is question of distribut
ing is as ten, (i) and that there are two infidel nations
among either of which it could be dispensed. In one
of these nations, there is still preserved a certain
amount of natural probity, so that by its own forces
alone it produces a natural-moral good equal to one
hundred. (2) The other is so sunk in corruption that it
only produces a natural-moral good equal to ten. God,
however, in His Infinite Wisdom sees that if He were
to bestow those ten degrees of grace on the first nation,
this owing perhaps to a secret pride which makes
it look upon itself as virtuous because less corrupt
(1) It should be remembered that, as has been already shown, whatever
may be the quantity of grace which God bestows, it can always increase
indefinitely, although it always remains finite.
(2) There is no need here to enter into the question, " Whether man,
after the fall, is capable of producing by his own natural forces amoral good
wholly free from evil, and even from all love of self (piXatm a) ; " for, to render
our argument valid, it suffices that man should be able to do by his own
powers alone some moral good, a thing which all Catholics admit. This
apart, however, I do not see any valid reason for saying that man is not able
by his natural powers to peform some act purely out of respect for the moral
law, this being a thing proportionate to human nature.
2o On Divine Providence.
than its neighbour would not produce with them an
amount of supernatural moral-good exceeding the
value of ten ; whereas the latter, humbled by the con
sciousness of its disorders, would receive that same
quantity of grace with gratitude, (i) and hence cor
respond to it with such zeal as to make it bear a super
natural-moral good equal to a hundred. It is plain
that the Goodness of God, aiming as it always does at
turning its gifts to the greatest advantage, will give the
grace to the more corrupt of the two nations. (2)
Thus, the first nation will continue to produce an
amount of natural virtue equal to a hundred, and the
second will thenceforth produce a hundred degrees of
supernatural virtue. If, on the other hand, that same
(1) Query: Can grace be received with a sentiment of gratitude by a
purely natural act ? If grace is considered, not as grace, that is, not
relatively to its supernatural effects, but simply as a means which strengthens
man against his natural corruption, the thing seems to me possible ; because
the object of that gratitude, namely, the diminution of natural corruption,
does not as to its substance exceed the natural order. But if there is
question of being grateful for supernatural effects of grace, then the gratitude
is itself supernatural, and cannot therefore be felt save through grace. We
must therefore discriminate between the two effects of grace (although
in point of fact they are inseparable) : the one is to strengthen nature by
rendering it capable of natural virtue; and the other is to impart to man
the power of practising supernatural virtue. The first effect, by whatever
cause produced, can be known by the light of natural reason ; the second
cannot be known positively save by the light of grace. For the first,
therefore, one may be grateful with the natural will, for the second one
cannot be grateful otherwise than with the supernatural will, produced by
grace itself. Here therefore we speak of the first of these two sentiments
of gratitude, which is a natural sentiment, but presupposes grace in order
that it may arise.
(2) This shows that grace is not given according to merit, and that
natural virtue not only does not merit grace, either de condigno, or de congruo,
as Theologians express it, but is not in all cases even a sufficient motive
for God s bestowing grace, although sometimes it may be so.
God intervenes when necessary. 21
quantity of grace were given to the first nation, the
supernatural good obtained from it would only be of
ten degrees, with, perhaps, a diminution also of the
natural good by reason of that increase of moral
perversion which is wont to follow from opposition to
grace a diminution which would find no compensation
in the other nation, because of its extreme moral
corruption.
528. This gives some light to understand that it is
certainly not without wise reasons that God imparts
the grace of Faith to certain nations much sooner than
He does to others ; as also to understand why the
coming of the Saviour into the world was delayed for
so many ages. Humanity had fallen into the profound-
est depths of moral darkness when the "Sun of Justice"
arose upon it. (i)
It must not, however, be supposed that from the
case just indicated I mean to conclude that God always
(i) One of the causes which facilitated the promulgation of the Gospel,
was undoubtedly the consciousness that men had of their own corruption,
and the urgent need they felt of some reformation in order to save the very
fabric of human society which was fast hurrying to utter ruin, under the
overwhelming load of all kinds of vices. St. Augustine observes that it
would be impossible for any one to conceive fully the state of degradation
into which mankind would have sunk but for the succour brought by
Christianity.
Gratias Domino Deo nostro, qui contra ista mala misit nobis adjutorium
singulare. Quo enim non tolleret, quern non involveret, in quod prof undum
non demergeret fluvius iste horrendce nequitice generis humani, nisi crux
Christi in tanta velut mole auctoritatis eminent ius Jir/niusque figeretur,
cujus apprehenso robore, stabiles essemus, ne male suadentium, vel in mala
impellentium, tarn vasto hujus mundi gurgite abrepti sorberemur ? In
ista enim cclluvic morum pessimorum et -veteris perditce discipline, maxime
venire ac subvenire debuit ccelestis auctoritas ; " and he goes on in the same
admirable strain. (Epis. cxxxviii). See also Society and its Aim ("La
Societa ed il Suo Fine"), Bk. III. ch. xv.-xviii.
22 On Divine Providence.
distributes His grace in proportion to the greater
natural corruption of man. Certainly not. I have
merely cited one example. In other cases God will
give His grace to persons possessed of natural probity,
and will not give it to others who are very corrupt.
But it will always be true that, whenever He does give
it, He gives it in accordance with the Law of Wisdom,
that is to say, by distributing it, so as to obtain there
from, all things considered, the greatest fruit it could
ever produce in any possible distribution.
529. I say "all things considered;" because we
must not think only of the immediate effect which
grace produces in the persons to whom it is given or
offered. These may possibly reject the grace, and yet
it will bear its fruit in other persons who had the offer
of it together with them, or to whom that refusal
remains as a most salutary example and instruction :
and it also serves other excellent ends, though mostly
hidden from us. Thus our Divine Master informs us
that His preaching and His miracles, with the accom
panying grace, were ill received at Corozain and at
Bethsaida ; whereas, the same gifts were not offered to
Tyre and Sidon, although if these cities had received
them they would have been converted, (i)
But Christ s preaching and miracles were not in
tended solely for those cities of Galilee in which they
took place, but for the entire world ; and they wrought
in fact the conversion of some Galileans, among whom
Christ chose His Apostles and Disciples, who carried
(i) "Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee Bethsaida; for if in Tyre and
Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you,
they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes " (Matth. xi. 21 ;
Luke. x. 13).
God intervenes when necessary. 23
the light of the Gospel to all nations. Hence, if we
suppose that the conversion of Tyre and Sidon at a
time when the world was not yet disposed to receive
the Gospel, and to use the expression of Christ " the
countries were not white already for harvest," (i) would
not have led to the Gospel being so rapidly propagated,
we shall at once understand how the Wisdom and
Goodness of God should prefer to give the grace in
question to the men of Corozain and Bethsaida, who
did not accept it, rather than to those of Tyre and
Sidon who would have accepted it. (2)
(1) Jo. iv. 35. These words indicate the possibility of a certain natural
disposition, to which God sees fit to add His grace.
(2) In all this discourse, indeed in all this book, use is made of a
scientiamedia, as it is technically called, after the example of the Fathers
of the Church, who always had recourse to it when they spoke
of the ways of Providence : I ought, therefore, to explain in what
sense it seems to me that this kind of knowledge must be admitted
in God. The question is this : " How can God know those things
which, although they do not actually come about, would, under
given circumstances, have an actual existence (futuribilia) ? " He
cannot know them in their reality, because they have no reality ; and
He cannot know them in their immediate causes, since these, being free,
are not determined to one effect alone ; nor, again, can He know them in
His own decrees, because for these things which never had and never will
have existence, God makes no decrees. Where, then, does He know
them ? My answer is : In His Wisdom. As God never does anything but
with an Infinite Wisdom (according to the words of Holy Scripture,
"Thou hast made all things in wisdom," Ps. ciii. 24); so He knows
what, in a given hypothesis, His Wisdom ought to decree. The Law of
Wisdom is that of " the Least Means," that which disposes everything so
as to draw from it the greatest good possible. Therefore, given for example
the hypothesis that Christ had announced His doctrine to the inhabitants
of Tyre and Sidon, God would know whether the Law of the Least
Means required that those populations should be converted by that preach
ing ; and if it did, He would know that He would have decreed that conver
sion, and that the decree would have been fulfilled. But how could God
know that such conversion was the greatest good which, in the said
hypothesis, could be obtained ? By taking into account all the other
24 On Divine Providence.
530. Nevertheless, the preaching of the Gospel to
those who, because of their pride, are indisposed to
receive it, would not be suffered to take place unless
circumstances of the universe, and, among them, the dispositions of those
populations, namely, that natural gratitude to which we have alluded in the
preceding note, and in virtue of which, humbled by the consciousness of
their moral disorders, they would have regarded the lights and the aids
offered to them as a great boon. It is no valid objection against this to say
that they were corrupt, perhaps even more corrupt than the Jewish people ;
for even in that case, God might have given them the grace of conversion
which He withheld from the Jewish people ; not because that natural dis
position to receive the light of the Gospel as a great boon, was a merit to
which grace was due, but because the grace received in that disposition
would have borne a greater fruit, as soon as the said disposition was informed
and supernaturalized by grace itself. Grace, therefore, would always have
been a wholly gratuitous gift ; it would have been bestowed on undeserving
men, probably more undeserving than the Jews ; and yet it would have pro
duced its fruit, a fruit relatively the greatest, whereas it would not have done
so if Corozain and Bethsaida had been converted instead. Thus will the
Tyrians and Sidonians, at the day of judgment, be in a position to be con
fronted with the inhabitants of these two cities, and to stand as witnesses
against them, not indeed on account of their absolute goodness, but on
account of their having been better disposed to receive the grace of the
Gospel, and to make that grace bear fruit, if it had been vouchsafed to
them.
Now, as in this sense it is allowable to distinguish in God a scientia
media, that is, a knowledge holding a middle place between the knowledge
of simple intelligence and that of vision, as Theologians term them ; so there
is nothing to forbid our distinguishing in Him also a will, holding a middle
place between simple antecedent ii ill, and subsequent will, and saying with
Leibnitz : " The primitive antecedent will has for its object every good and
every evil considered in itself, apart from all combinations, and tends to
promote that good and to hinder that evil. The middle will has reference to
combinations, namely, to those cases in which an evil has some good con
joined with it ; and then, if the good exceeds the evil, the will has a certain
tendency towards this combination. But the final will, or the will that
decrees, results from the consideration of all the goods and all the evils that
enter into the decision to form the decree ; it results from a total com
bination " (Theod. Bk. II. 119).
It is needless for me to tell the reader that these distinctions of several
God intervenes when necessary. 25
there were others who, being well disposed, would
profit by it. For we must remember that the message
of salvation was sent forth in favour of the unfortunate
and the humbled, who alone receive it as good tidings
and bring forth abundant fruit. Hence, the Saviour
declared that He was sent to "preach the Gospel
to the poor,"(i) applying to Himself the prophecy of
Isaias, who had described the mission of the future
Messias thus: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me.
Wherefore He hath anointed me : He hath sent me to
preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and
to preach release to the captives, and deliverance to
them that are shut up." (2) When a man finds himself
humbled, from whatever cause it may be, in this dejected
state he is very grateful to the hand that offers him
kindly succour, or causes a ray of hope to shine on him.
And what brings him to this state in which his heart,
heretofore hard and fiercely proud, is softened down
into meekness is his misfortune, and that very
corruption which is the cause of it. For, nothing can
more powerfully contribute to give man a mean
opinion of himself, and a sense of utter distrust in his
resources, than the remorse and misery he feels in
being conscious that, while on the one hand he was
made for truth and justice, he has, on the other, plung-
kinds of knowledge and several kinds of will have no place in God, but
only in our own human way of conceiving ; and that in God there is only
one most simple knowledge and one most simple will. It may perhaps be
objected that God has no need of knowing things that will never be ; but
in reply, it will be well again to observe that this kind of knowledge
serves us as a means of explaining in some manner the ways of Divine
Wisdom, and this explanation is not erroneous, because in God there cor
responds to it that result, which is afterwards the object of His decrees.
(i) Luke iv. 18. (2) Is. Ixi. i.
26 On Divine Providence.
ed himself into a very abyss of darkness and iniquity.
Hence also it came to pass that the first Christians, as
the Apostle observes, (i) consisted for the most part of
the very poor, the illiterate, the forlorn, who, in the
Gospel message, found that comfort and restoration of
which they stood so much in need, but of which they
had no earthly hope. Wherefore Christ, among the
signs by which it might be known that He was the
promised Messias, laid particular stress on the fact
that " The poor had the Gospel preached to them," (2)
both because it was the fulfilment of the prophecies,
which had assig ned this as the characteristic of the
preaching of the Redeemer, and because the power of
giving substantial succour to all the humiliated and
the miserable belongs to God alone; and lastly, because
only the Wisdom of God could have found in the most
dejected a disposition for the proper reception of His
gift, even as only His Power and Goodness could
have communicated so great a treasure, and availed
themselves of human infirmity for conjoining with
failing human nature a deiform structure. Here, in
very truth, is a work far greater than the opening of
the eyes of the blind, or the raising of the dead to life;
among which signs, Our Lord places that of the
preaching of the Gospel to the poor and the meek.
(i) "See your vocation, brethren, that there are not many wise according
to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble : but the foolish things of
the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise ; and the weak
things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong;
and the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible hath
God chosen, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the
things that are: THAT NO FLESH SHOULD GLORY IN HIS SIGHT (I Cor. i.
26-29).
(2) Matth. xi. 5. Luke vii. 22.
God intervenes when necessary. 27
531. III. From the fact that God, in all He does,
always aims at the greatest good, it likewise follows
that, in giving to a man a certain quantity of grace,
He acts in such a manner that that grace may profit
not only the individual to whom it is first given, but
also others who, through his instrumentality will be
brought to a good disposition and receive the same
grace for themselves.
532. Hence, we see that God had an excellent reason
for ordaining that the santification of many should be
obtained by means of a few among His Saints, the
chosen ministers of His mercies. The Angelic Doctor
makes use of this reason for proving, among other
things, the fittingness that the Eternal Word should,
in His Incarnation, take to Himself only one individual
[suppositum] of human nature, and not all. His words
are : "For the very reason that a wise operator follows
in his actions the shortest road he can, he ought not to
do by means of many things what he is able to do by
means of one. It was therefore most fitting that by
one man all other men should be saved." (i)
533. Here, perhaps, some one may ask: How is it,
then, that God sometimes strikes down and brings to
absolute submission, by a triumphant grace, the most
rebellious and obstinate wills? Is not this a great
intervention of God in His creature, an immense
expenditure of His Power? Unquestionably it is.
But there can be no doubt that in these cases also He
follows the Law of Wisdom, the Law of the Least
(i) " Ad brevitatem vice, quani sapiens operator observaf, pertinet quod
non faciat per multa quod sufficienter potest fieri per unum. Et ideo
convenientissimum fuit quod per unum hominem omnes alii salvarentur."
(S. p. Hi., q. iv., art. v., ad jm.j
28 On Divine Providence.
Means. It is therefore reasonable to believe that
in the sudden conversion of one of these hardened
sinners, God provides a means of other great and
numberless goods which will ensue from it, thus
justifying the employment of that unusually large
quantity of grace. Hence these conversions seem to
have for their end, not merely the salvation of the soul
that is gained by each of them (although no one could
adequately estimate the treasure of good which even
that one soul alone may be worth in the sight of God),
but also the salvation of many others. Thus, for
example, Saul, through his conversion, became the
Apostle of the nations; St. Augustine became the
Doctor of Grace; Dismas, Magdalen, and other sinners,
whose conversions are recorded in the Gospel, became
most luminous examples to all the w r orld, and striking
proofs of the mercy of God to all ages. This is why
even the common sense of Christians expects great
things from such sudden and solemn conversions, and
when they happen, the faithful are wont to say that
God has some great purpose in view for the good of the
Church.
In short, God, in bestowing and distributing His
grace, follows the same Law of Wisdom as He does
in bestowing and distributing the gifts of nature, in
creating, preserving, and directing all things. What
still remains to be said will serve to indicate (as far as it
is in our power to do) those ways which Wisdom traces
out for the Supreme Being, and which He faithfully
follows in His action, both with respect to nature, and
with respect to every immediate intervention of His
Power, whether ordinary or extraordinary.
CHAPTER XVII.
THIRD CONSEQUENCE: LAW OF EXCLUDED SUPER
FLUITY.
534. A third consequence which follows from the
same principle is, that inasmuch as God never does
anything", save in order to obtain the greatest good
possible, "There can be no superfluity in His action."
535. From this law St. Thomas, with much acuteness,
infers the necessity of causes that are contingent and
liable to fail. He begins by saying : "In those things
which are properly governed by Providence there must
not be anything in vain." On this principle he argues
thus : If all the causes in the universe were to act by
necessity, their effects, even though superfluous, could
not be prevented. Now, if many effects unnecessary for
the production of the greatest good could not be
prevented, there would be superfluity. Consequently,
the Wisdom which governs the universe would be
wanting in that great principle of wisdom which
requires the exclusion of superfluity, (i)
(i) The words of St. Thomas are understood differently by others; but
it appears to me that this is the true purport of the reasoning of the Holy
Doctor. The passage is as follows: "In his qua; providentia debits
reguntur, non debetesse aliquid frustra. Cum igitur manifestum sit causas
aliquas esse contingentes, ex eo quod impediri possunt ut non producant suos
effectus, patet quod contra rationem providentice esset, quod omnia ex
necessitate contingerent" (C. Gent., L. III. q. Ixxii. 7). These lines I
explain thus : " In the universe there must be nothing in vain. Therefore
there must be contingent causes, in order that their effects may be impeded
and cut short when they happen to be superfluous."
3<D On Divine Providence.
536. This principle obtains not in the natural order
only, but also in the supernatural. Jesus Christ plainly
declared as much when He said to the Apostles : "My
Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me
that beareth not fruit, He will take away, and every
one that beareth fruit He will purge it, that it may
bring forth more fruit." (i)
537. It befits Divine Wisdom, therefore, to hinder
all those effects of natural causes which would be over
abundant, and in no way contribute to the sum total
of the universal good. Hence we find that created
beings, brought most wisely into mutual proximity,
serve to check one another s propagation and action.
The excessive luxuriance of plants is tempered by
the various degrees of sterility in the ground, and
by other causes limiting vegetation. The necessity
of contending for the alimentary soil moderates
the multiplication of the several species ; and their
exuberant productiveness is also kept down by the
animals to which they serve as food. The animals in
like manner are exposed to the action of a great
number of natural agents which prevent each species
from propagating beyond a certain limit ; and among
the causes acting in this manner, one of the most
noteworthy is that war which we see incessantly
carried on among brutes, with the result that the
weaker and most prolific kinds become the food
of the stronger and less prolific. Thus, does the most
wise Author and Ruler of the universe, by this kind of
strife which is observed in all nature, remove what
ever, from being excessive or superfluous in the effects
(I) Jo. XV. I, 2.
Law of Excluded Superfluity. 3 1
and actions of created causes, would tell injuriously
on the great sum total of good at which He aims.
To this end He has disposed beings and their actions
in an admirable proportion and a stupendous harmony,
of which not a single one of these beings has the
cause in itself. To express myself in the language of
a recent writer, God "utilizes death itself for the
advantage of life." (i) He makes corruption serve
generation, and by destroying antecedent forms, He
continually restores the world and renews its youth.
538. Even the death of man is regulated by the
Supreme Goodness according to this law. It serves
the great purpose of removing from the universe
the superfluous and the useless. Jesus Christ taught
us this truth in that parable wherein He showed that
the good are called to their reward at the very
moment when the fruit, for the sake of producing
which they were till then left on earth, has reached
its full maturity : " The kingdom of God is, as if a
man should cast seed into the earth, and should
sleep, and rise, night and day, and the seed should
spring, and grow up whilst he knoweth not. For
the earth of itself bringeth forth fruit, first the blade,
then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear.
And when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he
putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." (2)
That word "immediately" (statim mittit falcem), is
specially deserving of attention, inasmuch as it indi
cates clearly enough that God never leaves His elect
(i) Roselly cle Lorgues, De la mort avant V horn me, ch. ii. This chapter
deserves to be read. The author there proves that, for brute animals,
neither pain nor death has the nature of an evil.
(2) Mark iv. 26-28.
32 On Divine Providence.
on this earth for a single instant beyond the time which
is necessary for them to bear all the fruit they are
destined to give. The very same law determines the
hour of the death of the reprobate, that is to say, of
all those God forsees will no longer give the fruit they
ought to give, either directly by their own amendment,
or indirectly by occasioning sanctity in others, and,
more in general, contributing to the increase of the
sum total of good. "Every tree," says Jesus Christ,
"that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut
down." (i) Hence St. John the Baptist, when he
saw great crowds of Pharisees and Sadducees coming
to be baptized by him, said that by so doing
they were escaping from the wrath that was hanging
over their heads, and exhorted them to bring forth
worthy fruits of penance, lest God should destroy
them : " Ye offspring of vipers, who hath showed
you to flee from the wrath to come r Bring forth, there
fore, fruits worthy of penance. And think not to say
within yourselves, We have Abraham for our Father.
For I tell you, that God is able of these stones to
raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is
laid to the root of the tree. Every tree therefore that
doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast
into the fire." (2) In which words it is necessary to
note how the Precursor says that the axe is laid to
the root of the tree, because the Messias had already
entered the world, and was ready to commence the
preaching of the Gospel. Hence men s ingratitude
and indocility to the Word Incarnate Himself would
have rendered them unworthy of every other grace ;
(i) Matth. vii. 19. (2) Luke iii. 7-9: Matth. iii. 7-10.
Law of Excluded Superfluity. 33
and, as a result, their hearts would have become hard
and sterile for evermore, so that, like useless trees,
they would justly deserve to be cut down.
This very grave truth, that the abuse of the graces
offered, and the refusal to yield to Christ the fruits He
expects from them, leads, as a just punishment, to the
deprivation of the heavenly gifts and to the other sad
consequences we have just named, would seem to be
signified also in that fact a fact so full of mystery
in which Christ, being hungry, came seeking fruit from
the fig-tree that had abundance of leaves on it, and not
finding any fruit, because it was not the season, He
cursed the tree, and the tree immediately withered, (i)
From the same fact we learn, moreover, that in order
that men may be preserved in life, they must not only
yield fruit, but yield it at the time in which Christ
expects it, that is, when that fruit can be of service
for the good of the universe, for the final sum total
of good. Hence we may justly infer that, even sup
posing a man by continuing in life could give some
fruit, he will be taken away before he gives it, if God
sees that he would retard its production beyond the
time in which it is required by the universal order.
For, that fruit, coming too late to increase the sum of
the final good, would be accounted as no fruit ; there
fore the Master, Who has then no need of it, would
disown it, and, as a consequence, execute upon that
(i) Mark xi. 13-14. This is why Simeon and Isaias before him (Is. viii.
14), said of Christ that " He was set for the fall and for the resurrection of
many in Israel]" (Luke ii. 34). For, as to accept His grace was the same
as to rise from sin, so to refuse that grace, was the same as to fall into ruin.
Hence those words of Christ : "If I had not come, and spoken to them,
they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin."
Jo. xv. 22.)
II. D
34 On Divine Providence.
tree, which has nothing but leaves on it, the terrible
sentence : " May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee any
more for ever." (i)
Nevertheless, there are also cases in which the
Master, Who, though He was angry with the fig-tree
which He had planted in His vineyard, because,
having come for full three years seeking fruit on it, he
had found none, is induced to wait another year at the
earnest request of the dresser of the vineyard, who
promises to dig about that tree, and dung it. (2) In
the success of that request of the dresser of the
vineyard, we see clearly represented the efficacy of
the prayers which pastors offer on behalf of sinful
souls intrusted to their care. For, those prayers are
a new accident which causes a change in the universal
reckoning. Hence, through them, it comes to pass
that that fruit which, given too late, would not be
opportune for the good and the harmony of the
universe, and therefore not deserving to be waited
for, becomes still opportune and harmonious, and,
as such, is still awaited by the all-wise Master.
539. But it may be well to explain, by a great and
solemn example, what that time is in which He
Who is Infinite Wisdom seeks fruit from His trees, and
if He does not find it, destines them for the fire. Let
it be that of the Deluge. There the tree from which
fruit was expected was mankind at large ; for the
allegory applies equally to individuals, to societies,
and to humanity as a whole.
Mankind had grown totally depraved by the grossest
sensuality. God, because Essential Goodness, wished
(i) Mark xi. 14. (2) Luke xiii. 6-8.
Law of Excluded Superfluity. 35
to restore it ; but He wished to do so by the least
means, because He is Essential Wisdom. There were
two ways before Him : to correct depraved mankind
by warnings, threats, preachings, and other means of
His Providence ; or to destroy it, saving at the same
time some little root which was not corrupt, and which
by again shooting up might grow into a new and
better kind of tree. Wisdom found this second way
much the simpler and readier of the two. Accordingly,
It chose this, and submerged in the waters the entire
race, with the exception of one virtuous family, destined
to be the stock of the new generations. Now, even we,
feeble as our minds are, can understand how God, by so
disposing, was adopting a plan which would, in the
course of a few centuries, re-people the earth with
a new and incorrupt race. Without that summary
measure, who can say how much longer it would have
taken for the generations born of, and brought up by
corrupt families, to be cured of the hereditary disorder,
and to become equally good? Who can say for how many
centuries depravity and scandal would have continued
to pass on from father to son, from age to age, increas
ing perhaps instead of diminishing ? Even supposing
that a time would have come in which the perverse
habits inviscerated in families being uprooted, the
world had at last succeeded in reforming itself; who
can say how many and what kinds of means it would
have been necessary to employ for that end ? Granting,
however, what is uncertain, that such period had
arrived, it would then have been the season of
fruits for that fig-tree. But God did not require fruits
at so remote a period ; He required them earlier and
in greater abundance, and of a better quality. He
36 On Divine Providence.
therefore struck the tree with barrenness leaving only
one offshoot, and thus He obtained a new race of
men in a much shorter time; a race which, being freed
from the contagion of the former perversity, would be
capable of yielding more copious fruits than could
have been obtained by preserving the whole of mankind
as it was. For, men, with that extreme propensity to
evil with which they were so deeply infected, and
which would probably have communicated itself also
to the one stem that still remained incorrupt, would
have gone on multiplying their enormities to a fright
ful extent.
540. In accordance with the same rule of wisdom,
the five cities were destroyed, the nations that dwelt in
Palestine were pronounced accursed, and many other
peoples doomed to perish ; families, likewise, were
extinguished, and individuals died of a premature
death.
541. Yet, it seems that this law is subject to excep
tions. How many wicked men are left to live out a
long life ; how many families are preserved which
seem to be hardly anything else than nurseries of evil !
These exceptions, however, are only apparent ; for
the principles of God s Wisdom have no exception.
To understand this, it may be enough to make the two
following considerations :
i st. The reason why it is more expedient that an
individual, a family, a nation should be taken off the
face of the earth, is not the scarcity of the special fruit
which they yield for their own advantage, but the
scarcity of the fruit which their action gives, considered
in its bearings on all mankind and on all times. We
ought, therefore, to take into account the virtue of the
Law of Excluded Superfluity. 37
good which is exercised and perfected by means of
the iniquity of the wicked. An exquisite fruit is thus
yielded by the wicked, not indeed to themselves, but to
others, to the Master of the field, Whose Infinite Good
ness considers the complex good of all His creatures
as His own good, as His glory. Let us not, then, for
get the countless advantages which God draws even
from the worst of sinners. On these advantages no
one has written more copiously than the great Bishop of
Hippo ; and I will here quote one extract from the
admirable reflections he makes on this subject.
Having shown how the wicked impel the good to seek
refuge in God, to place all their hopes in Him alone,
to have recourse to Him by fervent prayers (and to the
good these things are a large source of moral improve
ment), he adds that God makes use of the wicked for
correcting the good themselves, and bringing them to
that grand act of perfect charity which consists in
loving one s enemies, and doing them good. He says :
" There can be no doubt that by means of evils, God
exercises and scourges us. Wherefore does He scourge
us ? Obviously, in order to the kingdom of heaven.
For, what son is there whom his Father does not cor
rect (Heb. xii. 7)? By so doing, He trains us up for
the everlasting inheritance. And He often procures
us this good by means of wicked men, using them for
exercising and perfecting our love, which He wishes
to be extended even to our enemies. For, the Christian
is not perfect in love unless he fulfils what Christ has
commanded, saying : Love your enemies ; do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute
you (Matt. v. 45). In this way, the devil himself is
vanquished and the crown of victory is gained. Now,
38 On Divine Providence.
the malice of wicked men is the left-hand armour of
the just, according to those words of the Apostle : By
the armour of justice on the right hand and on the
left, by honour and dishonour (11 Cor. vi. 7, 8).
From these and the other things which he goes on to
enumerate, it plainly appears that just as the right-hand
armour was the glory of God, the good name, the truth
by which the just were known, their not being sorrow T -
ful but rejoicing, their enriching many, their being
possessed of all things ; so the left-hand armour con
sisted in their being esteemed ignoble and of evil
repute, deceivers, unknown, in their being put to
death, straitened, saddened, seeming to be needy and
possessed of nothing." (i)
542. 2ndly, When God intends to remove from the
earth an individual, a family, a nation that bears
no fruit, He does not carry out His purpose by a
miraculous intervention ; for this would be opposed to
the Law of the Least Means. He simply disposes the
series of secondary causes in such a manner that they
may naturally produce that effect. To obtain this, it
was necessary that He should impart a special order to
the concatenation of secondary causes, all of which He
sees by a most simple act of His mind ; and that order
cannot be changed without the whole of the most com
plicated arrangement of these causes being changed.
He had, therefore, to consider also whether the order
of secondary causes was such as would lead to the
attainment of the greatest good; for, such is the limi
tation of created things (which are precisely the
complex of secondary causes), that sometimes it is
(l) Enarrat. in Ps, xciii. 28.
Law of Excluded Superfluity. 39
impossible to obtain a partial good effect without
losing a greater, or to remove an evil without opening
the way to a w r orse evil. Hence a tree, though
itself giving no fruit to its master, would not be
altogether sterile if, by its being cut down and cast into
the fire, the field or the vineyard were to suffer injury ;
for in that case, the tolerating of it would be a true
gain to the produce of that field or vineyard. This is
why Christ has said that He leaves the cockle,
although a hurtful thing, to grow along with the
wheat, because, if it were rooted up, the wheat also
might be rooted up with it.
543. The Law of Divine Wisdom, therefore, is one
without exceptions of any kind ; but the applications of
it are most diversified, according to those manifold
circumstances which only an infinite mind can embrace
in their entirety at a simple glance, even as it can see,
with unerring accuracy, what purpose they can serve
best.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FOURTH CONSEQUENCE : THE LAW OF THE PERMISSION
OF EVIL.
544. From the same law we can see why and ac
cording to what rule God permits evil.
545. The reader must recall to mind what evil is.
We have seen that it is a privation of good (183-187).
And since good is the entity itself of things, the more
entity there is in a thing, the more good there is in it,
and there is more entity where there is more action.
It follows that the permission of evil is a corollary
of the Law of the Least Means. For, if this Law
imports that God should not, as Creator, Preserver,
and Sanctifier, intervene in nature save with that
quantity of action which will produce a greater good
than it could produce by being employed in any other
manner the greatest good possible; it is clear that in
many cases God will not intervene, and in many cases
He will cease to act or to produce secondary causes,
or their activities and perfections. Such cases will be
all those in which, if He were to act, the activity
employed or produced would not bear the maximum of
fruit, which alone satisfies His Infinite Goodness.
546. Now, for God to abstain from action is the
same thing as to permit evil. For, as He is the First
Cause, so to Him all the effects of secondary causes also
are referable. Consequently, if He ceases in some
Law of the Permission of Evil. 41
part to concur with these causes, many of their effects
will cease. This absence of effects, or of their fulness
and perfection, is not, therefore, the direct work of God
Who, whenever He acts, produces a good but comes
naturally of itself, given that God abstains from action.
And as the First Cause, although it is the universal
cause of all things, does not take away the free-will
of intellective creatures when they do good ; so the
abstention of the First Cause from action does not
take away the free-will of those creatures when, failing
in their action, they do evil. This second point is not
more difficult to understand than the first. If in the
first there lies a mystery, no wonder there should lie a
mystery in the second also. Since it can be proved
that the fact is so, reason obliges us to admit it, even
though we should not be able to explain how it comes
about. Now, that God, as First Cause, is also the uni
versal cause of all finite activities, may be easily infer
red from the absurdity to which the contrary suppos
ition would necessarily lead. For in that supposition
there would be entities, or acts of entities, independent of
God : and if there were anything independent of God,
then God would no longer be God : the activity which
escaped from His creative act would be self-existent.
Self-existent being would, therefore, be divided into
many : the Absolute Infinite would cease, since the
concept of the Absolute Infinite is that of a being who
embraces in himself, with a most simple unity, all that
is self-existent.
547. On the other hand, whoever has arrived at
forming a clear concept of creation (and here under
the term creation I include every action of God ad
extra; for, in truth, God always acts by way of creation
42 On Divine Providence.
inasmuch as He produces at each instant that which,
without His action, would not exist), will readily
understand that creation produces thing s with their
order, and hence produces the accidents as subsisting
in, and emanating from, the substance ; it produces
the acts of secondary causes as acts belonging to them,
and proceeding from them according to the mode of
their operation, whether that mode be free or necessary.
Accordingly, the intervention and action of God never
destroys free action ; on the contrary, it produces it,
causes it to be free, as it really is. In other words, it
operates in such a manner, that the free act may
proceed from the free choice of an intelligent cause, to
which, therefore, that act is justly imputed ; because,
to impute an act means nothing else than to ascribe it
to the free cause which has produced it.
Hence :
548. ist, If a created and free cause does evil, that
evil is imputable to itself alone ; for imputability is
nothing but the relation which an action has, not with
the First Cause, but with the cause which has freely
and immediately produced it.
2ndly, The created and free cause which has done
evil, might have avoided that evil, and chosen to do
good instead, for otherwise it would not be free.
3rdly, God, as First Cause, produced this free cause
which has chosen evil, and produced it such that it
might have chosen good instead ; for otherwise, He
would not have produced it free.
4thly, This free cause, by choosing evil, failed in
the completeness and perfection of its act, although it
had the power not to fail.
5thly, God, as First Cause, produced the free cause
Law of the Permission of Evil. 43
even in the instant in which it was failing in the com
pleteness and perfection of its act, whilst, at the same
time, it had the power not to fail, that is to say,
He produced it capable of not failing". But He did
not in any way produce the failure of its act ; because
that failure, as a thing belonging solely to the order
of privation, could not be produced bv a cause which
is all activity, which never fails, whose action is
unerring, (i) Thus in the First Cause, there was not
act accompanied with privation, but merely a negation
of act ; and this negation limited in such a manner as
not to take away from the secondary cause the power of
rendering its act complete. It simply permitted that
the act of that power should fail in the perfection
which was demanded by its nature, and which the
secondary cause might have given it, but did not.
6thly, God s permission of moral evil is not the cause
of that evil ; since the cause of evil is a deficient cause,
and in God there can be no deficiency, every act of
His being perfect. But as this perfect act of God, for
the very reason that it is perfect, has the maxiimmi of
good for its object, so it does not extend to producing
all the perfect acts which secondary causes are cap
able of performing. As a consequence, it comes to
pass that deficient causes posit some acts which are
imperfect and deficient ; not indeed because they
(r) St. Augustine, that great intellect who dived into this subject more
deeply perhaps than any other known thinker, expresses this truth as fol
lows : Peccavit qitidem opus Dei, id est angelus -vel homo ; sed opere suo
pecca-verunt, non opere Dei : ipsi sunt enim bonum opus Dei ; peccatum
vero eorum malum opus ipsorum est, non Dei" (Op. imperf. contra Julianum,
Lib. V., Ixiv) Angel and man, who are the work of God, sinned indeed;
but they sinned by their own work, not by the work of God. For they are a
good work of God ; but their sin is their own evil work, not God s.
44 On Divine Providence.
could not do otherwise, but their own free choice and
this their actual and free deficiency constitutes free
moral evil which entails a necessary moral evil, as in
the case of the reprobate in hell and of those in a
state of sin. The First Cause, therefore, produces no
evil ; all evil comes from secondary causes, which
alone are liable to fail.
ythly, God s permission of moral evil does not take
away from the free cause the power of avoiding it, but
simply does not prevent that cause from committing it.
For, the object of such permission is not anterior in
time to the evil which is committed, as though it were
an impulse given to the commission of it, or a with
drawal of the power to avoid it, so as to render the
said evil a necessity : no, it is contemporaneous with
the evil ; it is the actual evil itself. Hence the evil is
not caused by God either positively or negatively : it is
merely permitted.
8thly, Necessary moral evil is consequent upon free
moral evil, and it sometimes takes place through a
withdrawal of moral forces which is demanded by
Divine justice. In that case necessary moral evil is
a penal evil, that is to say, a just penalty of an ante
cedent free moral evil ; and as such it is willed by
eternal justice, God concurring negatively, that is, by
not giving, or by withdrawing as a just judgment,
moral strength and vigour. Such is precisely the
case of the reprobate in hell. For, as St. Augustine
says : " The necessity w r hich causes a man not to be
free to abstain from sin, is a PENALTY of those sins
from which he was free to abstain when there was no
pressure of necessity to compel him/ (i)
(i) Peccandi necessitas, unde abstinere liberutn non esf, illius peccati
Law of the Permission of Evil. 45
gthly, Lastly, God s concurrence with penal evil is
negative by refusing to or withdrawing from the crea
ture the eudemonological good of which it has made
itself unworthy by sin.
549. God, then, is not the cause of free sin [culpa] ;
and if in Holy Scripture He is sometimes described as
being such, the words have a different sense from that
est, a quo abstinere liberum ftiit, quando nullum pondus necessitatis
urgebat (St. Aug. Op. imptr. contra Julianuin, Lib. I. cv.). Let it be
well noted that, according to the mind of St. Augustine, and indeed of the
Catholic Church, all necessity of sinning ceases in those who are in the state
of grace, or who have recourse to the aid of grace, except in the case of
venial sins and moral imperfections, from which no one is entirely free.
The Holy Doctor speaks of the sad necessity of sinning only in order to give
glory to the grace of Christ, which alone delivers men from it. Hence in
the same place he says : A peccatis omnibus siveoriginalibus^ sivemoralibtis,
vel qua; facia sunt, vel ne fiant, nan liberat nisi gratia Dei per JESUM
Christum Domimnn nostrum, in quo regenerate sumus, et a quo didicimus
orando dicere non solnin, Dimitte nobis debita nostra? id est quia pecca-
vimus, verum etiam, Ne nos in/eras in tentationein, 1 id est ne peccemus.
As for the rest, it is a mere calumny of the Jansenists to attribute to St.
Augustine the doctrine that man, in the present state of fallen nature,
always acts in virtue of that delectation which is the stronger in him, with
out the intervention of his free-will ; in which case every sin would
be necessary, since there would not then be in man liberty from necessity
(libertas a necessitate], but only liberty from coaction (libertas a coac-
tione). The fact is, that St. Augustine teaches most clearly : 1st, that
grace may "be lost by sin; 2ndly, that he who, being in the state of
grace, does sin, always sins freely, because in a man in the state of grace
there is no longer any necessity of sinning ; 3rdly, that in the state of unre-
generate fallen nature, there are two kinds of sins, some necessary, others free
(culpoe). Hence in replying to Pelagius, who (singular to say) was trying
to brand him with the same calumny as the Jansenists, he says : Cum igitur
et illafateannir in liominibus esse peccata qua; committuntur NON NECESSf-
TATE, sed vohmtate, qua tantummodo peccata sunt, UNUE AB EIS LIBERUM
EST ABSTINERE ; et peccatis de ignoranticc vel ajfectionum necessitate
venientibus, quce jam non solnin peccata, VERUM ETIAM PCEN^*: SUNT
PECCATORUM, plenum sit genus humanum : quomodo dicis dejinitioni-
bus nostris peccatum nee in moribus inveniri ? " (Ibid.)
46 On Divine Providence.
in which He is said to be the cause of penal evil.
Of neither of these evils is God a positive cause, or a
deficient cause. But of free sin, precisely because
dependent on the free choice of the creature, He is
no cause at all, not even negative. For, He does not
withdraw from the free-will of the creature its power :
on the contrary, that power by which the creature
can freely avoid sin is given and maintained by Him.
He simply abstains from compelling it to choose good,
and permits it to choose evil. It is true that when the
creature chooses to perform an act to which nothing
is wanting of moral perfection (and it is in this that
moral good consists), God concurs positively to the
completeness of that act ; and when the creature chooses
to perform an act deficient in moral perfection, He
does not concur to that deficiency. But such non-con
currence does not, as we have said, precede the exis
tence of the deficient act, nor determine it, nor render its
opposite impossible. At one and the same time, man
chooses to act imperfectly, and God does not produce
the perfection of the act (simply permissive catise) . The
two things are simultaneous, and neither of them has
any influence on the other.
550. In penal evil, on the contrary, in physical evil,
as also in all the necessary acts of nature, God is a
negative cause, inasmuch as these acts do not take place,
for the very reason that He does not give the activity
which produces them ; for, if He created that activity,
they, not being free but necessary, would indubitably
take place. Those evils, therefore, which are both
physical and penal (for, if they were not also penal,
that is, if they gave no pain to the intelligent nature,
they would not properly speaking be evils), are, on the
Law of the Permission of Evil. 47
one hand, acts of Divine justice, and as such, a just
motive of praise to God ; and yet, on the other, they are
not anything positively inflicted by God on His creature ;
for to His creature God gives nothing but good.
They are merely penalties which nature suffers on
account of its own imperfection, and to which God
leaves it as an act of justice. Let us hear St.
Augustine: "When therefore God punishes, He as
judge punishes those who transgress the law, NOT BY
INFLICTING EVIL ON THEM BY HIS OWN ACTION, but by
leaving them to that which they have chosen of their
own accord, in order that the sum of their miseries
may be completed." (i)
551. But here it may be well to explain more fully
the nature of this negative ca^cse of penal evil. For, God
is the negative cause of this kind of evil in two ways :
ist, by not giving the activity which would produce
the effect in its completeness, as is the case in purely
physical evils (non-giving cause] ; 2ndly, by ceasing
from action, as is the case in necessary moral evils,
which, as we have seen, are also penal, as in the
reprobates in hell, from whom He withdraws His
grace (ceasing cause}.
552. As regards physical acts which prove defec
tive (and which the schoolmen called peccata nattirce\
God is not their negative cause by withdrawing from
nature its forces no ; on the contrary, it is He that
maintains those forces, and, by preserving natural
things, preserves unbroken the series of secondary
causes from the beginning of the world even to the
(i) " Cum ergo punit Deus, ut judex punit eos qui legem prcetereunt, non
eis INFERENS DE SE IPSO MALUM, sed in id quod elegerunt eos expellens,
ad complendam summam miseriarum " (Enarr. in Ps. v. 10).
48 On Divine Providence.
end. But foreseeing from the very first that immense
series of causes and effects which would be the best
adapted to His design; (i) foreseeing also in that
series, all those defective and imperfect effects which,
while they were necessary for the same design, would
be fitting penalties of guilt ; He, in creating natural
things, gave them those forces with such limitations,
and placed them in such mutual relations of op
position which would result in those real defects in
which the guilty were to find a just source of suffering.
In other words, He did not endow nature with those
entities and forces and that order which would have
prevented every defective act penal to man ; nor did
He Himself come to her aid with supernatural forces,
which would have had the same effect. Nay, He
did so dispose things at the beginning, that man,
so long as he remained in the state of innocence,
should not receive any pain from the forces of
nature ; so that during that time there would not
have been on earth the penal evil of which we speak.
But knowing the duration of that time of primitive
innocence, and knowing that it would be followed
by a time of sin, He disposed that nature should,
according to the series of causes and effects, develop
in due course the penal evils, through a pre-
established harmony between the physical and
moral evils to which man concurred by his own
will.
553. Thus all the primitive forces proper to nature
remained. They were not diminished, but were left by
(i) Such is the doctrine of St. Thomas: " Sic providentur naturales
effectus, ut etiam causce naturales ad illos naturales effectus ordinentur, sing
quibus illi effectus non provenirent. " S. p. I., q. xiii., art. 8.
Law of the Permission of Evil. 49
God to their natural development, pre-established by
His Wisdom. Nevertheless, it is true that God, by
withdrawing from nature, at the same time deprived
it of that beneficent influence which His special
presence conferred. But of this beneficent action of
the Creator of nature I shall speak later, when I
come to treat of the negative-ceasing cause.
554. Again, the fact of God s having created and
given order to secondary causes from the beginning,
not in an unlimited quantity, but "in measure and
number, and weight/ (i) is not opposed to what was
said above, namely, that the creative act extends to
all the acts of each created substance ; for, the creative
act, far from taking away from secondary causes their
efficacy, is that which produces it. Hence, when we
say that all creatures were disposed by God at the
beginning of their existence, we simply mean that in
that first disposition there was not included the law
which would determine the acts they were to produce
in succession ; although the creative act embraced
those acts themselves just as they would be deter
mined. In short, the order of creatures is the order
of the creative act itself, which is so constituted,
that in their first state there already exist, potentially
and virtually, all their successive states, and the
actions through which the preceding state passes into
that which follows.
555. N ow, this order which God established in
natural things with such exalted wisdom as to obtain
from it all the defective acts which were to be a pun
ishment of sin, was a necessary consequence of the
(i) Wisd. xi. 21.
II. E
50 On Divine Providence.
principle of the Least Means, which requires that God
should obtain all that He can from nature, through the
forces and aptitudes which He has bestowed and or
dered in it. Hence, Holy Scripture frequently invites
us to contemplate that first established order, to the
end that we may come to understand the sublimity of
Creative Wisdom. Thus, for example, we read in
Ecclesiasticus : "The works of God are done in judg
ment from the beginning, and from the making of them
He distinguished their parts, and their beginnings"
(the stars and the Angels who rule them) " are in His
hands for all generations. He beautified their move
ments for ever ; they have neither hungered nor
laboured, and they have not ceased from their works.
Nor shall any of them straiten his neighbour at any
time. Be not thou incredulous to His word. After
this, God looked upon the earth, and filled it with His
goods. The soul of every living thing hath He shown
forth before the face thereof, and into it they return
again." (i) Herein are clearly indicated the formation
and primitive distribution of natural causes, and the
whole series, wisely pre-established, of their effects.
In the same book it is shown how God so ordered
things in their first institution, that they should con
spire for the advantage of the good and for the
punishment of the wicked : " Good things were created
for the good from the beginning ; so for the wicked,
good and evil things." And a little further on : " Fire,
hail, famine, and death, all these were created for ven
geance. The teeth of beasts, and scorpions, and
serpents, and the sword taking vengeance upon the
(i) Ecclus. xvi. 26-31. See the Greek Text.
Law of the Permission of Evil. 5 L
ungodly unto destruction. In His commandments
they shall feast, and they shall be ready upon earth
when need is, and when their time is come, they shall
not transgress His word." (i) It is also noteworthy,
how often Holy Scripture reminds us that God foresaw
all times, and assigned to things and events their own
proper seasons, and that they are all good at the sea
sons assigned to them. For " He seeth from eternity
to eternity/ (2) Hence "it is not to be said: This is
worse than that ; for all shall be well approved in their
time." (3)
556. But as, under the disposition made at the
moment of creation, the action of natural beings, by
failing at certain times, would prove a punishment to
the wicked ; so it followed as a consequence of the
limitation of created things, that the good also who
on this earth are mixed up with the bad would some
times be involved in misfortunes. I mean those just,
who, when the primitive causes were, by their detri
mental interaction, producing the penal evil, found
themselves, accidentally so to speak, in the road.
Eternal Wisdom, therefore, had to take account also
of this fact in so far as it entailed an unmerited
suffering on the good. It had to consider those
accidental sufferings, which happen as it were
unintentionally on the part of the Author of nature,
and among them the cessation which would follow
of the punishment of the wicked. Before regu
lating the events of the universe, it had to answer
the following question : "Would the avoiding of these
sufferings of the just be a sufficient good to render the
(i) Ecclus. xxxix. 30, 35-37. (2) Ibid. 25.
(3) Jbid. xxxix. 40.
52 On Divine Providence.
employment of that activity which would be necessary
for this purpose, supremely wiser" or: "Would the
amount of activity which would have to be thus put
forth be employed to the best advantage, bear the
maximum of fruit r" Wisdom answered negatively for
some cases, and affirmatively for others. These latter
are the cases of those wicked men who, out of regard for
the just, escape the punishment they deserve, entirely
or in part, their debt remaining to be paid off in the
future life. The former are the cases of those just who
are subjected to sufferings which they do not deserve,
or which are greater than they deserve, as happened
in JESUS Christ, in the Blessed Virgin, and in many
of the Saints : and for these unmerited sufferings God
makes ample compensation in the life to come.
557. We must, therefore, distinguish the rule from
the apparent exception, which arises in the application
of the rule, by reason of the limitation of beings. The
rule is, that natural things are disposed with a ten
dency favourably to affect the good, and to punish the
wicked. The reverse of this is the exception. Hence
this rule divides itself into two parts :
First part. Natural effects are so ordered as to
conspire, not to the detriment of the good, but to their
advantage.
Exception. The wicked are left to enjoy as much of
the advantages of the good as is necessary to the end
that the order and series of natural causes may not be
interrupted, (i) It is thus that God "maketh His sun
(i) Job said : "O that my sins, whereby I have deserved wrath, and
the calamity that I suffer, were weighed in a balance : as the sand of the
sea, this would appear heavier" (Ch. vi. I, 2). But Baldad, one of his
friends, in replying, observed among other things that is was impossible to
Law of the Permission of Evil. 53
to rise upon the good and the bad, and raineth upon
the just and the unjust." (i)
Second part. Natural effects are so disposed as to
inflict pain on the wicked.
Exception. The good are subjected to as much of
the natural evils destined for the wicked as is again
necessary to the end that the order and series of natural
causes may not be interrupted. It is thus that we can
account for the blindness of the man who was healed
by Christ, and who had neither himself sinned, nor yet
his parents ; (2) and for the death of those Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices ;
and of those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in
Siloe, and who, as Christ Himself certified, were not
by any means the worst among sinners. (3)
558. Both these laws are proclaimed in Holy
Scripture. As to the first, St. Paul tells us that God
has, together with Christ, given to men all things. (4)
JESUS Christ forbids His followers to be anxious
about temporal things : " Seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and His justice, and all those things shall be
added unto you ; " (5) the Father having so disposed
them that where there is true virtue, there they shall
follow.
As to the second, the temporal penalties which the
wicked are threatened with are innumerable; for,
save him from his sufferings without interrupting the course of natural
things ; and this was not a thing to be asked of God, for the reason that no
one could estimate how many greater evils might follow, and how much
good be hindered, if it were granted : " Shall the earth be forsaken for thee,
and shall the rocks be removed out of their place ?" (Ch. xviii. 4).
(1) Matt. v. 45. (3) Luke xiii. 1-5.
(2) Jo. ix. 3. (4) Rom. viii. 32.
(5) Matt. vi. 33.
54 On Divine Providence.
" fire, hail, famine and death, all these were created
for vengeance." (i)
559. Now, these punishments which come as natural
effects are produced by God negatively, that is,
by abstaining from action : created natures having
been disposed by Him from the beginning in such a
manner that they should not produce the good relative
to them, but fail in that act not always a physical
act, but very often one of order and harmony. For,
in the complex of things, even order and harmony are
an act, an entity the more.
560. Sometimes, however, God is the negative cause
of necessary evils, not merely by omitting to act,
but also by withdrawing His beneficent action. St.
Augustine explains in this way the Scriptural expres
sion that God hardens men s hearts ; "God," he says,
"hardens not by imparting malice, but by not im
parting mercy." (2) This, however, requires special
attention, in order not to be misunderstood. Does
God withdraw His grace from sinners by a positive
act, as a man, for example, who takes back from his
neighbour what he had lent him r By no means ; for
although in the sinner, the illumination and sanctifi-
cation of grace ceases, and therefore, in this sense,
God s action in him ceases, nevertheless it does not
cease by a special act of God Himself positively re
calling it ; but ceases rather in the way that the
illumining action of the sun ceases in a man who
obstinately covers his own eyes, whilst the sun itself
continues to shine as before. Thus Cardinal Bellarmine
(i) Kcclus. xxxix. 35.
(2) " 2Vec obdurat Dcus impertiendo malitiatn, sed 11011 inipcrtiendo
misericordiam" (Epist. cxciv. 14).
Law of the Permission of Evil. 55
teaches that man is now born deprived of grace, not
because God is not disposed to give it, but because
grace encounters in man, at the very moment of his
generation, the impediment of original sin, which is
like the blindness that prevents one from enjoying the
light. Only that this blindness, this impediment, is
not in the material eyes, but in the will itself, which
constitutes the human person, the subject of sin, and
which is afterwards healed only by the remedial grace
of JESUS Christ. And in what does this impediment
consist ? In an opposition between the will infected
with sin and illumining grace : in a repugnance that
God, Who is Infinite Holiness, should come to dwell in
a soul that is in sin a thing altogether incompatible
with the Divine attributes.
561. And as Adam by his transgression deprived
himself of the grace which illumined and sanctified
him, so by a natural consequence there ceased that
special beneficent influence which God had extended to
nature. That influence, being intended for the benefit of
man in the state of grace, would be at man s service
only so long as he remained united with God, trusted
in God and not in nature, and thus kept himself under
the protection of God, Who had subjected nature to
him and ordered it for his good.
CHAPTER XIX.
RECAPITULATION, AND CONNEXION WITH WHAT
FOLLOWS.
562. Here I will briefly recapitulate what has been
said thus far.
God is the First Cause of all that takes place in the
universe, but sometimes he is a positive, and sometimes
a negative cause.
563. The First Cause, in so far as it is positive,
may always be called creative ; for God does not im
mediately intervene in that which can be produced
by a secondary cause. Hence, when He intervenes,
or in so far as He intervenes, He produces a new
thing", that is to say, a thing" of which there is no
sufficient cause in nature.
564. As to the negative cause, we have said that it
is of two kinds, the deficient and the non-deficient; and
we have shown that God is never a deficient cause, but
that deficiency belongs to the secondary causes only.
565. The non-deficient negative cause is, again, of
two kinds, the permissive, and the inactive.
566. The merely permissive cause is that which does
not take away the secondary causes, nor the forces
with which they are endowed, capable of acting with
full effect, but simply permits them to fail in the pro
duction of that effect. It is in this way that God is
the cause, or rather, is not the cause of free moral evil
(culpa) ; since this evil is committed by the creature
alone, with its own free-will, in defiance of the eternal
Recapitulation. 57
law ; for it is God Who, far from destroying that free
will, creates and maintains it.
567. The inactive negative caiise is that which does
not produce beings, or their forces, or their effects.
It is in this way that God is not the cause of super
fluities, but is the cause of their absence, and of penal
evil following as a result.
God is not the cause of superfluities, that is to say,
He does not produce them, He excludes them from the
universe.
568. Penal evil comes also from God in the same
way, namely, by His not producing the contrary good.
Physical evil lies in the deficiency of the goods
necessary to life, in bodily pains, in bodily imperfec
tions, in death.
Intellectual evil lies in ignorance, in dullness of
understanding, and the like.
The moral penal evil lies in original sin, in necessary
sins, in unavoidable moral defects.
569. These evils, being necessary, proceed from
necessary causes in which there is something wanting*
in order to their perfect action. This something which
is wanting in them may, by a most general denomina
tion, be termed an activity or an entity which is not
given to them. For not only the weakness of a power,
but also the disharmony between divers powers, is the
want of some actuality, if not always in the beings or
in their powers taken singly, at least in their complex.
570. Now, God is an inactive cause , sometimes by
abstaining, sometimes by ceasing from action.
Thus, at the beginning, God abstained from pro
ducing those beings, or, more generally, those
secondary causes, which were superfluous to the end
58 On Divine Providence.
He had in view : as He also abstained from giving to
the powers He created that order in virtue of which
they would in their development either produce good
that was superfluous, or avoid evils that were useful or
necessary to the great end.
But as regards ceasing from action, God, properly
speaking, never ceases from that which He has once
begun to do, unless the secondary cause rejects His
gift, and renders itself incapable of receiving it. It
was thus that our first parent separated himself from
God and His grace ; so that grace ceased to act in
him, not as though it was itself wanting, but through
the fault of man who forsook it.
571. By means of all these distinctions, we can
explain the way in which God intervenes in the
production of good and of evil in the universe, as well
as understand those passages in Holy Writ in which
God is said to be First Cause of evil also, (i)
572. Now, whether God acts as positive cause, or
intervenes as negative cause, it is always by the Law
of Wisdom that He is directed ; it is always by the
Law of the Least Means that His operation is deter
mined. For He does only that which is certain to give
Him the maximum of fruit, and therefore abstains from
producing anything which He sees will not satisfy that
condition. For the same reason He does not, in certain
cases, prevent free moral evil [culpa] and penal evil ;
permitting the first, and, with regard to the second,
abstaining from producing the activities, and in them
(i) Gen. xlv. 5, 8; Exod. vii. 3; Deuteron. ii. 30; II. Kings, xvi. 10 ;
III. Kings, xii. 15; Job xii. 10, 17, 24, 25; Isa. x. 6; Jer. x. 23; Amosiii. 6;
Acts ii. 23, iv. 27, 28; Rom. ix. 16, 18-20; I. Cor. iv. 7, xii. 6; Ephes. ii.
10 ; Philip, ii. 13.
Recapitulation . 5 9
the order, which would hinder its occurrence ; because
the production of those activities and that order would
not, in those cases, be an action well employed, would
not, all things considered, produce the maximum of
fruit.
573. All these doctrines are of importance in con
nexion with the continuation of our argument. For,
it is only by keeping well in mind a correct notion of
what the positive and what the negative action of God
is, that we can consider distinctly His Wisdom and
His Goodness whether He act as positive cause, or
as negative cause, or as both these causes together ; in
which latter case, there arise those effects which are a
mixture of entity and of limitation, of good and of evil.
In the light of this clear notion we can meditate on His
Infinite Wisdom as the regulator of these three modes
of action, which result in the events that take place in
the universe; and we can also see what in each cir
cumstance we ought to expect it to suggest to His
Infinite Goodness as the best thing to do.
We will now proceed to consider Wisdom, first, as
the regulator of the positive actions and dispositions of
God, and then as the regulator of the negative and
mixed effects ; from all which things combined there
ensues the grand order of the universe.
As regards the positive actions and dispositions, let
us begin by considering how God had to order and
select the beings of the universe, and to what end to
direct them. Afterwards we will consider the wonderful
means which He had to bring into play for the attain
ment of that end : and it is in speaking of these means
that we shall be called upon to enter on the subject of
His negative and mixed dispositions.
CHAPTER XX.
FIFTH CONSEQUENCE. IT WAS FITTING THAT GOD
SHOULD PLACE THE BEINGS HE WILLED TO CREATE,
IN CONNEXION WITH ONE ANOTHER SO AS TO FORM
OF THEM A SINGLE HARMONIOUS WHOLE.
574. Assuming that God willed to create many
beings, the fittingness of His placing them in relation
and communication with one another, so that, being
variously linked together, they might constitute a
single whole, may be proved by many special reasons.
These, however, are all reducible to the Law of the
Least Means, or, at all events, this great law demands
the connexion and unity of created things.
575. First of all, we see that each being, in order
to subsist and develop itself, stands in need of other
beings. Thus man requires various kinds of food,
which are furnished to him by the animal and veget
able kingdom ; he requires air to breathe, light to see,
his fellow beings in order to multiply, to form societies,
etc. All other animals, in like manner, stand in need
of beings other than themselves for maintaining their
subsistence and perpetuating their several species.
The vegetables also depend on minerals, earth, water,
various juices, to serve them as nourishment, various
fluids in which to live, etc. If vegetables did not
impregnate the air with oxygen and absorb the
carbonic acid, the air would soon become unfit for
Mutual Connexion of Created Beings. 6 1
respiration ; whilst the animals by exhaling the carbon
supply that substance which sustains the life of plants.
The fishes have need of water and of food suitable to
their nature. Electricity, heat, and other imponderables
are, again, necessary for the preservation of animal life.
If there were no sun, everything on our globe would
perish. So also the diurnal rotation of the earth upon
its axis, and its annual revolution around the sun,
have a special relation with the vital periods, and with
those of pregnancy, etc. In short, it may be said
that no living thing can stand by itself, and that the
whole universe concurs in making each thing to exist,
to endure, and to act for its own peculiar ends.
Now, it is true that if God had willed to separate
beings from one another, He could have preserved them
by dint of miracles wrought by his Omnipotence; but in
that case their aptitudes for assisting and sustaining
one another would have remained useless. There
would, therefore, have been an immense expenditure of
activity to no purpose. But the Law of the Least
Means requires that no entity or activity should be
wasted, that it should produce all the good it is capable
of producing, being disposed and collocated by the
governing intelligence in the place, time, and manner
best adapted to this object. Consequently, the Law
of Wisdom, which is that of the Least Means, would
not have been observed, if God, instead of placing
the various beings in suitable mutual relations, had
isolated and dissociated them, and so taken away the
possibility of their assisting and completing one an
other.
576. Moreover, from the connexion wisely ordained
of the various beings, there follow two kinds of effects ;
62 On Divine Providence.
the one consisting of those which contribute to the
production of final good, and may therefore be called
mediate goods, or goods having the nature of means ;
the other consisting of those which have themselves
the nature of end, and may therefore be called final
goods. If God had not in His Wisdom placed
beings in mutual connexion, neither the first nor the
second of these classes of goods could have been
obtained.
577. The mediate goods are those relating to the
order of real beings, and of intellective beings. The
final goods are those relating to the moral eudemono-
logical order. Who does not see that from the mutual
connexion of beings there proceed, in the real order,
an infinity of effects which could not be had without
it? Indeed, w r e may say that all the physical effects
man can become acquainted with, spring from the con
nexion and composition of beings ; for, what is there
in the universe that is altogether simple and isolated
from everything else ? But all these effects, which
God ordains as means to the final good, would be
wholly lost if created beings were not placed in com
munication. We must also observe that, besides the
different physical effects, beings as numerous as the
various combinations of the atoms and of other
beings can make them and the number of these com
binations exceeds all human reckoning each effect,
by a mere variation in the quantity, gives a new effect
which would not be otherwise obtainable. Thus the
forces of the same nature, if united, will give a result
which they could never give uncombined. For example,
if, wishing to move a block of granite, I apply a hundred
degrees of force, but only in succession one after the
Mutual Connexion of Created Beings. 63
other, I shall fail in my object ; but if I apply them all
together, and in the same direction, I shall succeed.
By burning simultaneously a large quantity of wood,
I may very well warm a room ; not so if I burn only
one stick at a time. From the conjunction of beings,
then, numberless new effects are obtained, varying in
nature and quantity, each of which, being ordered
by Infinite Wisdom, can yield some good.
578. The same must be said as regards the in
tellectual order.
Man is a being endowed by nature with the means
of knowing, but is devoid at the first of all knowledge
relating to real beings outside himself. His funda
mental feeling, the modifications of this feeling, and
the real beings which produce these modifications,
constitute the first materials of the cognitions he
acquires in succession, when, his attention being
aroused, he applies the means of knowing (indeter
minate ideal being) to these realities. Human know
ledge could not, therefore, be developed and go on
increasing unless corporeal realities acted upon man,
stimulated him, produced his instincts and his wants.
Consequently it was necessary that he should be
surrounded by that universe from whence he takes
the materials of his cognitions, whereon he afterwards
institutes reasonings, which lift his mind up to the
Creator, and to the contemplation of His Wisdom,
Goodness, Perfection. All the cognitions which man
thus obtains are so many occasions and means through
which he can develop the affections of his heart, and
hence act morally, practise virtue, and also gain merit.
It is plain, therefore, that he required to be connected
with the universe, to experience its action and to
receive continual modifications from it.
64 On Divine Providence.
Now, I grant that all these cognitions could have
been communicated directly by God without man s
being subjected to the action of the material universe,
or himself exercising his action upon other beings. But
in that case, the aptitude which human nature has of
acquiring" the knowledge of created beings, as also of
itself acting on the universe, and instructing itself by
its own experience, and at the same time of practising
virtue, would have remained useless, a mere waste.
So also would the aptitude which the various beings
have by their nature of causing modifications in man,
of supplying him with many cognitions, of affording
him the occasion of perfecting himself by the practice
of virtue. All this would run counter to the Law of
the Least Means, and therefore in direct opposition to
the mode of action essential to Divine Wisdom.
579. But let us briefly consider also those goods
which have the nature of end, and which result from
the conjunction and reciprocal action of beings.
580. Man cannot come to know the Cause of the
universe as wise, save by contemplating the traces of
wisdom that are found in it. Now, these traces are
presented to him in the harmonious connexion of
numberless beings which serve one another, forming a
single whole, ordained to one sole end. This truth
was known and proclaimed even by the philosophers
anterior to the coming of Christ, especially those of
the Italic School, who, to the complex of all things
gave the name of XQT/XOS-, and mundus, as if to signify
the ornate, or the beautiful, par excellence, ( i ) and re-
(i) Thus \ve read in Pliny : Quan xoa/xov Graeci nomine ornament i appel-
lavere, eum nos a PERFECTA AUSOLUTAQUE ELEGANTIA, mundum (Lib.
II., c. iv). The same is said by Varro, De Lingua Latina, Lib. IX., c, 19.
Mutual Connexion of Created Beings. 65
garded this order and beauty of the universe as a most
manifest proof of the existence of God, and the unity
of this order as a proof of the unity of God, its Author.
Hence, St. Thomas says: "The world is one for this
reason, that all things must be ordained to one sole
order and to one sole end. Wherefore Aristotle, in the
twelfth Book of the Metaphysics, from the unity of the
order existing in things, infers the unity of God Who
governs them/ (i) Thus the universe is, as it were,
the book in which man learns the science that makes
him capable of virtue ; and the letters this book is
written with are the beings of which the universe is
formed and their reciprocal actions and passions, their
affinities and repulsions which, taken together, consti
tute a most marvellous order and a stupendous harmony.
No doubt God had the power to create man in an isolated
state, and to show him the said order and harmony
in Himself, and thus instruct him, without his having
to avail himself for this purpose of the interaction of
creatures. But this mode of proceeding (even if w r e
imagine it possible) would have been opposed to the
Law of the Least Means ; since the aptitude which
creatures have for presenting to man the traces of Divine
Wisdom, and that which man has for deriving instruc
tion from those traces, would have thus been useless
and like riches thrown away. Hence, God would not
have obtained from His creation that good which it
was able to give Him.
581. Besides, if man had not been placed in com
munication with other creatures, and there had not
been a continual interchange of action and passion
between them and himself, he could not have been
(i) S. p. I. q. xlvii , art. 3.
II. F
66 On Divine Providence.
rendered virtuous by the least means. It is from this
universe in which he finds himself, that he is supplied,
as with knowledge, so with the occasion of practising
virtue, and advancing gradually by his own industry
in moral perfection that priceless treasure which is
the sum of all the good man is capable of. For
eudemonological good does not acquire the nature
of true human good, save in so far as it is a con
tinuation and a most fitting sequel of moral good.
Without several individuals living together, the
human species could neither have been multiplied,
nor have displayed the social virtues, which are,
properly speaking, the virtues of mankind. The
use of the beings of the universe, and the good
and the harm which they are occasions of to man,
form the material in which are embodied all the moral
virtues described by ethical philosophers justice, for
titude, prudence, temperance. No useful enterprise,
no heroic action, would be possible, if man had no
companions upon earth ; hence, God Himself has said :
"It is not good for man to be alone/ (i)
Moreover, all man s affections, wherein so large a
part of his happiness consists, and all the innumerable
pleasures which are afforded to him by the marvellous
variety of so many creatures adapted to satisfy his
natural tendencies, would in like manner have been
impossible. But even as one of the greatest delights
of the mind is the contemplation of the harmonious
whole which Creative Wisdom produces out of such
various and contrary things ; so one of the greatest de
lights of the heart is that which individuals receive
from society with their fellows, the one living in the
(i) Gen. ii. 18.
Mutual Connexion of Created Beings. 67
other by the sweet force of love ; and beyond this, each
individual, whose soul is informed by supernatural
charity, lives and delights in all those who partake of
the same charity. Thus is life multiplied in each, and
augmented and accumulated without end.
582. Now, let it here again be granted, or rather,
let us by a fiction of the imagination suppose, that
God could have given man in another way the occasion
of fully exercising virtue, of developing the affections
of his heart, and of enjoying the spiritual delights
of which he is susceptible. But how could He have
done this r Only in two ways : either by means of
creatures, or by an immediate revelation of Himself,
wherein man might see Him as Essential Wisdom and
Goodness, and thus feel prompted to love Him. If we
say by means of creatures, we admit against our sup
position that man is placed in relation with other
beings ; and this confirms our thesis. If we say by an
immediate revelation of God Himself, we strike at once
upon two rocks : i st, this would be a glaring violation
of the Law of the Least Means inasmuch as all those
forces, tendencies, faculties, and cravings which are
natural to man, and to which creatures are proportion
ate objects, would be without any sufficient reason,
and would therefore be lost; 2nd, if God had revealed
Himself to man immediately, and without a veil, man
would have been constituted in a state of term, and
therefore could have gained no merit, because devoid
of liberty. Hence all the meritorious virtue of which
he is capable would have been sacrificed, f i)
(i) It might be objected that God could have infused ideas into man
without either giving him the vision of Himself or placing him in communi
cation with other creatures. But this will not hold. In the first place,
68 On Divine Providence.
583. Now if, for the reason we have indicated, it
was fitting that finite beings should be placed in
mutual communication, and that they should recipro
cally act and re-act one upon the other, it follows that
the result of this state of things must be, not good
only, but evil also. For, as we have seen, every finite
being, owing to the limitation of its nature, is suscep
tible of evil. And if we speak of physical or eude-
monological evil, this must arise from the mutual
action and reaction of forces. Indeed, the same force
which produces pleasure, produces also pain, the
difference in the effect depending simply on the differ
ent mode and degree in which it acts. But, to justify
Divine Providence, it suffices that the evil be less in
quantity than the good, so that when the balance is
struck, there remain, as a net sum, the maximum of
good possible. For, as we have so often said, the
maximum of good is what Divine Providence proposes
to itself to draw from the complex of creatures and
their aptitudes, which are as it were the capital placed
in traffic by the Divine Master, and which would
there would always be a violation of the Law of the Least Means, because
the faculty which man possesses of forming ideas by the use of his senses
would have been fruitless. In the second place, ideas do not suffice for the
full exercise of virtue, because ideas give us only the knowledge of possible
beings ; whereas virtue is exercised principally towards real-intellective beings,
which can be known only by means of perceptions. In the third place, mere
ideas do not suffice for happiness, because happiness is not found save in
a union with real beings. Even the angelic knowledge, before the Angels
were admitted to the vision of God, must not be supposed to have con
sisted in mere ideas, but in positive affirmations of themselves and of other
created beings, wherein they saw the vestiges of the Supreme Being.
Hence St. Augustine teaches that the knowledge of the Angels went on
increasing in proportion as God proceeded in the work of giving form and
beauty to the universe. See De Genes, , Lib. III., c. xxxi., xxxii.
Mutual Connexion of Created Beings. 69
otherwise remain unemployed and like the talent
buried in the earth. Now, no one will ever be able to
prove that the physical good in the universe (to speak
now only of this) is less than the evil; whilst, on the
other hand, it is very easy to show that the quantity
of good is incomparably the larger of the two, if only
we consider that in this world good is the standing
ordinary rule, and evil the exception. Thus life is
good, because it is a pleasurable feeling, and death,
which lasts but a moment, is evil ; health is good, and
sickness evil, and in sickness itself man is not deprived
of all good, of all pleasure, and never of the feeling of
his own existence, \vhich, if it were not a good he
would not love so much as to regard its loss as the
extreme of evil. In general, every act is pleasurable,
so that pain is nothing but an impediment which a
sensitive nature meets with in putting forth its com
plete act. Hence we may say with all good reason
that whatever is, is good, not only in a metaphysical
sense, but also in a physical sense, inasmuch as there
is no pain or unpleasantness which does not consist in
some privation or failure in the act which is put forth,
in its not arriving at its completion or not reaching the
term to which it tends, and in which it finds its rest.
The universe, therefore, is in fact nothing but a com
plex of goods which suffer some limitation and diminu
tion from their co-existence and reciprocal actions.
584. Moreover, any one who \vishes to cast up ac
curately the sum of the good in order to confront it
with that of the evil, ought in the first place to distin
guish each pleasure taken singly from contentment, (i)
(i) See Society and its Aim ("La Societa ed il suo Fine"), Bk. IV.,.
ch. I 12.
yo On Divine Providence.
As regards single pleasures, he ought to observe how
there are some that could never be enjoyed unless they
were preceded or accompanied by certain evils. For
example, that peculiarly vivid pleasure which man
experiences in being restored to health, would not be
possible except on the condition of previous sickness.
Hunger and thirst lend to food and drink a zest
otherwise unknown. Repose and sleep are never so
delightful as when a man is weary and exhausted, or
has been long watching. And it may safely be affirmed
in general that those who live in too great ease and
self-indulgence are they who enjoy life least, and that
the relish and flavour which the simple rustic finds
in his humble fare and in quenching his thirst with a
draught of water from the clear spring, exceeds by far
those which the opulent gourmand seeks at his table,
loaded each day with a superabundance of dainty
viands, the choicest wines, and every luxury which
money can purchase. This truth of common experience
is so well known, that our two esteemed philosophers,
Ortes and Verri, have thought, though erroneously,
that pleasure should be defined in general as " nothing
else than a cessation of pain." (i) Plato had hinted
at the same definition ; for we read in the Pliado, that
on the day in which Socrates died, when the fetters
had been removed from his feet, he, touching and rub
bing the marks which were left, addressed the friends
that stood around him in the following strain : "How
wonderful, O men, does this thing seem which is called
(i) Before Verri published his book Sid Piacere, Ortes had defended the
same paradox in an article entitled Calcolo sopra il valore delle opinioni, e
sopra i place ri e i dolori della vita utnana, and inserted in the 24th Volume
of the Periodical Gli Economisti Italiani, Parte moderna.
Mittual Connexion of Created Beings. 7 1
pleasure, and what a marvellous relation it naturally has
with pain, to which, however, it seems so contrary that
it refuses to be together with it in man ! And yet if
any one seeks and finds either of the two, he is almost
always obliged to receive the other also, as if both
were conjoined in one and the same apex." Then he
makes the following excellent reflection : " Methinks,"
said he, " that if zEsop had observed this, he would
have composed a fable upon it, namely, to the effect
that God Himself, wishing to reconcile together things
opposed to one another, and being unable to do so,
joined their ends together ; and that so it happens that
whenever the one comes to a man, the other is sure to
follow/ Nothing could be expressed with greater
elegance. In this Socratic or Platonic thought there
lies a deep secret for investigation, of which we shall
speak later. For the present, it will suffice to observe,
that since pleasure, in the act in which it is acquired,
is a movement or passage from a state less suitable
to nature to a state that is more suitable and perfect,
it follows that from pain there must necessarily come
pleasure, and a greater pleasure in proportion to the
greater painfulness of the condition from which sensi
tive nature rises in that act. The reason is, because
an act is greater in proportion to the greater length of
the way traversed by it, that is to say, according as the
two extremes between which the passage takes place
are wider apart. Again, the pleasure must be more
vivid, the more rapidly that passage is made. From
this, several consequences may be drawn very much
to our purpose.
585. In the first place, we can see that, as every new
act supposes the power of performing it, so an actual
72 On Divine Providence.
pleasure suitable to human nature, supposes an inferior
state from which this nature passes to a better. Now,
this inferior state, although it is not always painful, is
always at least a limitation peculiar to sensitive nature.
Thus we can see where the error of the theory of Ortes
and Verri lies. If, instead of deriving the act of
pleasure from pain, they had derived it from the limita
tion and the deficiency of nature, they would have hit
the mark.
586. In the second place, we can see that such is
the limitation of human nature, that its most vivid
pleasures are not attainable except on condition of its
being subjected to pain. Hence it behoved the Supreme
Providence, in accordance with the Law of the Least
Means, which required that the various natures should
yield all the good they can produce by their own forces
and faculties, to permit that man should be liable
to suffering ; for, else human nature could not have
enjoyed all the pleasures which it is susceptible of.
587. In the third place, we can see why it is that
pleasures, when indulged in to excess, cause weari
ness, annoyance, injury to health, stupefaction a new
reason why Providence should have tempered and
mingled them together with their contraries.
588. Sufferings, however, ought to be considered
not merely in relation with single acts of pleasure,
but also in relation with man s interior satisfaction and
contentment. If this is done, one must indeed be
ignorant of the nobility of man s spiritual nature, not
to recognize the existence of that power with which
man has been endowed by the Creator, and through
which he is able to overcome pain by the constancy of his
temper and the strength of his will, and even to prefer
Mutual Connexion of Created Beings. 73
it to pleasure, and so change it from an evil into a good.
Leibnitz, after touching upon the teaching of the Stoics,
and quoting the sentence of Descartes, that " even in
the saddest accidents and the most excruciating suffer
ings, man can always be contented, if only he knows
how T to use reason," (i) goes on to refute Peter Bayle,
who, satirically objecting that " this was a remedy of
which hardly anybody knew 7 the preparation/ disown
ed the most precious riches of human nature, and for
all its unhappiness blamed God Himself, instead of
blaming the cowardice of man, who does not make use
of the gifts he has within himself. He tells him plainly
that the remedy in question is more possible than it
.seems. "For," says he, " not to speak of the true
martyrs, and of those who are extraordinarily aided
from on high, there have been some false ones who
have imitated them. Take as an example that Spanish
slave who, to avenge his master, killed the governor
of Carthagena, and, in the midst of the most cruel
tortures, showed a joy which may well put philosophers
to shame. Why will it not be possible for others to
attain to what this man attained? Indeed, it may be
said of fortune no less than of misfortune :
Cuivis potest accidere, quod cuiquam potest.
But even at this day whole nations, as the Hurons, the
Iroquois, the Galibis, and other peoples in America,
give us excellent lessons on this point. It is impos
sible to read without astonishment with what intrepidity
.and, as it were, insensibility, they brave their enemies,
who roast them at a slow fire and eat them piece by
piece. If these peoples could preserve the advantages
(i) Descartes Works, Vol. I., Letter ix.
74 On Divine Providence.
of body and heart, adding to them the knowledge we
possess, they would surpass us in every way,
Extat ut in mediis turris aprica casis.
In our midst they would be as a giant by the side of a
dwarf, as a mountain by the side of a hill :
Quantus Eryx, et quantus Athos, gaudetque nivali
Vertice se attollens pater Apenninus ad auras.
"All the wonderful things which an extraordinary
vigour of body and of spirit can do in these savages
piqued on a point of honour, might be acquired by
ourselves by education, by suitable mortifications, by
a dominant joy founded on reason, by making it a
point always to maintain a certain presence of mind
amid the distractions and impressions most calculated
to disturb it. Something of this kind is related of the
ancient sect known as the Assassins, subjects and
disciples of the famed Old Man of the Mountain.
" The Gymnosophists of ancient India had perhaps
something similar ; and that Galanus who exhibited
to Alexander the Great the spectacle of having
himself burnt alive, had doubtless been inspired with
that extraordinary courage by the great example of
his teachers, and had sustained the ordeal of most
grievous sufferings in order not to fear pain. The
Indian Suttees, in like manner, who to this day ask
to be burnt together with the dead bodies of their
husbands, appear still to retain some of the courage of
those ancient philosophers of the country." (i)
589. God, then, has placed in man a force which
renders him superior to pain, and by which he some-
(i) Leibnitz, Theod. iii., 255-257.
Mtitual Connexion of Created Beings. 75
times chooses pain as preferable to pleasure, and
adapted to satisfy his aspirations. Hence Divine
Providence could not have allowed this interior force,
which so ennobles man, and whose act he himself
desires with marvellous ardour, to remain idle. And, in
order that the sublime act to which it is ordained might
be produced, it was necessary that there should not be
wanting suitable occasions, namely, great and even
extreme sufferings. Accordingly, we are once more
bound to conclude, that if the Creator had, by His
omnipotence, hindered physical evils, He would not
have acted wisely, because not in accordance with the
Law of the Least Means, which requires that nature
should yield, and in the fullest measure, all the kinds
of good which it can possibly be made to yield by all
its po\vers and all its acts.
590. But how much stronger does the force of these
observations become when we consider the moral good
which man may obtain through the experience of
sufferings r I have spoken of this before, and here
it will suffice to remember that this kind of good,
having the nature of end, is incomparably more
excellent than all other kinds, which must be regarded
as having only the nature of means.
591. To this we must add the fact, that the physical
sufferings of an individual not only are an occasion
from which he may, if he will, draw very great good
for himself; but they also afford to all those who are
cognizant of them, opportunities of acquiring a practi
cal knowledge of human nature, of exercising the
virtue of beneficence.
592. It is true that if man had persevered in inno
cence, as God had created him, there would have
76 On Divine Providence.
been no physical evils upon this earth ; since it
would have been out of harmony with the Divine
Sanctity to permit that a nature wholly free from
guilt and sanctified by God Himself should be in any
way afflicted. But this entire absence of physical
evil would not have been due simply to human nature
and the material forces ; for these things, although
distributed with supreme wisdom, could not, owing to
their limitation, co-exist without coming into collision
and hurting one another. It would have been owing
to a special Providence which, through the action
of creatures superior to man, as the angels are,
removed from mortal man death and all other bodily
;ifflictions. As however, under this system, it was
not possible, either to fulfil the Law of the Least
Means, or to draw from the faculties and the acts
possible to man, and from the corresponding actions
and passions of the rest of the world, all the good
which they could produce; so Divine Wisdom, always
supremely perfect in its counsels, permitted that
man should be tempted by the seducing spirit, and
fall. Thus was the field thrown open to all the
development of which human nature is susceptible,
and to the production of that immensely greater
good which Divine Goodness had decreed to draw
from this nature.
593. Now, in this new order of Providence, wherein
all kinds of evil have a. place, as well as all kinds of
good, both physical and moral, to which, through the
Restoration wrought by Christ, they could give rise,
natural causes were so distributed at the beginning
that they should produce physical evils in those ways,
in those times, in that number and in that degree,
Mutual Connexion of Created Beings. 7 7
which might, all things considered, result at last in
the production of the greatest moral, and consequently
in the greatest eudemonological, good of humanity.
Some of the laws of that distribution have already been
expounded in Book II.
CHAPTER XXI.
SIXTH CONSEQUENCE. IT WAS FITTING THAT THE
UNIVERSE SHOULD BE ORDERED ACCORDING TO
THE LAW OF CONTINUITY OR GRADATION.
Ad divinam providentiam pertinet, ut gradus entium qui possibiles sunt
adimpleantur.
St. Thomas, Contr. Gent. Lib. III., c. Ixxii., 2.
594. The principle of the Law of the Least Means
leads us to another important consequence I mean
to the famous Law of Continuity amongst beings,
upon which so much light was thrown by Leibnitz.
Let us see how this law follows from what has
been said.
595. God, in determining to create contingent
beings, could only propose to Himself a finite pro
duction. Not indeed that He was wanting in power;
but the limitation inherent in these beings and in the
nature of numbers necessarily rendered an infinite
production a contradiction in terms. Hence the
absurdity of pretending to raise questions as to why
God created one quantity of beings rather than
another quantity, and such and such kinds of beings
rather than other kinds (490, 491). The amount of
entity which God has thought fit to bring into
existence ought, on the contrary, to be regarded as a
primitive dattim; and the only thing that we can
reasonably demand is, that " He, as supremely wise,
Law of Gradation. 79
should draw from that entity all the good which it
could possibly yield, by distributing it in the manner
best suited for the purpose/
596. Of what kind and amount, then, is the entity
which God proposed to Himself to create and did
actually create ?
It results from a great many things, all of them
reducible, so far as we know, to three elementary
and primitive species, namely, ist, Material elements ;
2nd, Sensitive principles ; 3rd, Intellective principles.
597. From these species, as we have seen, the Law
of the Least Means requires that God should dra\v
all the good which it is possible for them to give.
But in order to this, none of their forces, aptitudes,
passions and modifications, from which any good
can be obtained, must be allowed to run to waste.
Hence in the preceding chapter we concluded that
it was fitting that God should not leave beings
isolated one from another, but should unite them in a
simple harmonious whole, placing them in mutual
contact, so that by acting and reacting upon and
modifying one another, they might exercise all their
aptitudes and faculties, and thus, each in its own way,
contribute something to the sum total of good.
By a similar process of reasoning we also come to
see very clearly, that God, in consideration of the same
law of fittingness, formed with the three elementary
species we have named all the beings which they
could produce, combining them in all possible ways ;
and this for the very reason that each such combina
tion was a new entity which His Sovereign Wisdom
could turn to some account. The only exception to
this rule would be when some combination could not
8o On Divine Providence.
be made to harmonize with the universal order ; in
which case the omission of that combination would, of
course, be justified.
598. Assuming", therefore, that those three specific
elements had to be combined and intermingled in all
possible ways, lest any of their capabilities and
aptitudes should be lost, it is manifest that the result
must be the Law of Continuity amongst beings. In
other words, the universe must embrace a continuous
gradation of beings from the most simple to the most
composite, from the lowest to the highest ; so far as-
Infinite Wisdom saAv that the successive steps of the
gradation within the sphere of the said three elements,
could be carried into effect consistently with the end of
the universe itself.
599. This law does not hinder the natures of the
three elements from remaining inconfusably distinct.
Their natures are unchangeable, because each element
corresponds to a different idea, the foundation of a
different species. Indeed, if the material atom were
changed into a sensitive principle, it would, ipso facto,
cease to be what it is. So in like manner, if the
sensitive principle, in so far as sensitive, were changed
into an intellective principle, it would no longer, as
such, be a sensitive principle ; so that, to use an
Aristotelian expression often repeated by the School
men, the three elements in question "differ as numbers
differ."
600. They may, however, be variously combined,
according to their reciprocal affinities. As regards
the material element, I believe on grounds which I
must reserve for discussion in another place that it
is always informed by feeling, and that the animated
Law of Gradation. 81
atoms form the animal as soon as the suitable organiz
ation supervenes. The animal principle, on the other
hand, may be conjoined with intelligence, in which
case the two principles acquire a common root. This
is what takes place in man.
60 1. But as this conjunction is not necessary,
intelligence may also exist apart from animality.
Such is the case with human souls deprived of their
body, although they preserve the root of the animal
principle. The Angels, likewise, are pure intelligences ;
and to attribute a body to them would be a wholly
gratuitous assertion. Leibnitz, Bonnet, as well as
other philosophers, both ancient and modern, (i) fall
(i) St. Thomas observes that " The ancients, through not having formed
a true concept of the intellective power (ignorantes vim intelligendi) ,
and of the difference between SENSE and INTELLECT, supposed that nothing
existed in the world save what could fall under the sense and the imagin
ation. And since nothing falls under the imagination except bodies, they
considered that bodies were the only beings in existence" (S. p. L, q. 1., art.i).
Of this gross way of thinking of the ancients Aristotle speaks in the fourth
book of the Physics. Hence arose among the Jews the error of the
Sadducees, who disbelieved in spirits. But although this error was van
quished, there remained in many minds an extreme difficulty to conceive the
existence of intellective substances wholly separate from corporeal matter.
From this came a second error, that of conceiving God to be the soul of the
world ; but this error also was excluded by the teaching of Christian Faith.
A third thought, therefore, succeeded : namely, that all spirits, God alone
excepted, were clothed with some kind of body. We meet with this thought
inOrigen (mpi aipxuv, Lib. I., c. vi.) ; of whom St. Thomas writes: " Seeing
that this " (the attributing of a body to God) "is opposed to the Catholic
Faith, which teaches that God is exalted above all things, according to
that of the Psalmist : Thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens,
(Ps. viii. 2.); Origen refused to say it of God; but as regards other spirits,
he held the same view as others did. And herein he was deceived, as he
also was in many other points, in consequence of his following the opinions
of the ancient Philosophers" (S. p. I., q. li., art. I.). St. Augustine also
(although, as St. Thomas observes, "not by way of positive affirmation, but
simply as making use of the opinion of the Platonists") described the
II. G
82 On Divine Providence.
into this mistake. Either from inability to form a
correct notion of a purely spiritual being, or from
other causes, they maintained that every intelligence
must necessarily be clothed with some kind of body,
however subtile its composition might be. But they
did not reflect that a body, whether subtile or dense,
is always a body, always a thing relative to our cor
poreal senses ; and hence, never approaches spirituality
in any way, the difference between body and spirit
being one not of degree, but of nature.
602. The angelic Doctor proves the fittingness that
pure spirits should not be wanting in creation by a
reason which comes very near that which we give in
proof of the Law of Continuity. It is that in the scale
of beings there must not be missing the highest grade
which attains the end of the universe more fully than
the other grades do. He says: "That which is ac
cidental to a nature is not always found in that
nature. For example, to have wings does not belong
to every animal ; because the having wings is not
essential to the concept of an animal. Now, since
understanding is not the act of a body nor of any
devils as animals clothed with an ethereal body (Ep. Lib. I. Ep. ix.
De Gen. ad lit., Lib. iii., c. x.). Later on St. Gregory the Great (perhaps
as St. Thomas opines, by metaphor) calls the Angels by the name of
rational animals (Horn. x. De Epiphania}. St. John Damascene wrote :
"The Angel is said to be incorporeal and immaterial with respect to us;
but as compared with God. he is corporeal and material " (De Fid Orthod.,
Lib. ii., c. iii.). Even St. Bernard, as late as the twelfth century, wrote:
"As we attribute immortality to God alone, so to Him alone we attribute
incorporeity. For His nature has no need of the aid of a corporeal
instrument, either for Himself or for others" (Sup. Cant. Serm. vi. ). So
difficult is it to conceive a pure spirit existing without the vesture of some
body ! I shall in the proper place demonstrate that the Angels, although
pure spirits, have a certain contact of action with bodies.
Law of Gradation. 83
corporeal virtue, it follows that to have a body is
not essential to the intellective substance, as such, but
this comes to it as an accidental circumstance for some
other reason. Thus it belongs to the human soul to
be united with a body, because in the genus of intel
lective substances this soul is imperfect and exists in
a potential state, inasmuch as it has not the fulness of
knowledge in its nature, but must acquire it from
sensible things by means of bodily senses. Now, in
every genus where imperfection is found there must
have pre-existed something perfect. Of substances
having an intellective nature, therefore, there are some
perfectly intellectual, that is to say, not needing to
acquire knowledge from sensible things." (i)
This reason is conclusive only on the supposition
that Divine Wisdom and Goodness, by which the
universe is ordered, require the Law of Continuity.
For, without this supposition, it would be impossible
to prove the principle that " What is accidental to a
nature must necessarily be subject to variation, so as
sometimes to occur, and sometimes not." All that
could be shown of such variation would be that it is
possible, not that it is necessary. Neither could St.
Thomas have distinctly laid it down that in the uni
verse there must be pure spirits, for the reason that a
pure spirit is perfection in the genus of intellective
beings ; for, one might easily have replied that
perfection in the genus of intellective beings is God
Himself. Hence we find that St. Thomas himself
has recourse to this wisdom and goodness when argu
ing as follows : " What God chiefly proposes to Him
self in created things is their good, which consists in
(i) S. p. I., q. li., art. I.
84 On Divine Providence.
likeness to Him. Now, the likeness of the effect to its
cause is conceived to be perfect when the effect imitates
the cause in that by which the cause produces the effect,
as for example heat produces heat. Now, God pro
duces the creature by intellect and will. Consequently,
FOR THE PERFECTION OF THE UNIVERSE, it is requisite
that there should be some intellective creatures. But
intellection cannot be the act of a body or of any cor
poreal virtue; because each body is limited to a particu
lar time and place (ad hie et mine) . It is therefore neces
sary to concede that, in order that THE UNIVERSE MAY
BE PERFECT, there must be in it some incorporeal
creature." (i) On this passage it is well to note that
the Holy Doctor very often supposes in his reason
ings that the universe is perfect, because otherwise
the work would not correspond with the Infinite
Wisdom, Goodness, and Power of the Artificer Who
formed it. Hence it is to me a matter of wonder
that there should be writers who are at great pains
to impugn so manifest a truth, and who do not
see that there is an Optimism which is most reason
able.
603. From the fact, therefore, that it was fitting-
that from the three elements of which creation is
formed, God should draw all the good which they
could yield by their various combinations, modifi
cations, faculties, and acts, there springs, as we have
seen, that Law of Gradation, or Continuity, which we
observe in the universe. This law has two parts :
ist, the greatest number of species which can be re
alized without being confused one with the other;
2nd, within the same species, the greatest number of
(i) S. p. I., q. li., art. r.
Law of Gradation. 85
grades, according as the individual beings partake
of that species more or less fully.
604. The first part explains why creation is seen
to be formed, ist, of atoms which give no sign of
sensitive life ; 2nd, of brute animals ; 3rd, of intellec
tive animals ; 4th, of pure spirits. The first two
species may, in my opinion, be reduced to one, inas
much as they differ only by organization ; while the
intellective animal is that middle link which con
joins the two extremes, the brute and the Angel.
605. The second part of the same law explains
why each of those three or four species of beings
expands into a gradation which is as it were infinite.
The minerals, compounded and re-compounded in all
conceivable ways, exhibit various forms, properties,
and aptitudes, and some of them so constant that they
cannot be changed by any of the natural forces which
are, so far, known to us ; and for this reason they are
regarded as so many scientific species, (i) I refer to
those fifty-eight or fifty-nine " Elements " which
chemical analysis has succeeded in discovering up to
the present time. (2) The animals, in like manner,
present themselves to us in so graduated a series,
that the scale of fixed types, taken by naturalists as
so many species, begins where the vestiges of life are
almost imperceptible and doubtful, and ends with
(i) I call scientific, or supposed, those species which are taken as different
because they exhibit in themselves something constant which separates
them one from the other. This, however, is not sufficient to constitute a
true diversity of species ; for a species is constituted solely by an act essen
tially different from that of any other species, as I have shown in the Origin
of Ideas (n. 646-659).
(2) In the year 1844. 7>.
86 On Divine Providence.
man ; nor, it would seem, are any of the intermediate
links wanting.
606. Lastly, the Angels, as Revelation tells us,
are divided into innumerable Choirs and Legions, the
successive gradations of whose natures are not known
to us, but are certainly, in quality and number, beyond
our powers of conception. And there is reason to
believe that the scale of the Angelic intelligences is
immeasurably more extended than that which we see
in the sensible universe, and that one Angel is, by
sublimity and excellence of nature, more distant from
another, than one star is from another which is most
remote from it.
607. By means of this doctrine we can also answer
a difficulty which might occur to the mind, namely :
"How to an intellective being who stretches forth
unto the infinite, and is by nature immortal, God could
conjoin an entity so limited as is that of the corporeal
nature/ For, this composite being, man, is readily
seen to be necessary in virtue of the Law of the Least
Action, which is essential to Wisdom. It is necessary
as a link in the chain of beings, whereby God draws
all the good possible from the three elementary
entities, matter, animal feeling, and intelligence; and not
only from each of them separately, but also from their
conjunction and various combinations. Here it should
be observed that matter and the animal feeling are,
by being united with intelligence, exalted, ennobled,
made its instruments, and partakers of moral perfection
and of happiness. For, the progression of contingent
being is, first, from nothingness to existence, and
then from the imperfect to the perfect, that is to say,
from matter to feeling, from feeling to intelligence.
Law of Gradation. 87
This progression was hinted at by the Aristotelian
definition, " Man is an intellective animal ; " which
definition is true, if taken to mean, " Man is an animal
raised to the state of an intellective being-." And if
in this elevation of the purely animal being unto the
state of an intelligence, the animality is found not
to be co-extensive with the vastness of the intelligence,
this is an inevitable consequence of those limitations
inherent in finite nature which not even the Divine
Omnipotence could prevent, because they are contained
in the essences of beings ; and essences cannot be
altered even by God, since such alteration would
imply a change in His own essence. Hence the
Angelic Doctor : " In matter, two conditions must be
distinguished : the one which is chosen by reason of
its suitableness to the form ; the other which follows
necessarily from the first. Thus the artificer, when
he wants to make a saw, chooses steel for his material,
because of its fitness to saw hard substances : but
that the teeth of the saw should be liable to be blunted
and to become rusty, this follows from the nature of
the material used. In a similar way, it is fitting that
intellective souls should be furnished with a body of
equable complexion ; but from the fact of this body
being formed of matter, it follows that it is necessarily
subject to corruption. And if anyone should object
that God could have avoided this necessity, the reply
would be that in the constitution of natural things, we
must not consider what God could have done, but
WHAT WAS REQUIRED BY THE NATURE OF THINGS,
as St. Augustine says."(i) This is the same as to
say that God acts, not according to the measure of
(i) S. p. I., q. Ixxvi., art. I.
88 On Divine Providence.
His Power, but according to the laws of His Wisdom.
To which we may add, that the production of an
organic body incorruptible by nature, would be an
absurdity; although God might preternaturally pre
serve it from the corruption to which it would be
subject by nature, as in fact He had disposed to do
in the primitive institution of mankind.
CHAPTER XXII.
SEVENTH CONSEQUENCE. IT WAS FITTING THAT THE
UNIVERSE SHOULD BE ORDERED ACCORDING TO
THE LAW OF VARIETY IN THE ACTUATIONS AND
MODIFICATIONS OF BEINGS.
608. From the principle that Divine Wisdom
because incapable by its very nature of deviating in its
decrees from the Law of the Least Means must draw
the greatest fruit possible from creation, we have
inferred the necessity of the Law of Continuity amongst
the beings forming the universe. By the same
kind of reasoning we can also prove irrefragably the
necessity of the Law of Variety in the actuations and
modifications of these beings.
609. This law requires creatures to be so disposed,
that, combined and grouped together in all possible
ways, they shall receive all the modifications of which
they are susceptible, and shall do all the various acts
which they are fitted to do, in so far as Divine Wisdom
can draw from each some good tending to increase the
complex sum of the total good. Now, if in any creature
whatever there were even one modification possible,
one aptitude, one act from which God could obtain
some such good, no matter how small, and He omitted
to obtain it, He would, for the reason we have so often
stated, fail to fulfil the law essentially prescribed by
His Infinite Wisdom.
610. Seeing, then, that Divine Wisdom is well able
to utilize every variety of movements and of acts, we are
bound to conclude that in created beings there are all
QO On Divine Providence.
the varieties possible ; saving the case in which a given
variety could not be made to fall in with the order of
the universe, and with the attainment of the maximum
of good for which this order is destined : as to which
case, indeed, I cannot prove that it is impossible ; but
it does not seem to me probable.
Every essence^ therefore, of created things must be
realized and represented in the universe, clothed with
all possible varieties of accidents capable of yielding
some increase of good. Hence created beings must be
therein found in all states possible, from the lowest to
the highest, and in all acts from the most imperfect
to the most perfect, and in all the relations which one
being can have with others specifically different from
itself, (i)
611. From this it follows that, as every created
nature, owing to the limitation necessarily inherent in
it, is susceptive of a certain number of imperfect states
and of a certain number of acts which fail to attain
their term (in which failure evil consists), all
these defective states and acts also will occur in the
(i) Observation of the beings forming the universe confirms this truth,,
which can be proved also a priori by arguing from the Law of "Wisdom.
This variety in nature was noticed also by the ancients, amongst them by
Seneca, who in a letter wrote as follows: "Among all the reasons for
which THE MIND OF THE DIVINE ARTIFICER is wonderful, I reckon
this also, that He never makes any two things that are quite the same.
Even those things which seem similar, when carefully examined, are
found to be different. Of the countless leaves on the trees there is not
one which is not marked by some peculiarity of its own ; and the same
may be said of animals." "Inter ctztera, propter quce mirabile DIVINI
ARTIFICIS JNGENIUM esf, hoc quoque existimo, quod in tanta copia rerum
nunquam in idem incidit. Etiam qua; similia videntur, cum confulen s,
diversa sunt ; tot facit genera folio rum, nullum ?ion sua proprietate sig*
natum ; tot animal ia, nulli similitudo cum altero convenit."
Law of Variety. 91
universe, that is to say, if Divine Wisdom can draw
any good from them. Of a certainty, there is not a
single evil in the universe which Infinite Wisdom does
not turn to good account, as has been so often repeated
after St. Augustine, who said so forcibly and showed so
clearly that : Deus utitttr et malis bene " God makes
good use even of evils."
612. Indeed, to how large an extent physical evils
help man to practise virtue, even heroic virtue, we
have already seen. That even the moral perversity of
some men affords to others a great and continual
occasion of exercising themselves in the virtues of
patience, of charity, of zeal for the glory of God and
for the salvation of their very persecutors, is a truth
of every day experience. Nay, so constituted is
human nature, that contraries produce contraries ;
so that the well-disposed would not have so clear
a knowledge, nor, consequently, so strong a love of
the beauty of virtue, unless the deformity of vice were
presented to them in such vivid colours as to fill them
with horror at the sight, and unless they beheld vice,
proudly rearing up its head against virtue, and even
against God, as it were to dethrone Him. At this
shameful spectacle, men of good will feel stirred up
from their inmost hearts to rush bravely to their own
defence, to the defence of humanity, and, if I may be
allowed to say so, of God Himself, that is, of His
external glory, and, if vice should endure to the end,
even to the avenging of eternal justice, according to
the word of Holy Scripture, "And the whole world
shall fight with Him against the unwise." (i)
If, therefore, so powerful an incitement as that
(i) Wisd. v. 21.
92 On Divine Providence.
which the wicked give to the practice of the
sublimest virtue were taken away from the world, an
immense quantity of virtuous actions would be lost,
and the number of the elect would itself be diminished.
This we are given to understand in the parable of the
cockle and the wheat, where Christ says plainly that
the tares which the enemy had sown could not be
rooted up without doing grievous injury to the good
\vheat, which would be rooted up with them, (i)
Hence the same Divine Master adds, that to secure
the maximum of good, which is intended by the Good
ness of God, it was necessary that scandals should be
permitted : " IT MUST NEEDS BE that scandals come."(2)
Here, too, I may observe that the necessity of which
Christ speaks in this place, is not an absolute, or meta-
physicalj as it is called, but only a hypothetical necessity,
that is to say, dependent upon the supposition that
it is proposed to draw from created things the maximum
of complex good possible. This is explained by
Christ Himself in the words which follow : " But
nevertheless, woe to that man by whom the scandal
cometh." These words clearly show that man is not
by nature under any necessity, either metaphysical or
physical, of sinning, but that the first cause of all
moral evil lies in his free-will. Unquestionably, the good
which God has at all times drawn in favour of humanity
from heretics and from impious and wicked men is
beyond calculation ; and no writer has illustrated this
truth more admirably than St. Augustine. (3)
(i) Matt. xiii. 29. (2) Matt, xviii. 7. Luke xv. 7, 10.
(3) Here is one of the many passages which we find upon this subject in
the works of the Holy Doctor : " But inasmuch as it has been said most
truly : There must be also heresies, that they who are approved may be
Law of Variety. 93
613. Besides, very many of the wicked are converted
and saved ; and we have observed that the act of the
human will moving towards virtue is the greater, the
more profound is the depth of sin from which it moves.
Hence under this respect there is no greater good
than the conversion of a sinner ; so that we are
told that " the Angels in heaven rejoice upon it
more than upon ninety-nine just who need not
penance ;" (i) and they do so because the angelic
wisdom can properly appreciate the moral greatness
of that act.
614. Others are lost; but these also are necessary
to the perfection of the universe, to the great end
which God has proposed to Himself, of drawing from
human nature all the good which it can be made to
produce. For, who will ever be in a position to deny
that God can turn to excellent purpose even the loss of
the reprobate ? True, the ways in which He can draw
good from them are, in great part, unknown to us ;
but in part too we are also permitted to know
made manifest among you, (i Cor. xi. 19), let us take advantage also of
this benefit of Divine Providence. For, those become heretics, who, even if
they were in the Church, would go astray. But being outside, they are of
very great use, not indeed by teaching the truth, of which they are ignorant,
but by exciting carnal-minded Catholics to seek the truth and spiritual-
minded ones to expound it to others. For, in the holy Church of God there
are innumerable men who are approved of God, but do not become known
amongst us so long as, feeling satisfied with the darkness of our unskilfulness-
we choose to sleep rather than to fix our gaze on the light of truth. Thus is it
that many are by means of heretics aroused to vigilance, that they may see
and enjoy the day of God. Let us, therefore, make use of heretics also,
not by approving their errors, but by maintaining against them the
Catholic discipline, being made more vigilant and cautious, although we
may not be able to bring them back to salvation" (De Vera Relig., c. viii.).
(i) Luke xv. 7.
94 On Divine Providence.
them. Besides serving 1 as a stimulus to virtue, how
many other useful reflections does not the terror of
eternal sufferings suggest to the good, both passing
through this life and dwelling in eternal beatitude r
Some of these reflections are expressed by St.
Augustine thus : " Let us give thanks to Our Saviour,
seeing that there has not been rendered to us what by
the damnation of our fellow men, we well know would
be our due. For, if every man had been saved, that
would certainly remain hidden which is in justice due
to sin ; and if all were lost, that which grace freely
bestows would not be known. To use therefore in this
most difficult question the words of the Apostle rather
than our own : God, willing to shew His wrath, and
to make His power known, endured with much patience
vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction, that He might
shew the riches of His glory on the vessels of
mercy. (i) In which words we see that all this mass
[of mankind] being deservedly condemned, God
renders by justice the shame which is due, and by grace
the honour which is not due, that is to say, not by
prerogative of merit, not by necessity of fate, not BY
THE CAPRICE OF FORTUNE, but by the depth of that
riches of His wisdom and knowledge which the
Apostle does not explain, but contemplates in its
hidden state, exclaiming in amazement : O the depth
of the WISDOM and of the knowledge of God/ "(2) Here
it should be observed, that by the wrath of God, of
which the Holy Scriptures speak in connexion with
this subject, are meant the penal consequences which
naturally that is to say, in virtue of the intrinsic
(I) Rom. ix. 22, 23.
(2) Rom. xi. 33. Epist. cxliv., c. 2.
L,aw of Variety. 95
order of being follow sin. (i) It should also be
observed that the good which the Apostle, and St.
Augustine who quotes his authority, ascribe to the
punishments of the reprobate, consists precisely, as
we have said, in their serving as a salutary instruction
to man, who, but for them, would not understand how
evil a thing sin is, how inviolable is justice, how great
the Power of God to avenge it, how great His Mercy,
and how gratuitous the grace of salvation.
True it is that God could infuse all this knowledge
into man by a direct act of His Omnipotence. But in
that case the good which such knowledge imparts
would not be produced by the creature, although it
might be produced by it. Some of the aptitudes of
the creature would therefore remain fruitless, in
manifest opposition to the Law of Wisdom. It is
also true that, as we have likewise observed, not all
the design of God s Wisdom is disclosed to us; so that
here, as in all religious mysteries, we know in part,
and in part we are left in darkness ; whence the
exclamation of the Apostle : " O the depth of the
riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God !
How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how
unsearchable His ways! "(2) Nevertheless, we under
stand enough of that design to conclude that what
God disposes, He does not dispose at random, or, as
St. Augustine says, by the caprice of fortune, but
invariably in accordance with the Law of Wisdom,
the Law of the Least Means. Hence, we see that the
reason why the Apostle calls God s judgments in-
i) See the Author s Treatise on Conscience ("Trattato della Coscienza
Morale"), n. 108.
(2) Rom. xi. 33.
g 6 On Divine Providence.
comprehensible, and His ways unsearchable, is not
because they set the Law of Wisdom aside to follow a
blind will, but because they fulfil this law so faithfully
and with such marvellous constancy, that the mind of
no man on this earth can fathom them, or embrace
their boundless compass.
615. We may be still more convinced of this, if we
consider the good which the just punishment of the
reprobate causes in the blessed in heaven, seeing as
they do, without any veil, how all the parts of the
universe, from the lowest to the highest, are linked
together in a most harmonious whole ; how even
devils and wicked men contribute to the sanctificationof
the just ; how the equilibrium of violated justice is
restored by punishment ; how justice triumphs over
all the opposition of which the creature that combats
it by its own forces is capable ; how all good comes
from God alone, and all evil from the creature trusting
in itself; how in the kingdom of God s sanctity
dwelling in their very essences they themselves reign
supreme over all who have placed and still place their
hopes in evil doing; and, finally, how an order of such
holiness and such unity is produced by a Providence
which aims at nothing but good, and consequently at
the maximum of good, to which, however, the necessary
limitation of created being imposes as a condition
equally necessary, equally unavoidable the existence
of evil. These things, contemplated and felt by those
souls who have realized in themselves the end of the
universe, and for whose advantage the entire universe
has served and continues to serve, produce in them a
happiness which it is beyond the power of human lan
guage to express, and make them break forth into rap
turous praises of the Creator, Whose face they behold.
Law of Variety. 97
6 1 6. Let us, therefore, here also conclude with
those two great authorities, St. Thomas and St.
Augustine, the first of whom, in perfect agreement
with the second, writes : " If all evils were hindered,
much good would be lost to the universe. Thus, for
example, there would not be the life of the lion, if
there were not the slaying of animals, and there would
not be the patience of martyrs, if there were no
persecution by tyrants. Accordingly, St. Augustine
in the Enchiridion (Ch. xi.) says : Almighty God
would not permit any evil in His works, unless His
Power and His Goodness were so great that He could
draw good even from evil/ " (i)
(i) S. p. i., q. xxii., art. ii., ad. 2m. See also on the same subject St.
Thomas, C. Gent., Lib. iii., c. Ixxi.
II H
CHAPTER XXIII.
CONTINUATION. THE LAW OF WISDOM HAS FOR ITS
END THE COMPLETE REALIZATION OF THE SEVERAL
SPECIES, NOT THE MULTIPLICATION OF INDI
VIDUALS. LAW OF EXCLUDED EQUALITY.
Particularia sunt propter naturam universalem : ciijus signum est, quod
in his in quibus potest natura universalis conservari per unum
individuum, non sunt mtdta individua unius speciei.
St. Thomas, C. Gent., L. III., c. Ixxv., 6.
617. In order to render the two preceding Laws of
Continuity and of Variety still more clear, and to remove
all difficulty which might arise in the mind of the
reader against the doctrines which have been set
forth, it will be well, before proceeding further, to say
something upon another Cosmic Law, which I call the
Law of Excluded Equality.
6 1 8. This law implies that there cannot be in all
creation two intellective individuals of the species, who
are, in their final state, perfectly similar in all their
accidents and relations. Taken as we conceive it, this
law has a certain affinity to, but is not identical with,
that more general principle which Leibnitz designated
as the Principle of "Indiscernibles."
619. To avoid all ambiguity, therefore, I shall here
point out the different kindred questions which may
be raised about the inequality of individuals belonging
to the same species.
First question : Is it possible for any two or more
individuals of the same species to be wholly similar in
Law of Excluded Equality. 99
all respects in their substance, in their accidents, and
even in their reality? Answer. The multiplicity of
individuals equal in this manner is excluded by
metaphysical necessity; inasmuch as it would take
away the very thing which is the principle of
individuality and of multiplicity, and which consists
in the reality of each individual being different from
that of every other, (i)
620. Second question : Is it possible for two or more
individuals of the same species to co-exist, different only
in their respective reality and individuality, but
perfectly alike in all the rest, in their stibstance, in their
accidents, and in their relations, active and passive, with
other beings: Answer. This kind of likeness cannot
be proved to be metaphysically impossible. The
difference between these individuals could not be
discerned by the other intelligent beings to which they
are related in the same manner. It would, however, be
discerned by God, Whose action in creating them would
have had two terms instead of one, I mean the tw r o
realities produced. So likewise if there were question
of intellective beings, each of them, in perceiving its
equals, would have discriminated them from itself,
through the consciousness of its own reality. Now, if
one of these beings knows the others as equal to itself,
each must needs also know the others, and know them
in a similar way; otherwise there would no longer be
in them the equality supposed by the hypothesis. The
possibility, however, of intellective beings equal to one
another to such a degree, may only be conceived to
(i) I have already said elsewhere that in my opinion the principle of
indimduation is constituted by reality. See Anthropology (" Antropologia"),
Bk. iv., c. I., art. v.
ioo On Divine Providence.
last for an instant. That the equality should be
regularly maintained in their developments and in
their relations with other beings, subject like them to
development and to changes, seems altogether incon
ceivable. For, in order to this, not only would they
all have to proceed by acts perfectly similar, but the
other beings also by which they are surrounded would
have to maintain the very same kind of relation with
each of them ; and this, given the connexion of beings
of which we have spoken, is an impossibility unless
we were to suppose that there existed tw T o worlds equal
to one another, in both of which the same identical
accidental combinations were repeated with perfect
uniformity. This supposition, however, is inadmissible
because (even leaving aside the diversity of place)
it would clash with the principle we have indicated
above, of the unity of the world, and also, as we shall
see, with the principle of Excluded Equality.
621. Third quest ion \ Can there be conceived two
possible realities equal to one another, and God
creating only one of them? Answer. I believe
that the case is conceivable; we may conceive, for
example, that God could have created, instead of Adam,
another human being, similar to Adam in all things,
his individuality only excepted. This, however,
requires explanation.
The idea is one and the same for all perfectly similar
individuals; (i) but the subsistcnt reality is not included
in the idea, (2) and much less is it the idea itself, as
(i) See essay on the Origin of Ideas, no. 1117. King had already said
this in his work on Evil.
(2) Ibid. 406, 407.
Law of Excluded Equality. \ o i
Hegel erroneously maintained. Where, then, does
the Creator find the reality of things ? Certainly not in
their idea, but in His own Almighty Will, (i) whereby
He creates them. But the reality which He creates
does not in any way exhaust His creative power.
This always remains capable of creating new realities.
Accordingly, one and the same idea may have an
infinity of perfectly similar individuals corresponding
to it (unless the nature of the being which forms the
term of creation should, owing to special conditions,
exclude the plurality of individuals). It follows that
if God had so willed He might certainly have produced
the reality of another human being similar in all
respects to Adam; and this reality which He might
have produced is what I call possible reality.
Leibnitz attempts to prove the impossibility of God
choosing between two perfectly equal individuals, such
as the human mind can conceive them, (2) on the
ground that the Creator would have no sufficient
reason for choosing one of them in preference to the
other. But this allegation rests on the erroneous
assumption that intelligence always acts, not only
(1) That the Will of God is the cause of contingent things, is shown by
St. Thomas, S. p. I., q. xix., art. iv.
(2) The human mind is able to conceive the possibility of many
individuals, not because the possibility of each of them is distinctly and
expressly comprised in their specific idea itself, but because man, having
come to know the existence of some real individual, refers this to its idea,
and thus finds that such an individual does not exhaust, does not realize all
that is therein comprised. In this way, and not otherwise, is he led to
understand that in the idea there lies the possibility of an indefinite number
of individuals perfectly similar to one another. I have already shown in
many places that the possibility is not the idea itself, as many have erroneous
ly attributed to me, but is a relation which the mind adds to the idea (See
Origin of Ideas, nn. 543-546).
102 On Divine Providence.
according to a sufficient reason but also according to a
prevalent reason; so that a reason, in order to be
sufficient, must of its own nature prevail over an
opposite reason. Hence he does not admit in the
human will the power to choose between volitions. ( i )
To this view, however, I am decidedly opposed, since
it would destroy the bi-lateral liberty necessary for the
existence of merit in the proper sense of the word. I
demonstrate, on the contrary, that this power exists,
and that its nature consists, ist, in choosing between
volitions, and 2ndly, in increasing, by the practical force
of the will, the prevalence of one reason over another ;
so that the reason which prevails and determines the
choice is not always prevalent per se, but may be
rendered prevalent by our own free will; I agree,
therefore, with Leibnitz so far as this, that intelligence
always requires a reason for its action ; but I maintain
against him that, given the case in which each of two
volitions has in its favour a reason of equal weight, the
free will can, by increasing the force of the reason
which is favourable to it, choose one rather than the
other. This is a truth which may be discovered first
of all by observing what takes place in man, and can
(i) Tn the Reflections of Leibnitz upon the controversy between Hobbes
and iiramhall, a relation of which appears in a work published in London
in 1656, entitled: Questions touchant la liberte, la necessite ct le hazard
eclaircies et dtbattnes entre le Docteur Bratnhall, cvcque de Derry, et Thomas
Hobbes de Malmesbury, 4to, the German Philosopher writes as follows :
"Men choose objects by their will, but they do not choose their actual
volitions, these come from reasons and from dispositions." A similar thought
is expressed by Leibnitz in many places. On the contrary, I have proved
that truly meritorious liberty cannot consist in anything else than the
choice between the volitions themselves, and that this is exactly what
constitutes the difference between liberty and will, the liberty that is to say
which we call bi-lateral. See Anthropology (" Antropologia"), nn. 636-643.
Law of Excluded Equality. 103
afterwards be corroborated by showing the absurdities
which would follow from the opposite system. I will
mention only three of these.
i st. In the system I impugn, true moral merit in
man becomes an impossibility.
2nd. It is not impossible to conceive two reasons of
equal weight for two different volitions. Thus, in the
case indicated above, we may very well conceive
that God, at the beginning, might have created,
instead of Adam, another man perfectly similar to him.
Now, in this case the activity of an intelligent being
would, in the Leibnitzian system, be fettered in its
action. We can very well understand that the intel
lective activity, of its own nature, always chooses the
best so long as the best can be had. When, however, as
in the supposition of two reasons equal in weight, there
is no best, then that activity is no longer bound by
the law of the prevalent reason, for there is none pre
sent. It may be replied, that in such case the activity
would not be intellective. But it is merely a question of
agreeing in the meaning of the words we use. If by
intellective action is meant an action conditioned to a
reason, surely the activity we speak of is intellective.
But if we were not to designate as intellective that
action which chooses at pleasure between different
reasons, what absurdity can there follow from this ?
None whatever. For, it should be born in mind that it
is not always possible to reduce every activity to the
intelligence, and that there is, as I have shown, an
activity peculiar to real being.
Moreover, we have also seen that every activity,
properly speaking, belongs to real being, and that it
is always this that acts, and that it makes use of the
iO4 On Divine Providence.
divers reasons supplied by the understanding solely lor
its own direction. Hence, activity is not produced by
speculative knowledge, but guided by it. Consequently
when it finds no guidance in knowledge, it does not
itself cease to exist ; its reality continues, with power
to do as it pleases, being left free by the understanding
itself to act in any of the ways which are presented to
it. For, the understanding does not limit it to one
way more than to another ; it simply shows the two
sides with equal impartiality. Therefore, to the ques
tion, " Whether in the case we speak of, the activity is
intellective or not," I reply that it is intellective in part,
the principal part, because it acts for a reason ; but it
is not intellective in all respects, that is, in its ac
cessories, because there is something in it I mean in
the direction of its movement, which is chosen at
pleasure by its own free energy.
3rd. By denying to God the power of creating, instead
of the intellective being which He does create, another
perfectly similar to it, we should be setting bounds to
the Divine Omnipotence. Hence Leibnitz himself did
not venture to deny the metaphysical possibility of the
thing. Baldinotti, taking advantage of this admission,
found himself in a position to urge against him the
very argument which we oppose to him, namely, of the
choice between possible individuals perfectly similar
to one another, as the human mind can conceive
them, (i)
(i) " But if two perfectly similar individuals are in themselves possible,
as Leibnitz admitted, because he was unable to see how the two could
be in mutual conflict, is it not plain that God can choose one of them
rather than the other as the term of His creative action ? " (Baldinotti,
Metaphysica Generalis, 73.) Nevertheless, the admission Leibnitz makes
does not justify the conclusion that God could at one and the same time
Law of Excluded Equality. 1 05
622. I say "as the human mind can conceive them ;"
because God s intelligence and action differ very widely
from ours. In the first place, God has no need of
choosing. He wills all that He wills by one sole act,
and the object of this one and perfect act is presented
to Him by His Wisdom and His Will, essentially
good, without being at all preceded by an act of choice.
Hence, to God, the possible individuals perfectly similar
to one another , which we have supposed, do not exist as
distinct one from the other, for the very reason that
individual beings acquire existence and distinctness
from God s decree to create them, not before that
decree. Accordingly, they cannot in any true sense be
objects of choice. But the human mind, forming to
itself distinct ideas and images of these beings, con
ceives and supposes a choice made between them, and
imagines this choice as taking place in God. The
fact, however, is that in God mere "possibles"
are only found virtually indistinct, such being
their true mode of existence. We should not, there
fore, be going far from the truth if we said that in
God there is "the possibility of possibles," as has been
elsewhere explained, (i) and that there is, moreover,
the relation of the creature with His inexhaustible
Power.
It would, therefore, be vain for us to attempt to con-
bring into existence any two equal beings whatever without exception;
because this, as I have pointed out, would clash with the law of the
interaction of the beings forming the universe in other words, with the
unity of the universe. Hence the arguments both of Clarke and Baldinotti
are, in this respect, defective.
(i) See Resto ration of Philosophy, etc. ( " Rinnovamento della Filosofia"),
Bk. iii., c. 52-53.
io6 On Divine Providence.
ceive a true choice as made by God between the reality
of Adam and other realities perfectly similar to it. For,
the reality of Adam differs from other things as the
distinct does from the indistinct, as the first creative act
does from another creative act which might come after
it and produce a being similar in all things to the first,
even in its relations. Only in the erroneous system of
Emanation would a Divine choice between individuals
be admissible ; because, as in that system all creatures
are merely parts of God s own being, their substance
or reality is supposed to pre-exist in God, Not so,
however, in the Catholic System of Creation, which
teaches that the reality of creatures does not exist
anteriorly to the creative decree, and consequently
cannot be an object of choice. Thus the third of the
questions which we have proposed has its origin as
well as its solution in the imperfection of the human
understanding; but when considered in reference to
God, it vanishes into nothing indeed, it becomes an
absurdity.
623. Let us now return to the second question, which
is the one that corresponds to the subject of this chapter.
It shall be my endeavour to prove that " it is not in
accordance with the Law of Wisdom that there should
exist a plurality of intellective beings perfectly similar
to one another in their final state."
I confine the proposition to intellective beings,
because these alone have the nature of end for the
action of an intelligent and moral agent as such.
624. As regards non-intellective beings, which have
merely the nature of means, it would be difficult to
prove the same thesis ; and it was because Leibnitz
extended his principle of " Indiscernibles " to these
Law of Excluded Equality. 107
beings also, that he found himself unable to answer
the objection opposed to him by Clarke : "If God were
ever to require for some of His purposes to create two
or more individuals perfectly similar to one another,
why could He not create them?"(i) This objection,
it will be observed, starts from the nature of means
which created beings may have, and not, as ours does,
from their nature of end.
625. Moreover, it is necessary to consider well what
it is that is required in order that two or more indivi
duals may be truly said to be equal in all things save
their own individuality. For this to be true, they must
be equal in every thing which goes to constitute them,
or makes them to be what they are ; consequently,
in their substance and in all their accidents. In
expounding the second question, we have, besides
their substance and their accidents, mentioned also
their relations with other beings. The reason was, that
certain relations go to make up that by which beings
are what they are, as in the case of intellective being,
in which knowledge may be considered as a relation
with other beings, a relation which goes to constitute
or determine it. Not all beings, however, nor all
relations are of this nature. Thus as regards bodies,
the external relations of space and time, that is to say,
the place and the period in which they exist, are no
constitutive element either of their substance or of
their accidents, nor do they in any way belong to the
corporeal being as such. Hence, if one were to say
that the material universe is formed of elements which
are perfectly hard, of the same nature, of the same size,
and of the same figure, like the bf^oio^spsTf of Anaxagoras
(l) Cinquietue replique de J\[. Clarke.
io8 On Divine Providence.
a thing which at least involves no absurdity it is
certain that these elements, although located in different
parts of space, and considered in different periods of
time, would be entities equal to one another in all
respects save in their respective realities. Whether, on
the other hand, the different conation toward motion,
or the different motion, causes any change in the
corporeal elements, is a question by no means easy to
answer; because it depends on knowing whether the
conation toward motion, and motion itself, are things
belonging to corporeal nature, or extraneous to it.
My own belief is, that the notion of matter does not
include either motion or the conation towards motion,
because matter has the nature, not of a principle but
of a term : it includes, however, the faculty of receiving
and transmitting motion and its conation, whatever
this faculty may be. (i)
626. According to this opinion, the material elements
in question, to be all perfectly alike, would have to be
all at rest, or else have the same conation towards
motion, and the same velocity of motion impressed
on the same side of the element ; although the different
direction of the motion would be a matter of in
difference, for the reason that we have stated, namely,
(i). Francesco Orioli, Professor at the University of Corfu, in his
periodical publication, entitled Spighe c Paglie, has proposed as a
hypothesis, that when the motion of a body is counteracted by the impres
sion of a contrary motion, there remains in that body a virtual motion, that
is to say, a tendency to continue the antecedent motion. His words are :
"In that case, every material substance would preserve in itself, at least
virtually, all the tendencies to motion which have been impressed on it at
any previous period, aud would preserve them in the order in which they
were impressed " (No. vi., i, 1844). I notice this hypothesis as a novel
thought, although I must confess that I do not yet see any proof of its
truth, or even of its probability.
L aw of Excluded Equality. 1 09
that the part of space in which a body happens
to find itself makes no change whatever in that body.
I will not therefore affirm that there cannot be, or
that there are not corporeal elements perfectly similar
to one another, nor yet do I mean to affirm the
contrary, this question being wholly irrelevant to
our present purpose.
627. As regards non-intellective animal beings , these
are, beyond all doubt, modified by the sensations which
they receive from without, and by the actions which
they themselves exercise on extraneous bodies. Con
sequently, these relations, for all animal beings that
are perfectly similar, \vould also have to be perfectly
similar ; otherwise these beings would vary one from
the other. Now, as I said before, this perfect simi
larity of relations seems to me altogether impossible,
except only in the hypothesis, which however is inad
missible (621 note), of the existence of two or more
worlds, equal to one another in all respects ; or at
least in the hypothesis of the perfect equality between
the little worlds, if we may so speak, within which the
actions and re-actions of those animal beings are
confined, that is to say, between the groups of extra
neous beings which come in contact with, or exercise
an influence upon them. This would not involve an
absolute impossibility if it were to last only for an
instant ; but if we speak of an enduring equality, it
seems inconceivable, owing to the connexion between
all the parts of the universe, and to their continual and
reciprocal actions, and the changes to which they give
rise. But this also is outside the scope of our argument,
which regards only intellective beings, which have the
nature of end.
1 1 o On Divine Providence.
628. Now, I maintain that there cannot be any two
or more intellective beings perfectly similar in their
final state ; and this not on the ground put forward by
Leibnitz, that a reason sufficient of its own nature, in
other words, prevalent, is so necessary for rational
action that, but for it the action would be impossible.
His argument is faulty in two ways : i st, he starts from
an erroneous notion of meritorious liberty, by ignoring
that freedom of the human will which has power to
cause a change in the efficacy of the reasons that
present themselves to the mind, and which, conse-
quentty, renders possible the choice between two
reasons in themselves of equal weight ; for the free-will
itself destroys that equality; 2ndly, he does not perceive
that two individuals perfectly similar to each other
might exist, not for God to choose which of the two
was to exist, but because He could, without preferring
either, create them both ; and this was one of the
arguments urged by Clarke against the Leibnitzian
position.
629. Neither shall I rest content with the reason
given above, efficacious though it be, of the con
nexion established between the beings forming the
universe, and of the reciprocal changes which continu
ally occur amongst them. This connexion and these
changes, as was said, exclude perfect equality, except
perhaps on the supposition that it were to last only for
an instant.
630. The reason on which I here think it important
to take our stand, is that which has reference solely to
the final equality of two or more intellective indivi
duals, and springs from the innermost nature of
intelligence and wisdom, which never aims at mere
Law of Excluded Equality. 1 1 1
individuals as its end, but always at individuals in so
far as they realize in themselves a species of moral-
eudemonological good.
631. Let us consider, then, that the form of the
understanding consists in the idea of indeterminate
being, and that the idea is invariably the foundation
of a species (or class) ; for, even generic ideas may be
reduced to specific ideas, from which they are abstrac
tions, (i) Let us consider moreover, that the will,
which is the principle of intellective action, always
terminates with its action, in an object known and set
before it by the intelligence. It follows, that the
objects are willed by the will in the same way that
they are known by the understanding. (2) The ques
tion, therefore, resolves itself into the inquiry : " How
the real beings to which the inclination of the will is
directed become known to us."
Now, the real beings perceived in feeling, become
known by our referring them to the idea, in which we
see their essence. (3) Consequently, to know a real
being is nothing else than to perceive that a given
essence (and it is a part of the universal essence, inde
terminate being, being in general), is realized, has
(1) Here it is necessary to keep clearly in mind the doctrine regarding
genera and species, which I have set forth in the Origin of Ideas, nn. 546
559-
(2) It must be carefully noted that here I speak of the mode in which the
will acts, not of the degree of intensity, with which the objects are willed.
This mode depends in part on the will itself; and it is in this that the effi
cacy peculiar to bi-lateral liberty consists.
(3) That is to say, we see what these beings severally are, by the way in
which we feel them severally acting on us. This way determines for us what
we see indeterminately in the first idea, ever present to our intelligence, and
constituting its light. Tr.
1 1 2 On Divine Providence.
passed from potentiality to act. (i) The entity, there
fore, which is found in a real individual, is no other
than that which lies in its essence, cognizable by its
idea. Now, this entity is what constitutes the good
which a real being has in it ; and the more entity the
being has, the greater is its good, because ens etbonmn
convcrtuntnr " Being and good are convertible
terms." (2)
And since the will has good for its object, so in
proportion as the real being is good, in the same
proportion it inclines the will to itself. Now, if we
suppose the question to be about beings that differ
from and are opposed to one another in their substance
and their accidents, it is plain that one individual alone
cannot itself receive all the entity to which its essence
extends ; because it does not, at one and the same
time, admit of all the accidents of which that essence is
susceptible. And as our question here is about a final
and permanent state, it is equally plain that an indi
vidual cannot, in its final and permanent state, realize
all the good which the mind contemplates in the
essence. When, therefore, the will, which has that
good for its object, has produced one individual, it
remains still inclined to produce others in which to
realize that portion of good, which could not be realized
in the first individual, owing to its incapacity to receive
it. But for the same reason, when the producing will
has brought into existence as many individuals as it
requires in order to the realization of all the modes
and of all the accidents to which the essence extends,
(i) See Origin of Ideas, nn. 495-518.
(2) See Principles of Moral Science ("Principii della Scienza Morale "),
Law of Excluded Equality. 1 1 3
then there is nothing left for it to realize ; consequently
its producing action stops. The good which it wanted
to obtain has all been obtained. The goal has been
reached. After all the individuals diversified in their
modes and accidents had been produced, if the same kind
of production were simply to be repeated, there would
be no good, no being which was new to the intelli
gence and the will, no being which did not already
exist. True, thus to receive existence would be a
good thing for the individuals themselves who received
it ; but it would be as nothing to the intelligence and
the will of the producer : it would be a superfluity to
the realization of the idea of the universe. That
Being, therefore, Who essentially acts by intelligence
and will, I mean God, will never produce those indi
viduals, not because He has not the power to produce
them if He willed it, but because He does not
will it ; since that production would be directly
opposed to the law which directs wisdom in regard to
its end, and says : " Realize all the good which is
shown in the intelligible essence," and also opposed
to the law which directs wisdom in regard to its mode
of action, and says : " Secure your end by the least
means possible ; therefore avoid all superfluities."
632. This demonstration is rendered still more
complete by an observation which we find in St.
Thomas. Creatures, he says, partake of the Divine
Goodness, not by their matter, but by their form. The
reason is, that the form is reduced to God, being found
in the Divine Exemplar, and consequently in the
Eternal Word ; and God does not produce things save
in so far as He can make them to partake of His good-
i\ess. Here are his words : " In substances the matter
II. I
1 1 4 On Divine Providence.
exists for the form ; SINCE IT IS BY THE FORM THAT THEY
PARTAKE OF THE DIVINE GOODNESS, for the sake of
which all things have been made." (i) From this prin
ciple, he infers the exclusion of all individual beings
which are superfluous to the realization of the form ;
" Hence it is plain, that particulars exist FOR THE
SAKE OF THE WHOLE NATURE. And in proof of
this we find that in those cases in which the universal
nature can be preserved by means of one individual,
there exists no plurality of individuals of the same
species." (2)
633. Wherefore, two intellective beings wholly
similar to each other in their final and permanent
state, cannot be the object of an Infinite Wisdom.
The same thing may be proved by considering the
Law of Morality, which coincides and which always
has its seat in that of Intelligence, or certainly is
directed by it. Let us see.
The principle of morality consists in " the practical
recognition of the good which is found in a real being
known." (3) If then the moral act has for its object
the good found in a real being known, clearly the
moral appreciation and affection does not stop at
the reality of the individual, but is directed to the
eternal essence which is contemplated in the idea
of that individual. The mind measures the indi
vidual precisely by the idea in which it beholds its
essence; and it appreciates the individual in propor
tion to the extent to which it finds that essence realized
in it. That the reality which constitutes it an individual
(I) Contra Gent., Bk. iii., c. Ixxv., 6. (2) Ibid.
(3) See Comparative and Critical History of the Systems regarding the
Principle of Morality (" Storia Comparativa, etc."), Ch. I.
Law of Excluded Equality. 1 1 5
is this or that other is entirely a matter of indifference
to morality. Hence if there could be two individuals
perfectly similar to each other, the moral appreciation
and affection of which they would form the object
would not be morally different, but identical, although
their reality and individuality would be different. I
say identical, to signify that the moral affection which
had those two intellective individuals for its object if
we abstract from deficiency on the part of him who
entertains the affection would be the same, not
merely as to quality, but also as to degree. For, if we
consider affection in man, it seems as if it ought to be
greater in regard to two individuals than in regard to
one only ; because human affection is mostly weak and
deficient. But if affection is considered in God, in
Whom the notion of love is realized in its fullest
completion, it will be readily seen, that one being
suffices to exhaust all the affection which could possibly
be demanded by the essence which that being expresses
and realizes : and this for the reason just stated, that
rational and moral affection has for its object the being
in so far as its essence is realized. Hence, in a perfect
lover like God, and with due proportion, in the heavenly
comprehensors, the love towards a being whose
whole essence is seen to be subsistent, absorbs every
possible affection for other beings which might be
realized, similar to the first. To love one of them is
to love them all, because it is to love their species and
nature which is the object of intelligence and of intel
lective love. Neither the intensity nor the morality of
this love can increase by their being multiplied, nor
can the lover receive, by that multiplication, any
occasion whatever of rendering himself more virtuous
1 1 6 On Divine Providence.
or more happy by loving them. Only in man while as
yet a wayfarer upon earth can this love because of its
deficiency, of its being only potential or habitual be
made to increase through a repetition of acts, without
however advancing to a nobler species, unless the
species itself of the object change from a lower to a
more exalted one. Nevertheless, these acts may be
repeated in regard to one and the same being, without
any need of there being others like it.
It is not, then, individuality and reality as such that
constitutes, properly speaking, the object of morality,
but it is the essence in so far as realized. Thus if God
had created, instead of Adam, another man similar in
all respects to Adam, and different only in the reality
a thing which it is possible to conceive the moral
act to which this man would have given occasion in
other intellective beings who had come to know him
would have been the very same neither more nor less ;
morality would neither have gained nor lost by it. No
doubt, an Infinite Goodness will desire to produce all
the good possible; but to desire to produce all the good
possible, is nothing else than to desire to realize the
essences of beings to the fullest extent. When, there
fore, Creative Goodness has attained this its end, it will
stop ; for it will no longer have a reason for creating
new individuals. They would add nothing to the
perfect realization of their essences, nor afford an
occasion for a fresh act of moral goodness. For, by
loving the individuals in which the whole essence of
the species to which they belong is completely realized,
the whole of that essence is fully appreciated and
loved in them, and thus all the moral good possible in
regard to them is exhausted. Therefore, a supreme
Law of Excluded Equality. 117
Creative Goodness will never produce two individuals
which in their final and permanent state are perfectly
alike ; for this would be a superfluity, seeing- that
for gaining the moral end sought, one individual
suffices.
634. But if the principle of the realization of the
several species implies the Law of Excluded Equality, it
affords, on the other hand, a new proof in favour of
that of Variety.
For, we must consider that the abstract species is an
imperfect species, wholly unfit to be an object of a
perfect intelligence, such as God s is, the directive
rules or types of Whose action consist in the full
species, distinguished from one another by His creative
act. Now, the full species for each being are as many
as are the modifications and varieties, whether in a
good or in a bad sense, which can occur in that being,
and which reciprocally exclude one another.
It is true that in the archetype, or perfectly complete
species, all the other species seem to be virtually
contained. But in the first place it is not certain that
each being has but one archetype, and perhaps in regard
to some beings the contrary could be shown ; indeed,
I hold this to be altogether probable in the case of
beings formed of several elements. In the second place,
assuming that there is but one archetype, we cannot
on this account affirm that it contains in itself every
possible excellence of a being ; because certain ex
cellences are excluded by the limitation of the being
itself. For example, if we suppose the archetype of
colours to be white, it does not follow that white has
in itself the aptitude for producing that agreeable
sensation which is produced by green, or red, etc. Or
1 1 8 On Divine Providence.
we may take a particular colour, for instance green,
presented in its greatest intensity. Although in this
state it might in a certain manner be said to contain
virtually all the more languid sensations which it is
otherwise calculated to excite, nevertheless one could
hardly maintain that it actually causes, in the soul and
the eyes of the beholder, all those delightful sensations
which are wont to be excited by its graduated tints,
each of which excludes the others, and gives a delight
peculiar to itself. In the third place, even if the
archetype could contain all the excellences of which
a being is susceptible, those excellences would be so
intermingled in it and confused, as to result, on this
very account, in a different thing from what they are
when seen separately and distinct the one from the
other ; much in the same way as two colours blended
together produce a third, which is neither of the two.
In the fourth place, even if in the archetype there
could be contained all possible excellences quite
distinct from one another, as in the case of the arche
types of composite beings, nevertheless the one would
necessarily limit the others; because there would have
to be maintained amongst them an order followed by
harmony ; so that none of them could be carried to the
highest degree of intensity without doing injury to the
harmony of the whole. Thus, in a first-rate painting it
would be impossible for each of all the colours employed
to predominate and each to be of the highest inten
sity ; since this would destroy the general effect of the
picture. In the fifth place, the archetype does not
show the deficiencies of the being, I mean the absence
of excellences, and the inordinations, that is to say
the evils ; all of which are found in the other full but
Law of Excluded Equality. 119
incomplete species. And yet these deficiencies and
evils also are necessary in order that the essence may
be fully realized and manifested to created intelli
gences ; inasmuch as it is by them that the limitation
and the deficiency of the essence is made known.
635. For all these reasons it was requisite that
Eternal AVisdom, tending as it does to realize essences
in a complete manner, should cause them to exist in all
the varieties possible. To these we may also add two
other reasons :
i st. Were it not for these varieties, an immense
amount of good would be lost to the universe. For,
there is no variety, no endowment of a being, no com
bination of divers endowments, no defect, no disorder,
which, being wisely arranged in connexion with other
beings and with other varieties, is not apt to produce
or give occasion to manifold good, particular as well
as universal, that is, resulting from the harmony of
things. Thus bodily pain in persons who are morally
well disposed, gives occasion to the virtue of fortitude ;
and when viewed in reference to the vicissitudes of
human life, produces most pleasing reminiscences,
according to that of the Poet :
Vos et Cyclopea saxa
Experti, revoeate aiiimos, m&stumquc tnnoreru
Mittite : forsan et Jiccc olim mcminissc juvabit. (i)
Misfortune leads to indissoluble friendships, excites
feelings of commiseration, opens the way to innumer
able works of charity ; so that if there were no misfor
tunes, the love which binds men together would be
(i) Virgil, ^Eneid i. 201-203.
120 On Divine Providence.
incomparably less than it is, and the exercise of
human activity would well nigh cease.
636. 2ndly Without occasions of observing all these
varieties, man could not acquire a full knowledge, or
form a true estimate of beings in their essences. For,
one essence alone, either abstract or even archetypal,
does not reveal all the excellences and varieties of
which a being is susceptible ; neither is the limited
mind of the creature able to contemplate many entities
together with the same intensity of thought with
which it contemplates them separately one at a time.
Hence the division of accidental entities became
necessary in order that man might come to know
created things in the best way, and through them
rise to the knowledge of God. This being a point
of very great importance, we shall return to it further
on.
637. In the meantime from this doctrine which
shows the aim of God s action to be the realization of
the eternal essences of things, many and most impor
tant consequences follow, of which I will here mention
a few.
The first is, that this doctrine enables us to settle
the question long agitated by Theologians and Philoso
phers : " How God can love creatures, and can will
to produce them by an act of goodness, seeing that
He has no need of them, and that they cannot add
any good to Him, and seeing also that it is impossible
for His love to have a worthy object other than
Himself."
Archbishop King, in his celebrated work, " On the
Origin of Evil/ maintains that God determined to
create the universe with a liberty of such absolute in-
Law of Excluded Equality. 1 2 1
difference, that to create and not to create was all the
same to Him ; and at the same time he makes the
admission that creatures cannot be the objects of a
Divine appetition, because they are not good of their
own nature, but only by the will of God, Who renders
them good by willing them, so that, abstracting from
their relation with the Divine Will, there could not be
found in them either good or evil. This view was,
rightly enough, combated by Leibnitz. "It is
difficult/ says he, "to conceive how authors of merit
could adopt so strange an opinion. It seems that the
author tries to justify it by alleging the fact that all
creatures have the whole of their being from God, and
cannot act on Him, nor determine Him. This, how
ever, is manifestly to alter the question. When
we say that an intelligence is moved by the
goodness of its object, we do not thereby mean
that this object is necessarily a being existing outside
that intelligence. It is enough for us that such an object
is conceivable ; for it is the representation of it that
acts upon the intelligence, or rather it is the intelli
gence that acts upon itself in so far as it is affected
and disposed by this representation. As regards God,
it is manifest that His Intelligence contains the ideas
of all things that are possible, and that it is on this
account that all things are in Him in an eminent
manner. God, therefore, determines Himself of His
own accord. His Will is active in virtue of His
Goodness, but it is directed to a determinate ob
ject by the action of His Intelligence, full of wis
dom. Now, if ideas are independent of the will,
the perfection and imperfection which is represented
by them will be so likewise. And in truth, is it
122 On Divine Providence.
owing to the Will of God, and not rather to the
nature of numbers, that certain numbers, for example,
are capable of admitting" of exact divisions to a
larger extent than others? That some are more
suited than others for the purpose of forming squares
or polygons, or other regular figures ? That the
number six has the prerogative of being the least
among those that are called perfect r That in a plane
six circles of equal size can be made to touch a
seventh ? That among all solids of equal volume the
sphere is that which has the least superficies r That
certain lines are incommensurable and, as a conse
quence, but little fitted for harmony ? Is it not obvious
that all these advantages or disadvantages are implied
in the mere notion of the thing, and that the contrary
involves contradiction r Or are we perhaps also ex
pected to say that the pains and inconveniences suffered
by sensitive creatures, and especially the happiness and
unhappiness of intelligent beings are matters of in
difference to God ? And what about His justice ? Is
this also an arbitrary thing r Would He have acted
wisely and justly, if He had resolved to send the
innocent to perdition ? There was, therefore, in God
a reason anterior to the resolve, and, as I have so
often said, it was not by chance, not without a purpose,
nor yet from necessity, that God created this world.
His inclination led Him to this, and His inclination
always leads Him to the best. To create, therefore,
or not to create is not a matter of absolute indifference
to God ; and yet creation is a free act. Neither is it a
matter of indifference to Him whether He creates one
world or another, whether He creates a perpetual
chaos or a system full of order. The qualities of the
Law of Excluded Equality. 123
objects, which are comprised in their ideas, were there
fore the reason of His choice." (i)
In this excellent extract there is much that is true
and admirably well said. The solemn distinction
between real being and ideal being, which is the founda
tion of all Philosophy, throws no small light upon
the argument. The principle of action is always in
real being : the idea merely directs the action. But
between divine and human action there is this differ
ence, that in God, Who is the Absolute Reality, the
principle of action exists in so perfect a manner that
He cannot receive any excitation to act from real
beings outside Himself; whereas in man, a limited
reality, the principle of action exists imperfectly, so
that he can receive excitation and motion from realities
other than himself. Hence it happens that man is some
times moved to act by the action of created realities
that are extraneous to him. Reality, as we have seen,
is the principle of individuality. When, therefore,
man, as a real individual, receives the action of other
real individuals, that action sometimes produces in
him a delectation, and this gives rise to an inclination
to act, or to a pleasant instinct tending to unite in
dividual with individual, reality with reality. There
is nothing of this in God. He has no inclination
towards any realities, as realities, other than His own.
He takes complacency only in Himself.
The delectation and the instinct which is aroused
within one contingent reality towards another contin
gent reality, is not, in itself, either an intellectual or
a moral thing. It is indeed true that man has an
(i) Adnotationes in librum De Origine Mali, haud ita pridem in Anglia
evulgatum, n. 21.
124 On Divine Providence.
intellectual perception of it, and that he can therefore
propose to himself as the end of his action that very
delectation and the pleasant concurrence of the instinct
which springs therefrom ; and this explains how it is
that the intellective creature does not always act from
love of the good which it sees in the idea, but some
times from the individual impulse of the reality con
ceived by the understanding, and allowed free scope,
or even seconded, by the will. But although an action
done in this way becomes intellectual, yet it does
not acquire any morality ; because morality never
considers the individual as individual and as reality,
but always as a realization of an eternal essence. All
moral appreciation and love terminates here. God,
therefore, Whose action is always intellectual and
always moral, could never have for the end of creation
the individual, as individual, the mere reality of the
individual, which does not exist until He creates it.
He must always aim at the eternal essence of the in
dividual, which is contained in the Divine idea, and
whence springs the inclination of His Goodness, to
produce the created reality as an actuation and a
realization of that eternal essence which lies in the
abyss of His Being. Hence St. Thomas with his usual
acuteness and precision of language says : " To the
First Agent, Who is solely agent " (and not patient),
u it belongs not to act for the purpose of gaining some
end " (as is the case with passive agents, which tend
to acquire) ; "His end is purely to COMMUNICATE His
perfection, which is His goodness." (i) This com
munication, so delightful to Him, consists exactly in
causing the essences of contingent things to pass from
(I) S. p. I., q. xliv., art. iv.
Law of Excluded Equality. 125
the state of mere potentiality into that of actual sub
sistence, or realization ; such being the meaning of
the word " to create."
638. Hence also we can readily see the reason why
the Fathers and Doctors of the Church say that God s
knowledge (we should say practical knowledge] is the
cause of things. Let us hear St. Thomas : " The in
telligible form " (the essence of the thing contemplated
by the intelligent being) " does not indicate a principle
of action merely by the fact of its being seen by the
mind. That it may indicate this, there must be con
joined with it an inclination towards the effect,
which inclination springs from the will. For, as the
intelligible form is in itself equally indifferent in respect
of opposites (because the science of opposites is one
and the same science), so it would not produce a
determinate effect, unless it were determined to one
by the appetite, as the Philosopher says in the Me
taphysics (ix. text 10). Now, it is manifest that God
causes things by His understanding, because His
understanding is His being. We must needs say,
therefore, that His knowledge is the cause of things
in so far as it has will conjoined with it." (i) And
the will is exactly what renders knowledge practical.
The action therefore responds to the cause ; and as in
God this cause consists in operative knowledge, so
God creates so much as, and no more than, suffices to
realize the essences of the things which He wills to
create ; and it is by these essences that His knowledge
is constituted. The clear outcome of this is, that God
loves contingent things for His own sake, loving them
by reason of those eternal essences which lie in an
(i) S. p. I., q. xiv. art. viii.
i 2 6 On Divine Providence.
indistinct state in His own nature, and which He dis
tinguishes by producing them in time by the creative
act.
639. The second consequence is, that although in
contingent beings there are developed the evils of
which they are susceptible, God does not love them
any the less on that account. For, in the eternal
essences of creatures these evils are found already
marked. And as the love which God bears His
creatures refers to their essences seen clearly in the
Divine ideal, and not to their realities, as such, it
follows that the evils to which God permits creatures
to be subject in their realities, and which, on the
other hand, are necessary for the realization of the
Divine ideal, does not diminish the love which God
bears to His creation taken in its totality ; because
as we have said, the measure of this love is gauged by
the measure of entity, and therefore of good, which is
found in the eternal exemplar. Consequently, as the
object of God s love is not the individual good as in
dividual or real, that is to say, considered apart from
the relation it has with its eternal type ; so, on the
contrary, the object of God s hatred is the individual evil
only, as individual, that is to say, considered apart from
its relation with the eternal type in which it is included,
and wherein it limits good without destroying it, nay,
even concurring to its completion. Hence again, even
as God produces no being that is not necessary for the
realization of its type, so He permits no evil that is not
necessary for the realization of the accident of the evil
implicitly contained in the archetype. For, although an
evil in excess of this, if God were to permit it, would
injure no one but the individuals themselves whom it
Law of Excluded Equality. 127
befalls, nevertheless it would hinder the sum total of
the universal good from reaching the maximum pos
sible, and likewise it would be a superfluity, and so it
would be repugnant with Divine Wisdom for two
reasons. But as the lovableness of creatures in regard
to God is wholly centred in the Divine ideal which
they express ; so what limits this lovableness is not
the real evil but the possible evil, necessary by the
nature of things. And thus we can see, that if the
possibility of evil, which is a necessity, does not detract
from God s Sanctity, neither can its actual existence,
its realization, detract in any way from that Sanctity.
640. The third consequence is, that in heaven, in
the multitude of the saints, there will not be found any
two who are equal to each other in all respects. Each
will be unique, supreme in his own form ; and this will
increase his glory. Hence there will be good reason
for saying of each of the Blessed that which the Church
sings of every Pontiff : " There hath not been found
one like him, to keep the law of the Most High/ and
the words of the ecstatic St. John will receive their
fulfilment: "To him that overcometh, I will give a
hidden manna and will give him a white counter,
and in the counter a new name written, which no man
knoweth, but he that receiveth it." ( i ) What is this name
which no man can read but he who has received it,
save that character or type of sanctity peculiar to each,
of which no one else will have experience, and which
will impart to him who bears it impressed upon himself
a delight incommunicable, symbolized in the hidden
manna ? Indeed, if something similar to this takes
place in the Spouse of Christ even here on earth, how
much more must that which the Psalmist says of her
(i) Apoc. ii. 17.
128 On Divine Providence.
when he describes her as " clothed round with varie
ties " (i) take place in the final state when she shall
have entered fully into her eternal nuptials ! I have
therefore no hesitation in believing that as many as
are the types of sanctity, so many are the thrones of
the heavenly mansion, and that upon each one of them
one individual alone will take his seat. This will
help us to understand the simile used by the Apostle:
"Know ye not that they that run in the race, all run
indeed, but one receiveth the prize ? So run that you
may obtain." (2) Many run in this life that they may
secure a throne in heaven, but only one obtains it ;
although he who fails to obtain one may perhaps
succeed in obtaining another, on which, however, he
alone will sit.
641. Lastly, the fourth consequence is, that by
means of the doctrine here set forth we can see why
it is that, strictly speaking, the knowledge of singulars
as singulars, is no intellectual acquisition, or perfection,
and why it is said that all knowledge consists of uni-
versals. Hence this kind of knowledge adds nothing
to the speculative understanding, and only helps the
practical understanding to act ; (3) which nevertheless
does not act wisely and morally unless it turns to
some speculative notion, giving the appreciation and
affection which is due to the essence of beings in pro
portion as it partakes more or less of the universal
and infinite essence.
(i) Ps. xliv. 15. (2) i. Cor. ix. 24.
(3) St. Thomas says: "The knowledge of singulars does not belong to
the perfection of the intellective soul according to speculative knowledge.
It belongs, however, to its perfection according to practical knowledge,
which is not perfected without the knowledge of singulars, in which action
is to be found as the Philosopher says in the 6th Book of the Ethics,
ch. 7 " (S. p. iii. q. xi., art. i).
CHAPTER XXIV.
EIGHTH CONSEQUENCE LAW OF UNITY IN GOD S
ACTION.
Kt CKJH sit una, omnia potest ; et in se pennanens oinnia innovat.
Wisd. vii. 27.
642. It is not enough to consider that the end of
God s action in creating the reality of things is centred
in the ideal. It is furthermore necessary to show
that in God this very ideality is not divided into
parts, but most simple and united. Hence the unity
and complexity of His action.
643. This unity, not limited to a part, but embrac
ing the totality of things, follows as a fresh consequence
of the Law of the Least Means. For, as this law
requires that the will should tend to the greatest good
possible, so it requires that all particular goods and
all particular evils should be computed together, in
order to find what will, in the long run, turn out to be
that maximum of good, which is the best and indeed
the only object of the action of a perfect will.
But that it may be seen how consistent are the
doctrines here propounded, I shall in this chapter
endeavour not so much to prove that the unity of
God s action is due to the Law of the Least Means as
to prove that it proceeds from God s very Essence.
644. God is the Absolute Being. In Him there are
three forms, which, in our human and inadequate
n. K
130 On Divine Providence.
language, I call Reality, Ideality, and Morality, ex
isting together in a most simple unity. God s mode
of action must necessarily be, like Himself, One and
Triune. The operative action belongs to reality, but
it is always directed by ideality. Hence in the pre
ceding chapter we saw that God is not moved to
create contingent natures because He loves their reality
as an end, but because in their reality He loves the
ideal essence which is present to His Intellect. Accord
ingly the love of the Creator terminates ultimately
in Himself; and this is in fact what Holy Scripture
says : " The Lord hath made all things for Himself,
the wicked also for the evil day." (i) For even the
wicked have their eternal type in the ideal of God s
Intelligence, and contribute to its realization. (2)
645. That God finds the end of His actions in the
essences which exist within Him is a thing which need
not be proved, for it is the law of all intellective as
well as of all moral action. Morality, as we have
seen, is not a tendency which can find rest in the
finite and the temporal ; it must attain to the infinite
and the everlasting, and there alone has birth and
life, and that is why we have laid it down that a non-
intellective being cannot be an object of moral virtue,
because where there is no intelligence the divine
element is wanting.
Now, God acts, not merely as intelligent, but also
as infinitely and essentially such ; hence another law
of His action, that of the unity of which we speak.
646. Even if we consider only His Power, we can
(i) Prov. xvi. 4.
(2) It must be borne in mind that the idea of evil is not an evil thing;
nor is the type of a wicked man stained with any wickedness.
Law of Unity of Action. 131
clearly see that He must do all that He does by one
sole and most simple act, and from eternity ; because
such is, by the very nature of things, the mode of
action requisite in a power infinitely great. But the
same truth may also be arrived at by considering
what must be the action of an infinite intelligence.
That intelligence must necessarily and from eternity
know all things by one sole and most simple act.
Such, therefore, will be the act whereby God s Intelli
gence eternally grasps the exemplar of all that He
wills to do ; and it is the identical act whereby He
does it.
647. We have seen that God could not have drawn
from the universe the greatest good, save on con
dition of its being all connected and bound together
in its every part. Hence from the Law of the Least
Means we inferred the unity of the universe.
We must add that in order that the universe might
yield the maximum of good, and in this sense prove a
work worthy of its author, it was first of all necessary
that it should be represented in its essence by the
most simple act of God s Intelligence, and by the same
act brought into existence.
For, that act of God s Intelligence is practical, that
is to say, operative ; it is the mighty act which creates
the world. It must therefore be aroused by the will.
Now, we must not suppose that God, in contemplating
the idea wherein He beholds all beings, had any
difficulty in discerning the perfect world which He
willed to create; or that as happens in man, who
when he begins to harbour a volition does not yet
know what he wills except in a general and imperfect
way He passed from willing potentially to the actual
132 On Divine Providence.
determining of the world He wished to create, as if
there had been in His Will a moment spent in deliber
ating as to what that world must be in order to be
perfect. Nothing of all this. Hence we must also
exclude from the act of God s Will all selection between
possible worlds. For, a selection would imply a certain
comparison between these worlds ; and to attribute
comparison to God would be to attribute to Him the
imperfection of human action. We must needs say,
therefore, that God s Will, because most excellent and
perfect, without any process of investigation or of
choosing, and by a most perfect and Divine instinct,
determined at once and directly on the perfect w^orld
which it willed to realize. In this way was the Divine
Intelligence instinctively, and without any other
determination than the natural perfection of the
Divine volitive power, moved to that most simple
operative act whereby the perfect world was drawn
out of nothingness. And this explains how that world
which was not, by itself, distinct in what Theo
logians, speaking of God, call the knowledge of simple
intelligence, became distinct in what they call the
knowledge of vision, or, as St. Thomas terms it, of appro
bation, (i) and this, I may observe, corresponds with
what I am wont to designate as practical knowing.
From eternity, then, the Divine Will was determined
by its own perfectly free Goodness and Excellence to
create the world perfect. It had neither to compose it,
nor to seek for it, nor to select it from among the
countless possible worlds. (2)
(i) S. p. I., q. xxxii. , art. i. ad. 3 rn.
(2) How in God the " possibles " are not, by themselves, really distinct,
but receive distinctness from His creating Will was explained in the Resto-
Law of Unity of Action. 133
648. Now, from this simplicity and unity of the
intellective act, whereby God willed and created the
world, there flow several corollaries useful for our
purpose.
i st. That act had not for its object one part of the
world separately from the rest, one being apart from
other beings, but the whole, the complex of things,
linked together most wisely in unity. Therefore, the
good which forms the final aim of the Divine Will is
a good embodying in itself the total effect of the action
of all things ; it is the sum total of good as resulting
from all the beings which compose the world, indivisi-
bly united in the Divine Intelligence.
649. 2ndly. The several parts forming the world,
and the several beings, are not willed by Creating
Will save in the whole as parts of the whole, as
coalescing to form the whole, in other words, as
necessary to the production of that total of the one
final good at which the creating act aims, and which
is God s reason for that act.
650. 3rdly. That which is not the final moral-
eudemonological good, nor part of it, is not willed
except on account of its being a means towards the
final good taken in its totality. In this way God wills,
permissively, physical and moral evils ; and in the
same way He wills contingent real beings and con
tingent intellective beings (if we view them as apart
from morality) and again He wills even morality con
sidered as existing only potentially and not yet in act ;
although in potential morality itself there is a primal
act which has the nature of end, and hence enters into
the formation of the sum of final good.
ration of Philosophy, etc. (" Riunovamento clella Filosofia,") Bk. iii.
ch. 52, 53.
134 On Divine Providence.
651. 4thly. As a consequence of this, God is de
termined by His Sovereign Wisdom and His Sovereign
Goodness to permit particular evils, physical as well
as moral, whenever, owing to the limitations of created
things, He sees that those evils cannot be excluded
from the universe without causing a diminution in the
final sum total of good which forms essentially the
object of this sovereignly perfect Will, and to which
He would Himself be putting an obstacle were He to
sacrifice the whole to the part, and the end to the
means. Therefore, in a difficulty of this kind, the proper
question to ask is not, "Why has God willed this
evil," but " Why has He willed that whole, that world,
in which such evil is comprised," since no part separ
ated from the whole could be the object of the creating
and governing will. Now, to this second question the
right answer is : " Because such a world was worthy
of the Supreme Goodness inasmuch as it produced the
greatest amount of good by the least available means,
and hence was the only one possible."
652. 5thly. Therefore, whenever man speaks of
Divine intellections and volitions regarding only a
part of the universe, and not the whole, supposing that
in God there is a plurality of intellective and volitive
acts, he merely attributes to God the imperfection of
the human understanding and will. Man indeed does
not will all that he wills by a single act, because he
does not understand all that he understands by a single
act, but part by part, and hence by a multiplicity of
acts. And this human way of conceiving of the Divine
action may, it is true, be of service if it be afterwards
corrected by reflection, I mean if one distinctly takes
notice that among the supposed manifold Divine
Law of Unity of Action. 135
intellections and volitions there is no real, and even
no mental separation, and that it is only we who
separate them, owing to the limitation of our intelli
gence, obliged in such things to follow the analytical
process.
Leibnitz, speaking in accordance with this human
way of conceiving, says of God s Intelligence: "The
Wisdom of God, not content with embracing all
possibles, penetrates into and compares them, weigh
ing one against another in order to estimate their
degrees of perfection or imperfection, to see that which
is strong and that which is feeble, the good and the
evil. It goes beyond finite combinations, making an
infinity of infinite ones, that is to say, an infinite
number of possible series of worlds, each containing
an infinity of creatures. In this way Divine Wisdom
distributes all the possibles which it had first seen
apart in so many universal systems, which it like
wise confronts. The result of all these confrontings
and of all these reflections is at last the selection
of the best among all possible systems, which the same
wisdom makes in order fully to satisfy goodness.
Such is the plan of the actual universe." (i)
Now, all these manifold acts of comparison, of
reflection and of selection have no place in the mind
of God. They are merely supposed by the philosopher
as, so to speak, so many postulates. Nor are the
inaccuracies contained in the supposition sufficiently
rectified by the declaration which Leibnitz immediately
subjoins, saying : " And all these acts of God s Intelli
gence, although there is among them an order and a
priority of nature, take place at once, without any
(i) Thcodicce, 225.
136 On Divine Providence.
priority of time." (i) For, according to this view, the
acts in question, although done altogether, still retain
their plurality ; whereas the truth is, that God s intel
lection, which when conceived by us and expressed
in human language, seems to contain a vast number
of acts altogether distinct from one another, is in itself
perfectly one and simple. If, however, instead of
contenting ourselves with thus separating the act of
God s Intelligence into parts, solely to the end that we
may in some manner understand its grandeur, we were
to insist on taking that division as the basis of our
arguments, and on adopting their conclusions, as if
the division existed in God Himself, we should at once
quit the right track, and fall into error.
To confine our discourse, then, to the practical and
creative intelligence, this, as we have said, excludes
also all antecedent comparison and selection ; because
the will, being essential goodness, by a wonderful
Divine instinct moves that intelligence to the perfect
and best. And this perfect and best it has no need to
search for ; since it has of itself from eternity an in
clination and love for it, that very love from which the
act of creation most freely proceeds.
653. So likewise does Leibnitz speak of the Divine
Will in human fashion when he says that God, in virtue
of His Sovereign Goodness, has a serious inclination
to produce or to will, and to cause to be produced,
every good and every praiseworthy action ; as also to
hinder or set Himself against every evil and every re
prehensible action, and prevent their existence. But
owing to this same Goodness of His, conjoined with
His Infinite Wisdom, and in consequence of the very
(l) Tln mlicee, 225.
Law of Unity of Action. 137
concourse of all the antecedent and particular inclina
tions towards each good, and towards the prevention
of each evil, He resolves on producing the best pos
sible system of things : and this constitutes His fimil
and decretory Will.(i)
The truth, however, is that God s Will has but one
act which, in respect to creatures, has for its object
the perfect universe, a thing possible for the very
reason that it was the natural object of the creative
act. For, nothing exists save God and the universe,
nor can God s Will really have any other inclination
than that which has for its object God Himself and
that universe, of which there is in God the ideal
essence, determined by the same Will which eternally
creates it.
654. Nevertheless, man, by reason of the limitation
of his mind, is almost necessitated to place several
hypothetical wills in God, that He may explain God s
actions to himself. For example, when he considers
that God is Essential Goodness, he at once concludes
that God loves every particular good and hates every
particular evil, and will therefore always feel pleasure
in the former and effectually oppose the latter. And
that God loves every particular good and hates every
particular evil, is strictly true ; but that He therefore
wills that there should actually exist every particular
good which it is possible for us to conceive, to the
exclusion of every evil, this is not true except hypo-
thetically, that is to say, except on the supposition that
that particular good and that particular evil, thus
separated, could be an object of the Divine Will,
(i) Reflections sur V Ouirage que M. Hoblcs a public en Anglais " De
la Liberte, de la Necessite et du Hazard," n. 11.
138 On Divine Providence.
essentially synthetic. These partial, and so far as
the creative decree is concerned hypothetical voli
tions, are reduced to what Theologians call the ante-
cedentwillytQ which there corresponds in God something
true, namely, the inclination or love towards all good,
and the hatred of all evil. But since, as a matter of
fact, many partial goods, owing to their limitations,
exclude one another, and are moreover limited by
many evils, necessary conditions of their existence ;
and since, on the other hand, that would not be a
perfect will which preferred the production of a
lesser to that of a greater good, or which, to avoid
a small evil, willed and decreed the loss of an
abundance of good far out- weighing that evil ; there
fore the Divine Will loves with a prevalent love that
sum of good which is greatest relatively to the means
employed in obtaining it. This is what Theologians
call the consequent will, and it is the only will that
directs God s action ; because it takes in the whole of
His work, which constitutes the sole object of the
one volition whereby He, from eternity, does all that
He does, (i)
(i) God loves and wills the essence of good. From this truth the
human mind rightly infers, that God loves all the particular goods con
ceivable by it, some of which He produces and others not. The Divine
"Will thus conceived of in regard to these last-named goods is called in the
Schools antecedent will. The antecedent will, therefore, is simply the
Divine Will, loving and willing the essence of good, and hence loving and
willing all those things wherein man conceives in some degree the essence
of good. When we say that in God there is but one act of volition, we
mean a complete and distinct act. As for the rest, the antecedent will, to
use the words of Leibnitz, "is altogether earnest and simple, and must not
be confounded with the velleity of one who would if he could, and who
would fain be able ; a thing which can have no place in God. Neither must
it be confounded with the conditional will, of which there is no question
Law of Unity of Action. 139
655. The above doctrine may be of service for the
better clearing" up of our ideas in the matter of the
efficacy of prayer. For, it is certain that if a man prays
for the increase of the complex and final good of the
universe, he cannot fail to be heard ; because that
good is the very thing which God wills, and which He
obtains, precisely by hearing our prayers, in that full
and overflowing measure which He saw fit and decreed
from eternity. So, likewise, if a man asks aright
and perseveringly for his own eternal salvation,
he cannot but obtain it, although what he asks for is
only a particular good. The reason is, that, consider
ing the Infinite Goodness of God, it is necessary for
the final complex good that prayer duly made should
be answered, although not always in the same \vay.
But this special request can be answered only in one
way, namely, by granting the salvation of him who
makes it. For, what would it profit that man if he
were to obtain the salvation of the whole world, and
at the same time his own soul were lost ? His prayer
here. It is evident that the antecedent volitions are not altogether vain,
but have an efficacy of their own, although the effect obtained from them is
never full and entire, but restricted by the concourse of other antecedent
volitions. As regards the decretory volition, which results from the in-
dinatory ones, this always attains its full effect." (Leibnitz. La cause de
Dieu plaidcc -par sa justice, conciliee avec ses autres perfections et toutes ses
actions. J
Thus the antecedent will, as conceived of by the Schools, is true, earnest,
and simple, because it terminates in the essence of good ; but the decree is
wanting in it, because the essence of good cannot be realized where man
supposes that it can. It must lie regarded as a true love, and also as an
effectual love, because it has an influence in producing the consequent will.
I say that it must be regarded in this light, because otherwise we should
have to give up the conceiving of it in a human way as a will at all. If we
once begin to speak of God after a human fashion, we must continue to use
the same kind of discourse, and if we do not, error will certainly follow.
140 On Divine Providence.
would certainly not be heard. On the contrary, if one
asks for the salvation of another person, his request
may be complied with in several ways. The person
whom he recommends may be saved, or else he himself
may be vouchsafed a greater grace which is implicitly
contained in his request, for example, his own
salvation, and that of many other persons, and finally
such goods and events as will have the effect of
augmenting the final sum of the good to which
the universe is ordained, and on which all the
desires and prayers of men of good will should be
bent. For, undoubtedly, he would not pray well
who loved the salvation of an individual to such
a degree as to prefer it to another grace which would
lead to a far greater augmentation of the final sum of
good. For, as this latter result is the object of the
Divine Will, he who excluded it would not conform
himself to that will. And much more would this be
the case if one were to ask for a particular good which
had purely the nature of a means, for example, the
deliverance from bodily pain. To pray properly for
things of this kind it is necessary to add the condition:
" If the granting of them be for the greater glory of
God, in other words, if it contribute to increase the
final sum of good which God intends to draw from His
creation." Prayer offered in this way is always heard,
if not in the precise way desired, in a better.
656. From this we may get some insight into the
Divine Wisdom by which Christ was moved when,
being in an agony in the Garden at the lively repre
sentation of His impending Passion, He prayed to
the Eternal Father thus : " My Father, if it be possible,
let this chalice pass from Me. Nevertheless, not as I
Law of Unity of Action. 141
will, but as Thou wilt. 5 And again : " My Father, if
this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it,
Thy will be done." (i) How could He say "if it be
possible," or " if this chalice may not pass away but I
must drink it?" Were not all things possible to His
Father ? Undoubtedly they were, if His Power be
considered apart from His Wisdom and His Goodness.
As, however, God never acts by Power alone, but
directs the works of Power by the rule of Wisdom and
of Goodness, so the granting of that grace might
very well not be possible ; and in fact, as the event
showed, it was not. Given that there was no other
way of drawing the maximum of good from creation
than that of the Passion of Christ, then the Passion
could not be dispensed with, because it could not be
that God should in His action ignore the law of Essen
tial Wisdom and Goodness. Unquestionably, the
Father made account in His infinite computation of
the desire, the human will, the prayer of His Incar
nate Son, and of all His sufferings. Yet He must
have found that, even setting all this against the good
which would ensue from the Divine Passion, there
remained withal such an overwhelming balance of
good as abundantly to justify those ineffable sufferings,
that appalling death of the Man-God, that refusal to
hear the prayer of the Just One, that extreme mortifi
cation and denial of His human will to justify them ;
I say, as a means employed for a most exalted end.
And if Christ, praying according to His Humanity,
expressed a doubt as to whether it was or was not
possible for that chalice to pass away so that He might
not have to drink it ; let no one suppose that He, as
(i) Matth. xxvi. 39, 42.
142 On Divine Providence.
God, did not know the impossibility of that prayer
being granted. But He designed thereby to teach us
that the computation of the final good of the universe
must be left entirely to the Father, because being made
within the Divine Intellect, it infinitely exceeds all
human thought. For, in that intellect a measure is found
whereby to judge between two " infinites," namely,
between, the sufferings of the " Word made Flesh," on
the one hand, and on the other, the overwhelming
eternal weight of glory which redounds from those
sufferings to the Humanity of Christ and to His faith
ful followers. Hence, even from Christ Himself, as
man, although most perfect, the reasoned solution of
the great problem was hidden. Therefore He also
submits the human will, which can have no other
determinate object than the things which fall within
the circuit of human knowledge, to the Divine Will,
which has for its determinate object the maximum of
good embraced by God s Knowledge. By this He
teaches us to subordinate the things willed by us
to those which God wills, for the very reason that of
the latter we are ignorant. This subordination, made
with implicit faith and a total abandonment of our
selves to God, will infallibly secure for us in the end
the possession of the complete good, which is known
to Him alone, and which it is impossible for us with
our limited minds to know, although we can very well
understand that what God wills is a far greater good
than any which a mere human being can ever set
before Himself. Thus it is by the Divine Will,
all light, essentially perfect, that the operative Divine
Intelligence is determined, nor are there any other
distinct " possibles " than those to which that same will
guides this intelligence.
Law of Unity of Action. 143
657. But why then did JESUS CHRIST after His
Resurrection say to the Apostles: "All power is given
to Me in heaven and in earth : going therefore teach
ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost "?(i)
Why did He send them to all nations, and not to all
individuals, when all power had been given Him in
heaven and in earth ? Was it perhaps because He did
not love the salvation of each and every man ? On the
contrary, He loved it infinitely, because His love was
divine. But it was the complex good of all mankind
that He aimed at. Further, the desires which had
the salvation of each individual for their object, the
desires of particular goods, came into conflict and ex
cluded one another. As a consequence, those desires
necessarily prevailed which were directed to a greater
good, I mean to the realization of the largest total
of final good, the grand central object of all. In
order to bring about this realization, it became also
necessary to permit the loss of some individuals, as an
unavoidable condition. Nevertheless, it would seem
allowable to conclude from the words of Christ, that if
some individual necessarily perishes that the maximum
of good may be obtained, the same necessity does not
apply to nations , to each of which the Incarnate
Wisdom sent His messengers ; and He never sends
in vain. Hence these words accord admirably with
those which the same Incarnate Wisdom uttered so
many ages before : "I have stood in all the earth :
and in every people and in every nation I have had the
chief rule." (2) He does not say " in every individual."
They are also a fulfilment of the ancient promise made
(i) Matth. xxviii. 18, 19. (2) Ecclus. xxiv. 9, 10.
144 O H Divine Providence.
by God to Abraham : " And in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed ;"(i) and not "all
individuals." Hence the prophetic canticle so often
repeated in the Ancient Covenant : " O praise the
Lord all ye nations, praise Him all ye peoples." (2)
In these places, and in many others of similar import,
no mention is made of individuals, but the salvation
is affirmed of all races grown into nations, with that
comprehensive view which belongs to wisdom.
658. Now, this same principle, that the All-Wise
has one sole object of His action the complex sum
total of good and obtains it by a most simple act,
throws great light also upon all the economy of God s
government of mankind, and especially upon the
mystery of the reprobation of the Jews, and the call of
the Gentiles. For, why does St. Paul say of the
Hebrews that "by their offence salvation came to the
Gentiles," that "their offence is the riches of the
world, and their diminution the riches of the Gentiles,"
and "their loss the reconciliation of the world"? (3) The
Apostle simply means to say that God in His Eternal
Wisdom saw that to permit that many Jews should
refuse to believe in His Christ was an evil necessary
for attaining the maximum of good by the least means ;
and He therefore permitted it, sacrificing some Jews
to the salvation of all the nations of the earth. It
would take too long to show how this was necessary,
and we shall refer to this subject again. The Apostle,
however, tells us plainly the end which God had in
view in abandoning for a time a portion of the Jewish
nation to their wilful unbelief. God, he says, "hath
(i) Gen. xxii. 18. (2) Ps. cxvi. i.
(3) Rom. xi. 11-15.
Law of Unity of Action. 145
concluded all in unbelief, that He MAY HAVE MERCY
ON ALL." (i) Thus, good is always the end of God s
action, the maximum of good which is possible con
sistently with the Law of the Least Means. Indeed,
if this law requires that all good should be made to
germinate and grow out of the intellective creature
without any superfluous, extraordinary intervention
from without, it became the All- Wise, Who had to
fulfil this law, to act in such a way as to draw from the
very weakness of this creature, from its very unbelief
and moral perversity, every kind of good which it was,
directly or indirectly, capable of yielding. Hence,
from the aberrations which God permitted so many
ages in the heathen world, mankind received the
strongest practical proof of the insufficiency of the
light of their reason, and the impotence of their free
will to attain the final moral eudemonological good ;
while the aberrations of the Hebrews afforded a similar
proof in regard to the insufficiency of even the positive
law, although given from above for their salvation.
Thus it became manifestly apparent, that human
nature needed the Man-God to rescue it from perdition.
It had a tangible demonstration that only by a gratui
tous gift bestowed upon it by God, namely, by the grace
of the Redeemer, could it obtain its end. Nor could
this nature acquire so precious a knowledge otherwise
than by its own experience ; for it is only by its own
experience that it is able to know itself aright ; and
the Law of the Least Means forbids its being supplied
by a divine intervention with that which it can draw
from itself. Now, this experimental knowledge, accom
panied by the influence of grace, by humbling man,
(I) Rom. xi., 32.
II. L
146 On Divine Providence.
raises him up to God, on Whom he sees that his whole
self and his eternal happiness depend. Again, this
knowledge of his need of God and of God s gratuitous
mercy, open to all who should humbly acknowledge
their need thereof, was man s sanctity, the only and the
greatest good for the attainment of which it was wisely
permitted that many should be lost. Hence, this
permission, in the judgment of God, Whose Goodness
and Wisdom are infinite, was not only just, seeing
that man was left with his own, but, all things com
puted, good also, nay, an act of Supreme Goodness,
and a goodness most wise, because a necessary means
for that which was the very best that could be.
659. Finally, if we consider that in the complex
whole, in the maximum of good which creation is
capable of yielding, there must be seen not merely a
union of beings, but a stupendous order and harmony
between them, we shall have a fresh proof of the
necessity of evil, as contributing to the moral beauty
and perfection of the w r hole. This argument is
illustrated by St. Thomas thus: "The good of the
whole takes precedence of the good of the part. It
belongs therefore to a prudent governor to permit
some deficiency of goodness in the part, in order that
there may be an increase of goodness in the whole.
Thus the builder of a house hides the foundation
underground, in order that the whole house may stand
more firmly together. Now, if evil were taken away
from certain parts of the universe, much of the perfec
tion of the universe would also disappear, seeing that
its beauty arises from the ordered adjustment of goods
and of evils. For, although where there is a deficiency
of good, evils come in, nevertheless those evils, through
Law of Unity of Action. 147
the Providence of the Ruler, become the source of
certain goods ; in the same way that the interposition
of a pause in a song contributes to the sweetness of
the melody." (i) And here it should also be borne in
mind that the beauty of order is not a thing extraneous
to the good of intelligent beings ; since it is they that
contemplate that beauty, and receive light and pleasure
from it. Hence, even on this account, to place order
in the universe is to do good to intelligent natures.
(i) St. Thomas, Contra Gent. Bk. iii., ch. 52, 6.
CHAPTER XXV.
NINTH CONSEQUENCE. IT WAS NECESSARY THAT THE
WORLD SHOULD BE GOVERNED IN ACCORDANCE
WITH THE LAWS OF WISDOM AS EXPOUNDED ABOVE,
IN ORDER THAT THERE MIGHT RESULT FROM IT
THE GLORY OF GOD, THE END FOR WHICH THE
UNIVERSE WAS CREATED.
Hominem fecit, cui INNOTESCERET.
St. Theoph. ad Autolyc, II. x.
660. What has been said above enables us to form
a clear notion of the Divine Glory ^ which is the end of
the universe.
For, by the word Divine Glory we must understand
the manifestation made to intelligent and moral
creatures of the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God
in the unity of His action.
66 1. If God, setting aside His Wisdom and His
Goodness, had made all things by His Power only, He
would not have been entitled to any glory ; because it
is no glorious thing to be possessed of mere brute
power, blind and not directed to any good end.
In truth, what is glory r Nothing else than the
applause which intelligence gives to intelligence.
Now, an intelligence cannot applaud the action of
mere blind power, but only an action wherein power
is disposed with wisdom and goodness. Therefore, to
God, Who in virtue of His very Essence must always
in His actions follow the Laws of Wisdom and of
God s Glory the End of Creation 1 49
Goodness, which incline Him to economize His power,
belongs of right the highest glory.
662. Hence it is that the Fathers of the Church observe
that God never combats the wicked by His Power alone,
which indeed might annihilate them in an instant;
but He overthrows them chiefly by the use of Wisdom
and Goodness, a forbearance He shows even to the devil.
Wherefore St. Justin the Martyr, in the second century,
wrote that God had disposed that the Christ should be
born of a woman having a husband, in order to conceal
from the devil the Divine Incarnation. Upon this St.
Bernard comments as follows : " It was necessary that
the mystery of God s counsel should for a certain time
be kept hidden from the prince of this world ; not as
though God feared lest, if He did His work openly, He
might be prevented : but because He did all things that
He willed, not by Power only, but also by Wisdom.
And as He had been wont in all His works to observe a
certain fittingness of things and of seasons for the sake
of the beauty of order ; so in a work so magnificent
as this of our reparation, He was pleased to show forth,
not His Power only, but His Wisdom likewise/ (i)
063. These words afford a splendid confirmation
of the truth upon which we insist, namely, that the Law
of the Least Means requires that God should, as far
possible, economize His Power, which, by itself alone,
gives no claim to glory, and that He should, on the
other hand, make the largest use of the attributes of
Wisdom and of Goodness, to which praise is justly due
from those who contemplate them. This same end, of
obtaining the praise justly due to God, and alone
worthy of Him is assigned by the great Pontiff St. Leo
(l) //cv////. ii. Super Jfissits est.
150 On Divine Providence.
as the reason why God willed that human nature itself,
assumed by the Person of the Eternal Word, should
vanquish the devil, thus hiding under the lowly garb
of our mortality the Omnipotence by which He might
have subjugated the fiend at pleasure, but without
glory to Himself. He says : " This great combat under
taken in our behalf (by Christ) was waged according
to a great and admirable rule of equity. For, the
omnipotent Lord enters the lists with a most cruel
enemy, not in His majesty, but in our lowliness ; oppos
ing to him the same form and the same nature which
partook of our mortality, yet so as to be wholly free
from sin. For, the Son of God, in the fulness of
time disposed in the unsearchable depths of the Divine
counsel, took to Himself our human nature, in order
to reconcile it to its Author ; so that the devil, the
inventor of death, might be vanquished by the same
nature which he had vanquished/ ( i ) Here we see quite
plainly that God preferred to bring about the overthrow
of the devil by means of human nature itself rather
than by a direct use of His Omnipotence. And since
human nature could not bear so transcendantly great
and exquisite a fruit by its own powers, the Eternal
Word was added to it, to enable it to do so ; this sur
plusage, if I may so call it, of Divine action, employed
for such a purpose, being judged by God to be well
and wisely expended.
664. In many places of the Book of Wisdom, God
is extolled by reason of this economy and saving of
His Power, prompted by His most wise Goodness.
Thus, referring to the plagues inflicted on Egypt, the
inspired writer is filled with admiration at seeing how
(i) Sermo i. De Nativit. Domini.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 151
God punished the Egyptians by sending upon them a
multitude of minute insects. "For (he says) Thy
Almighty hand, which made the world of matter with
out form, was not unable to send upon them a multi
tude of bears, or fierce lions, or unknown beasts of new
kind, full of rage, either breathing out a fiery vapour,
or sending forth a stinking smoke, or shooting horrible
sparks out of their eyes ; whereof not only the hurt
might be able to destroy them, but also the very sight
might kill them through fear. Yea, and without these
they might have been slain w r ith one blast, persecuted
by their own deeds, and scattered by the breath of Thy
power. But Thou hast disposed all things in measure
and number, and weight."(i) In the following
chapter he again undertakes to show how the Wisdom
and Goodness of God restrained His Power, not per
mitting its full display in driving away from Palestine
the corrupt races which inhabited that country. Let
us hear him : " Yet even those Thou sparedst as men,
and didst send wasps, forerunners of Thy host, to des
troy them by little and little. Not that Thou wast unable
to bring the wicked under the just by war, or by cruel
beasts, or with one rough word to destroy them at once;
but executing Thy judgments by degrees, Thou gavest
them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they
were a w r icked generation, and their malice natural
and that their thought could never be changed. For it
w r as a cursed seed from the beginning ; neither didst
Thou for fear of anyone give pardon to their sins. For
so much then as Thou art just, thou orderest all
things justly : thinking it not agreeable to Thy power
to condemn him who deserveth not to be punished.
(i) Wisd. xi. 1 8 21.
152 On Divine Providence.
For Thy power is the beginning of justice : and be
cause Thou art the Lord of all, Thou makest Thyself
gracious to all. For Thou showest Thy power when
men will not believe Thee to be absolute in power, and
Thou convincest the boldness of them that know Thee
not. But Thou being master of power, judgest with
tranquillity, and with great favour disposest of us : for
Thy power is at hand when Thou wilt. But Thou
hast taught Thy people by such works, that they must
be just and humane, and hast made Thy children to be
of a good hope ; because in judging Thou givest place
for repentance for sins."(i)
The august title of "Master of Power" which
is here given to God, shows how the attributes of
Wisdom and of Goodness are those which direct His
Power and moderate it. The declaration, too, that
" in God, power is the beginning of justice/ shows
that His Power is informed by justice ; so that it
does not move, save in so far as Justice, which is its
form, sets it in motion. And as regards the vfor6.justice y
it seems to me that it should in this place, by an
extension of meaning very frequent in Holy Scripture,
be understood as indicating all moral good, and there
fore mercy also, which makes use of power for working
its wonders, by changing men s hearts from wickedness
to virtue, and tempers it by mitigating and delaying
the punishment due to sin.
665. Now, the Divine Glory which penetrates and
shines forth throughout the universe is of two
kinds ; the one substantial, namely, that which God
gives to Himself, and the other accidental, namely,
that which intelligent creatures give to their Creator.
(i) Wisd. xii. 8-K).
God s Glory the End of Creation.
153
As glory is the applause which an intelligent
being gives to an intelligent being, so the glory which
God renders to Himself is that approbation which He
gives to His own works, and which is expressed in those
words of Genesis : " And God saw all the things that He
had made, and they were very good."(i) This does not
mean that in God there is any distinction of time be
tween doing His work, and taking complacency in
seeing therein the vestiges of His own Wisdom and
Goodness. No ; He was, as we have seen, inclined
from eternity to bring contingent being into existence,
loving this as a realization of the eternal ideas, or
rather of that one typical idea of the universe, in which
His Will, perfect by essence, found whatever of wise
and of good could be manifested in contingent things.
Hence this same approbation which God gave to what
He eternally saw of wise and good in the exemplar of
the universe, and which inclined Him to create it and
govern it, this very same approbation, I say, is what
constitutes the glory which He gives to Himself for
having created it. For, there never was a time when
the universe stood distinctly before God in a state of
mere possibility, having indeed been created by Him
in time, but by an act which is eternal even as the
possible is eternal.
Now, the exemplar in which God saw from eternity
the world as created in time, and in which He com
mended His work, most justly taking complacency
in it, and glorying in it most holily, is the Eternal
Word. Accordingly, when the Redeemer prayed, say
ing: "And now glorify Thou Me with Thyself, with the
glory which I had before the world was, with Thee," (2)
(i) Gen. i. 31. (2) John xvii, 5.
154 On Divine Providence.
He then referred to that glory which He had, and had
always had as the Divine Word, in Whom the Father
approvingly beheld from eternity the typical universe
(tl nwndo cseniplato) , and, beholding it, created it.
Hence by that sublime prayer He asked that the glory
which the Father had already given from eternity to the
Word as seeing in Him the exemplar of the universe,
should, as the Father also willed from eternity, be
realized in time, and communicated to the Humanity
of the Word. For, to the Word as containing the
type of the universe, that glory of Paternal approba
tion had never been wanting ; but it had still to be
realized and communicated in time to the same Word
in so far as He was made man ; for the Humanity of
Christ was the Word s own Humanity. Wherefore
the Redeemer was not asking for the glory which
belongs to the Word as the Father s likeness
dwelling in light inaccessible ; but He was asking for
that glory which belongs to the Word as having in
Himself the typical universe, wherein the Father lov
ingly beheld a man assumed by the Word to Himself,
and receiving his personality from Him, and to this
man He beheld every thing, every glory of the Word,
communicated. Consequently, if in the eternal type the
glory of the Word was seen as communicated to His
Humanity, that glory had also to be realized in time;
and for this did Christ ask. And he asked for it because
this realization in time was to be effected by way of
impetration, through His prayers, which prayers were
likewise seen in the eternal type. It was to be
effected also by way of merit, through His labours in
preaching the Gospel, through His heroic virtues, and
through the magnanimous offering which He made of
God s Glory the End of Creation. 155
His life ; all which things were similarly seen marked
by God s decree in the same eternal type. Thus the
realization of the glory which Christ was to receive in
His Humanity risen from the dead, was conditioned to
His own action ; and hence in His prayer He refers to
the fact of His having already accomplished all that
had been enjoined on Him, that is to say, of His hav
ing, before receiving the glory, realized that part of
the exemplar which it was incumbent on Him to
realize. As, therefore, He had by His most holy life
" fulfilled all justice," it only remained that the other
part, that which belonged to the Father Himself,
should be completed and realized. " I have glorified
Thee on the earth : I have finished the work which
Thou gavest Me to do. And now glorify Thou Me, O
Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had be
fore the world was, with Thee."(i) And Christ said
that He had accomplished the work, although He had
not yet suffered, because of the most complete and
perfect oblation which He had already made of Him
self, and of the Unbloody Sacrifice which was celebra
ted at His Last Supper, and which was equivalent to
the reality of His Death, to the Consummatum est which
He pronounced on the Cross.
666. Accordingly, when Christ, as man, asked the
Father for the realization of that glory which was
destined for Him from eternity, He simply asked
that that one inclination and volition which God
from eternity had for the creation of the world,
should receive its full effect in time. For, the
exemplar of the world, although but one, com
prised many successive states, all of them to be
(I) John xvii. 4.
156 On Divine Providence.
unfolded and successively realized even to the last
and final one, in respect to which the rest stood in
the relation of means and ways, while this itself was
to remain eternally as the complete and perfect state
of creation.
At the same time, it should be observed, that the
world contemplated in this its final and permanent state,
the archetype as it were of those that preceded it
though all disposed in perfect unity and harmony,
has, nevertheless an order in its parts. There are in it
parts which constitute the end of the world, and there
are parts which do not, properly speaking, constitute
the end, but are conditions indispensable to those that
do. The parts which constitute the end are the elect
in the state in which they will be found after the
resurrection ; and Christ is their head. Hence St.
Paul writes : " But every one (will be quickened) in
his own order. The first-fruits Christ ; then they that
are of Christ, who have believed in His coming.
Afterwards the end, when He shall have delivered up
the Kingdom to God and the Father, when He shall
have brought to nought all Principality, and Power,
and Virtue. For He must reign Until He has put
His enemies under His feet. (i) And the enemy death
shall be destroyed last, for He hath put all things
under His feet/ (2) And whereas He saith, all things
are put under Him/ undoubtedly, He is excepted Who
put all things under Him. And when all things shall
be subdued unto Him, then the Son also shall be sub
dued unto Him that put all things under Him that God
may be all in all." (3)
(i) Ps. viii. 8. (2) Hcb. ii. 8.
(3) i. Cor. xv. 23-28.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 157
This, therefore, is the eminent part of the Divine
Exemplar of the world, that to which all the others
are ordained, and whose realization is, as St. Paul de
clares, the end of all things without exception. Hence,
the creative and ordering Wisdom takes complacency
and rests in this final state of the elect, as we are told
in an inspired book : " I alone have compassed the
circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom
of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,
and have stood in all the earth : and in every people,
and in every nation I have had the chief rule : and by
my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of
all the high and low : and in all these things I sought
REST, and I shall abide in the INHERITANCE OF THE
LORD;"(i) which inheritance are precisely the elect.
Accordingly, our Divine Master bids us say in our
prayer to the heavenly Father : " Thy kingdom come,"
thus to hasten the complete realization of the Eternal
Exemplar, the final state of things, when Christ, as the
Apostle says, will deliver up to the Father the kingdom
conquered by His own valour.
667. Such also is that which St. Paul calls the
" day of rest for the people of God/ (2) namely, that
last state in which Divine Wisdom, having ended His
work, takes complacency and glories in it with Himself
for all eternity a state which had been represented
even at the beginning of things by the seventh day, of
which we read in Genesis : " On the seventh day God
ended His work which He had made, and He rested
on the seventh day from all the work which He had
done." (3) And it was, I believe, in order that the
(i) Ecclus. xxiv. ii. (2) Heb. iv. 9.
(3) Gen. ii. 2.
158 On Divine Providence.
whole human race might ever be deeply impressed
with the sacredness of this last end of things, this
great END for which man especially was created, and
to which he must direct all his affections, his endeavours,
and his actions ; that the sabbath was from the begin-
ing of the world instituted as a solemn day, a day of
abstention from all material labour, and afterwards
inculcated by so many and such rigorous laws, and
sanctified by so many rites.
668. God, then, from eternity takes complacency,
and from eternity glories in His work, the world, not
by reason of its mere reality, the effect of His Power ;
but because in its reality there are expressed and
manifested the vestiges of His Infinite Wisdom and
His Infinite Goodness. He glories in it because Infinite
Pow r er displays itself therein under the guidance of
Wisdom, and Wisdom displays and diffuses itself under
the prompting of Goodness. Now, man also, as an
intelligent and moral being (and the same may be said
of every intellective creature) sees in the world with
more or less penetration the same vestiges of Wisdom
and Goodness; and he learns from them to know the
Wisdom and Goodness of the Infinite Artificer, and
approves of them, and applauds Him, and gives Him
glory without end.
Here we must consider that man attains to this
exalted knowledge of the Creator, supremely wise and
good, by various degrees ; for he has not in himself,
like God, the whole Exemplar of the world, but
gathers and derives the knowledge of it from the per
ceptions he receives from creation and from the
meditations he makes on them. Aided by the lights
which Revelation and Grace impart, he advances by
God s Glory the End of Creation. 159
little and little from the sign to the thing signified
(for the world is nothing but a sign), and so by
degrees traces out and delineates that exemplar in
his own mind. Now, what serves him as the clean
canvas on which to draw his lines, is that ideal and
indeterminate being of which he has intuition by
nature, and which contains all entity in an indistinct
state, in a way analogous to that in which a large
block of marble contains all the statues which the
sculptor proposes to make out of it, or a given super
ficies all the figures that can be designed thereon.
And although the perceptions which man receives
from creation are very few in comparison with the im
mensity of things, they nevertheless suffice to cause
him to recognize such rays of Divine Wisdom and
Goodness as enable him to divine, I would almost say,
that infinite Sun from which they emanate. Wherefore,
on seeing the Creative Wisdom and Goodness reflected
as it were in so small a mirror, he has occasion for
the exercise of faith, and for adoring the depths of the
Wisdom and Knowledge of God, into which he is
unable fully to penetrate. His intelligence, however,
attains to more of that Wisdom, the further he ad
vances in the knowledge of created things, and, in a
reverent spirit dives deeper into that knowledge, and
all that he thus attains is as a spark which kindles
in his heart the love that is due to the Creator.
But not only is man limited in his contemplation of
the Supreme Wisdom and Goodness by his inability
to embrace the vastness of creation, so that, however
far he may penetrate into it, he can never understand
more than an infinitesimal portion : he is furthermore
limited for this reason, that the real world unfolds
160 On Divine Providence.
itself before him by means of facts which happen in
succession, and presents to him only one state at a
time out of the many through which it has to pass, and
which are all found in the eternal exemplar. And
this is a fresh reason why understanding should lead
man to faith ; for at the same time that this intellect
sees a link of the immense chain, it makes him aware
that there are other links still remaining hidden in the
dark future. But each individual, before the world
has run its course, comes by death to the end of his
own, and, if he has acted according to the light and
the grace which he received, he is admitted to the
vision of God s face, as it is written : "The wisdom of
doctrine is according to her name, and she is not
manifest unto many ; but with them to whom she
is known she continueth even to the sight of God."(i)
In that vision, therefore, man finds his end, and
awaits in repose the ultimate state of the universe, of
which indeed he already contemplates the Eternal
Exemplar. And the greatness of the knowledge of the
Creative Wisdom and Goodness acquired by this con
templation forms the subject-matter of a new canticle
whereby he renders to God a glory more explicit
than he could render on this earth, and already final ;
although abundant matter will also be furnished to
the same canticle by that inaccessible light which will
even then transcend the power of the creature. And
so God will be praised and glorified chiefly on account
of this final state, which had been pre-ordained in the
far distance as the completion and the crowning sum
mit of the universe, and with which the events which
have ever been or will ever be unfolded are most
(D Ecclus. vi. 23.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 1 6 1
strictly related as means, and form with them one
stupendous unity.
Since, then, this constitutes the ultimate perfection
of all intelligent-moral creatures, it follows that the
whole order of the universe was to be so disposed as
to obtain that these creatures might, by searching into
it, come to perceive the Wisdom and Goodness of God,
first by parts, and then in their complex, and, admiring
and loving them, might give boundless and unceas
ing praise to Him. For, this praise is, as it were,
a natural vent given to the exuberant feelings of the
intellective substance, and the last word whereby it
pronounces its rightful approbation, and in pronouncing
it finds satisfaction and happiness. This approbation,
this applause which the creature most willingly gives
to the Creator known, loved, and admired as supremely
wise and good, is itself a part, nay, the final part of
the Eternal Exemplar. Thus the very praise which is
offered to the Wisdom and Goodness of God contem
plated in creation, becomes the most sublime monu
ment of the same Wisdom and Goodness. Hence
it comes to pass, that the same act by which the
creature is perfected, gives it new and more excellent
matter for praising the Creator ; so that here also we
find that marvellous and never-ending circle which
we have elsewhere admired in the order of moral
things, (i) and in virtue of which all moral good
becomes the object of other and more sublime moral
good in perpetuity.
669. This doctrine is pregnant with most important
(i) See Comparative and Critical History of the Systems regarding the
Principle of Morality (" Storia Comparativa," etc.) Ch. viii., art., iii.,
7. Vol. II.
M
1 62 On Divine Providence.
corollaries, and wishing to recapitulate and continue it,
we might reduce it to the following propositions :
i st. The praise which the intelligent creature gives
to the Wisdom and Goodness of the Author of the uni
verse, that is, the complex of contingent beings and of
all their successive states, constitutes the very highest
moral perfection which it is possible for it to attain.
By the word praise we here understand that ultimate
act of approbation which the intellective creature is
inclined to make, and does voluntarily make when it
perceives and recognizes the Wisdom and Goodness
of God in those real signs and vestiges of them which
are communicated to it. Man is a mixed being, having
a body which, by its movements, seconds the feelings
of the soul, and in the body having a vocal organ
inclined to produce as many sounds as are the words
interiorly pronounced by him. In these spontaneous
sounds, then, he discovers so many indications of those
pronouncements. And whereas the pronouncements
themselves are transitory, he is helped by the sounds
to recall them to mind, to repeat them with ease, and
to give them consistency. Hence, he is pleased with
these sounds, and makes use of them for satisfying the
need he has of rendering vivid to himself, and multiply
ing as well as producing those internal judgments,
w r hich, but for their aid, easily vanish. Here we
find the origin of poetry and of song, and of that
especially which the Church of God on earth has
always used from the beginning of the world for
celebrating the praises of the Creator. Vocal sounds,
however, and sounds generally, are not the essence of
the praise rendered to God by intelligent beings.
They are rather the effect or spontaneous outburst
God s Glory the End of Creation. 1 63
which internal and intellectual praise produces in the
animal part of man, who, as I have just said, finds in
them a valuable aid for conceiving that praise in his
mind, for preserving it in the memory, and for repro
ducing it, and musing on it with delight.
But if the praise given by an intellective being is
essentially nothing else than the approbation which
that being pronounces internally, it is plain that
when that praise has for its object the Supreme Being,
it must be the ultimate act of the moral perfection of a
creature. For the knowledge of the Creator is so
identified with the perfection of the intellective creature,
that our Divine Lord Himself said : " Now this is
eternal life that they may know Thee, the only true
God, and JESUS CHRIST, Whom Thou hast sent." (i)
He says that this knowledge is life ; because it is
impossible to know God by positive and practical
knowledge without at the same time experiencing a
feeling of joy. And He calls that life eternal ; because
this is that joy which, of itself, never fails nor cloys.
Now, the ultimate part of this knowledge, the part
which actuates and completes it, is that internal pro
nouncement which exults in a full and most willing
approbation whereby the very personality of man
assents to the light which it sees, and delights in it
beyond measure.
670. 2nd. As the moral perfection of the intellec
tive creature is the end of the universe, the only end
worthy of God ; so that praise or glory of the Creator is
likewise the end of the universe.
671. 3rd. Again, this praise, this ultimate act of
the moral perfection of the intelligent creature, this
(I) Jo. xvii. 3.
164 On Divine Providence.
end of the universe, is the most sublime part of the
Divine Exemplar, that to the realization of which all
the rest is ordained. Hence God, Who loves the
world in the Exemplar of which the world is the
realization, loves, above all, this praise which
creatures give Him, and is from eternity well pleased
with it, applauding Himself for having realized so
great a good, and thus largely diffused His own
Goodness among creatures. For, even in God the
approbation which He gives to Himself is conceived
as the summit of the moral good which He is to
Himself. And the creatures which give Him this
praise draw the chief motive for praising Him from
this very praise to which they are ordained ; approv
ing their approbation as the greatest good communi
cated to them by God from Himself. Thus, while the
praise and glory which they render to God is being
continually redoubled, they continually redouble to
themselves the joy with which they are filled to over
flowing, making their very joy the subject and the
motive of joy ever new. For, by their mode of action
they partake of the moral goodness of God Himself,
inasmuch as the same thing becomes the object of
their goodness which is the object of God s goodness ;
and thus they are perfectly consentient with God, and
consummated in one and the same term with Him.
672. 4th. Accordingly the moral perfection and
the intellectual joy, both of wayfarers on this earth
and of the heavenly comprehensors, has for its
object God, the Author of the world. By ivorld we
mean the complex of all created things, and of all the
divers states through which they pass, even to the last,
that of the vision of God ; by which vision intelligent
God s Glory the End of Creation. 165
beings, perceiving in God the Divine Act which
creates the world, and contemplating its exemplar,
see in that exemplar the beatific vision itself, which is
its crowning excellence, destined for them as at once
the reward of merit and a gratuitous gift. We must
say, then, that in the beatific vision that which will
cause God to be known and praised by intelligent
creatures will still be the work of the universe, whose
design they will, in Him, see unfolded, and in its
immense complex most brilliantly resplendent \vith
infinite wisdom and goodness. For this Divine work,
in its exemplar and in the eternal decree which
designs it by creating it, is nothing else than God
Himself, God s own countenance, (i) It is true that
they will also understand that, besides what they see
and comprehend of God, there is, too, in Him a light
inaccessible which it is absolutely beyond their power
to grasp, and which is, therefore, a motive of eternal
adoration for creatures, which in the Incomprehensible
Infinite are, as it were, lost in self-annihilation. But
this losing of themselves in the abyss of the Divine
(i) The essences of created things have not, in the Divine Word, any real
distinction, because the Word is most simple. Their distinction arises from
the creative decree, and must therefore be considered as a relation between
that decree, that is to say, its terms, and the Word. Hence, in God it is
impossible to see creatures in their distinctness without seeing God s creative
decree and the Word to which the terms of the same decree refer. The
defect of Malebranche s system is therefore evident in that, by maintaining
that bodies are seen by us in God, it implies of necessity the vision of God
Himself. And so too is the inadequacy of the defence which Cardinal
Gerdil attempted to make of that system, by endeavouring to prove that
things can be seen in God without God Himself being seen. For, if things
were seen in God without God being seen, things in God would have to be
distinct from God, and really distinct from one another ; and this would
take away from God His perfect simplicity, in virtue of which there is in
Him no other distinction save that of the Divine Persons.
On Divine Providence.
Essence is, again, itself a part of the end of the uni
verse, and as such is already found and seen by them in
the creating and typifying Word, of Whom it is written :
" Upholding all things by the word of His power,"(i)
and again : " In Him we live, and move, and are," (2)
and again ; " Who is the image of the invisible God,
the first-born of every creature. For in Him were all
things created in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Princi
palities, or Powers : all things were created by Him
and in Him. And He is before all, and by Him all
things consist. "(3) Here it is to be noted that the
title of First-born belongs to the Word inasmuch as
He is the exemplar and creator of the world 5(4) and
inasmuch as He is such, He is that Wisdom of Whom
it is written : "I came out of the mouth of the Most
High, the First-born before all creatures. I made that
in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth,
and as a cloud I covered all the earth :"(5) and He goes
on describing the work of creation. He is also the God
Whose vision is the beatitude of souls ; hence it is said
of Christ that "On Him the Angels desire to look ;"(6)
the meaning of which words is not that the Angels look
on the Word in that wherein He is incomprehensible
to all creatures, but in that wherein He manifests
Himself. Hence they contemplate Him as the Author
and Redeemer of the world, and therefore desire to
look precisely on the face of "The Christ" or the
Word Incarnate. Accordingly the Apostle teaches that
God showed forth His Wisdom and Goodness through-
O
(1) Heb. i. 3. (4) See Restoration of Philosophy, etc.
(2) Acts xvii. 21. (5) Ecclus. xxiv. 5, 6.
(3) Coloss. i. 15-17. (6) i. Pet. i. 12.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 167
out the entire system of the universe in such abundance
for the very end that Wisdom and Goodness might
be the object of the knowledge and admiration even of
the Angels, and matter for their praise, in which they
feel immense delight: "That the MANIFOLD WIS
DOM OF GOD may be made known to the PRINCIPALITIES
and POWERS in the heavenly places through the
Church." (i) And speaking of created intelligences
generally he says : " That He MIGHT SHOW them in
the ages to come the ABUNDANT RICHES OF HIS
GRACE." (2)
673. 5th. Therefore, between that contemplation
of the Wisdom and Goodness of God in creatures,
which is possible in this life, and the vision we
shall have of them in the heavenly mansion, there
is this difference : that here we gather their ves
tiges laboriously from creatures as from so many
mirrors, wherein those vestiges are reflected, or
enigmas which contain them in diminished outlines,
and which present themselves with succession of
time : and so we compose to ourselves imperfectly
some small part of the Eternal Exemplar ; whereas
in heaven we shall see in God the whole of creation,
and what we see will be God. At present, then, all
creatures are for us nothing but signs of eternal
truths and of immutable essences ; (3) they are as
(i) Ephes. iii. 10. (2) Ephes. ii. 7.
(3) This reminds us of the metaphysical propriety as well as the subli
mity of some expressions in Holy Scripture, wherein great and glorious
men are called signets or seals, that is to say, signs, of the power and
wisdom of God. Such, for example, is the interpretation given to those
words in the Book of Job : " The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall
stand as a garment " xxxviii. 14 ; the word seal meaning the greatness and
the power of men as a sign of the power of God. Thus also Ezechiel calls
1 68 On Divine Providence.
a language which God employs for the purpose of
making Himself understood by intelligent beings.
They are not themselves the truth, nor is there any
thing final in them. They are, as I have just said,
but so many expressions and indications of that which
is final and divine. And here we meet again within
a marvellous circle which belongs to the synthesism of
being. For, if contingent natures are nothing else
than a few signs indicating Eternal Being and Eternal
Truth to created intelligences, what are, I ask, these
intelligences themselves r Unquestionably, they are
at one and the same time beings to whom the signs
are given that they may, by means of them, soar up to
Eternal Being, and they are themselves also signs.
For, in so far as they are intelligent subjects, they read
in this book of the universe the eternal truths ; but in
so far as they render themselves objects of their own
thought, they constitute some of the letters with which
the whole of this book is written, and which, when
read aright, signify and show forth the divine ideas ;
so that intelligent creatures might not inappropriately
be defined as so many living letters, which decipher
and understand their own meaning.
674. 6th. Not a single fragment of creation is lost
in the eternal ages ; not a single event, however small-
engraven as it is on the Divine Being is ever lost ;
none of the accidents that have ever occurred in the
the King of Tyre "the seal of resemblance," namely, the seal which made
that King to resemble God : "Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of
wisdom, and perfect in beauty," Ezec. xxviii. 12. So likewise in Aggeus,
God promises Zorobabel that He will make him as a signet of Himself :
" In that clay, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will take thee, Zorobabel the son
of Salathiel, my servant, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet ;
for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts" (Agg. ii. 24).
God s Glory the End of Creation. 1 69
succession of times, are then useless or superfluous to
the bliss of the heavenly comprehensors. Seeing in
God the stupendous connexion of things, the unity of
the whole in the immense multiplicity of the parts, the
fitness of even the least part with the whole and its
necessity to the most simple and most sublime end of
creation ; and perceiving all this in the most holy voli
tion of God, Who in the intelligible essence sees that
which of all contingent productions is the best, and in
seeing it loves it, and in loving it wills it, and in will
ing it creates it (because volition here is omnipotence)
seeing and perceiving all this, I say, they exhaust
their powers in giving glory to the Creator, and herein
they find supreme happiness, while still feeling that
they cannot give Him all the glory which He deserves.
675. 7th. From this it also follows, that God could
not have obtained the end of the universe, namely, the
manifestation of Himself, His Wisdom, and Goodness,
to intelligent creatures, unless by ordering the world
as He has done all by the rule of art divine, and
constantly maintaining the essential Laws of Wisdom,
that of the Least Means being the chief.
676. If all these things are understood, no one will
presume to require that God should by His power
break the Laws of His Wisdom ; as those do who, mur
muring against Providence, do not scruple to give
utterance to such expressions as : " What does it cost
God to work miracles, if He is omnipotent r Could He
not banish all evils from the world ? Could he not
prevent the committing of sin, bring the wicked to
salvation, hinder the ruin of those \vho are lost r "
Certainly He could; but it was not by Power alone
that it behoved Him to frame and order the world.
i yo On Divine Providence.
Had He done so, the end for which the world was
created would not have been attained. For, that end
was that the world should be a complex of signs of His
Wisdom and Goodness, so that finite intelligences by
rising- through these signs to the knowledge of the
All-Wise and All-Good, might give Him glory without
ceasing ; and in thus glorifying God, find the highest
degree possible of their own moral perfection, and
thence attain everlasting bliss.
677. This enables us also to answer another diffi
culty which might occur to some minds. It is this :
" If God has made everything for the end of the uni
verse, and if this end consists in the beatific vision,
could He not have admitted created intelligences to
this vision immediately, leaving aside all the rest?"
This difficulty vanishes as soon as one considers the
theory which I have given of the beatific vision, and
the fact, which must never be lost sight of, that " all
created things are limited," and that this puts a limit
as it were to the power of God, namely, to the things
produced by it. The consequence is that no creatures,
even though admitted to the beatific vision, can totally
comprehend the Divine Essence ; so that God always
remains for them, in part, a hidden and inaccessible
God. Let it be well noted that the creative act is God
Himself, as also is the providing act, the act of the
Divine Incarnation, and that of the sanctification of
men ; because every act of God is God. (i) vSo long as
man is a wayfarer on this earth, He sees and expe-
(i) Hence those admirable words of St. Thomas : "Creation taken in
the active sense signifies God s action, which is His essence with relation
to the creature. But the relation of God to the creature is not real but
notional only (secundiim rationcm tantion) ." (S. p. I., q. xlv., art. iii., ad
im.)
God s Glory the End of Creation. 171
riences the effects and the terms of these Divine acts ;
in heaven he beholds these same acts in their principle
and in their essence ; and they are, in reality, one act
only, the very same act as that of God s Essence. In
this way he sees all the Divine Essence that is com
municable to created minds, and as it were flowing
into them : nor could it be otherwise. It was there
fore requisite that God should create the universe
and do in regard to it all that His Wisdom and His
Goodness saw right and proper, in order that it might
be possible for the creature to have the beatific
vision.
678. Once more, then : none of the vestiges of the
wisdom and goodness which are scattered throughout
the universe, or rather which are the universe, are lost
as regards the end of the universe itself, namely, as
regards the beatific vision. For this vision consists in
nothing else than in beholding, in their source, these
vestiges, or the universe ; and the universe in its source
is the very Essence of God communicable to creatures.
Consequently, of all that successively occurs in the
universe nothing perishes. And the evils permitted
by God for obtaining the good He has in view, and
the inferior grades of created beings, and the imper
fections which are unfolded in every possible variety,
in each grade, are all ordained to the attainment of
a single whole disposed with Infinite Wisdom and
Goodness, which the heavenly comprehensor sees in
God, and which in God is God, and which therefore
constitutes the mode wherein the comprehensor sees
God, and wherein alone He can see the original Power,
Wisdom, and Goodness, which is God. For, God
Whom he sees is not detached from the universe, but
172 On Divine Providence.
conjoined with it as its principle, the principle whence
the universe receives its being, and preserves it in
perpetuity.(i)
679. It follows from all this, that although the laws
of God s action which have so far been set forth
namely, that of Gradation, of Variety, and of Excluded
Equality show His Infinite Wisdom and Goodness
in the universe even before it has reached its final
state ; nevertheless we may, and must now, transport
them into that final state itself, and consider them as
necessary for producing a condition of things most
excellent and most sublime, wherein the series of
beings and of events has no longer any succession of
time, but is most present, being all collected together,
in a unity full of divine harmony and of every kind of
good.
680. In truth, if we consider how effectually the
law of Excluded Equality contributes to the greatest
good of the blessed in heaven, we shall easily see that
a good comes to them from it which they could obtain
in no other way. In fact, in virtue of this law, it comes
to pass that each of the blessed is unique in his full
species. (2) Now, the standing alone in the possession
of a given excellence adds to the delight which springs
from that possession. Nor must this be supposed to
detract in any way from charity, as it might seem at
(1) I say in perpetuity , because nothing that God has brought into
existence is annihilated, although it changes form.
(2) The abstract species includes a great number ot full species (among
them one at least complete), which are so many modes of the identical
species. See the Origin of Ideas, nn. 646-656. Thus the abstract human
species is one only, but the full species are as many as can be the ideal
varieties of man.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 173
first sight, and as is the case here on earth, when
this longing for unique excellence happens unfortu
nately to be mixed up with individual passions. It is
not so in heaven. For, the blessed love the unique
ness of their respective excellence solely for the reason
that each sees himself chosen for adequately realizing
a full specific essence, without there being any neces
sity of others participating in it. And he therefore
feels a similar delight in seeing that each of his com
panions is equally unique in the essence proper to him.
As this delight refers to the eternal essences of things,
it is manifest that it refers to God in Whom those
essences are founded. Hence we can see in like man
ner, that this singular delight which an intellective
being derives from seeing himself unique in a given
specific excellence is one of those which follow not
from the limitation of created beings, but from the
very nature of being and its intrinsic order; it is an
ontological, not a cosmological law ; so much so, that
even God delights in His own uniqueness, inasmuch
as He sees in Himself the whole of being realized.
68 1. If we consider the laws of Gradation and
Variety in the influence they have for increasing the
eternal happiness of the blessed, we may draw thence
two important reflections.
In the first place, the ideal essences could not be
fully known to intelligent creatures unless they were
realized in all possible modes. For, until they are
realized, the modes which they severally contain are
altogether indistinct, or rather, as modes, they have no
existence. Hence the creature cannot perceive the
fecundity of an essence if the distinctions do not exist.
Now, the way in which the mhid that contemplates a
1 74 On Divine Providence.
single essence distinguishes its modes is by limiting
it. But the mind cannot, by its thought, limit an
essence unless those limits are presented to it by
which, as by so many signs or lines of demarcation,
it defines in that essence those special modes which
are in fact so many possibilities of real beings. Where,
then, will the mind find these limits ? Nowhere else
than in beings realized in such a way that none of
them, taken singly, make perfect equation with, or
exhaust, the entire essence.
Some of these limits are arbitrary, that is to say,
the reason of them is not found in the being of which
there is question. To this class belong, for the most
part, the limits relating to quantity; and these are
not indispensable for knowing the fecundity of an ideal
essence. Others are necessary ; for instance, those
relating to such qualities and accidents as exclude one
another. In order, therefore, that all the modes in
which an essence can be realized may be distinctly
understood, it is requisite that many real beings
should exist. Now, supposing that God willed to
communicate His Wisdom and Goodness to created
intelligences, clearly, He must have furnished them
with the means of knowing all the fecundity of the
ideal essences of beings ; since it was only in this way
that the understanding and the love of creatures could,
from the real beings perceived, rise to a full knowledge
of those essences ; in which, as we have seen, the in
tellective as well as the real act terminates. It was,
therefore, only through the gradation and variety of
the real beings of which the universe consists, that
man, while a wayfarer on this earth, could rise to a
perfect contemplation and moral appreciation of the
God s Glory the End of Creation. 175
essences of things ; and hence that gradation and
variety was necessary to his intellectual and moral per
fection : and the same must be said of all other created
intelligences.
Now let us transport this reasoning to the beatific
vision, such as I have described it. In that vision
man finds this gradation and this variety, and contem
plates them in the whole series which they embrace ;
a thing he cannot certainly do here on earth, where he
perceives only some few links of the chain, and some
few varieties. Moreover, in heaven he contemplates
them in their original source, by seeing God ; be
cause that gradation and that variety, in the relative
Divine act and in the Divine Word, with both of which
they have relation, is God Himself. Consequently,
the wisdom and goodness of that gradation and variety
are then a part of the essential Wisdom and Goodness
of God ; because the act which produces them, and in
which they are seen, is God s own Essence. If, then,
this act is God s Essence, visible to the blessed, and if
the same act is determined by its terms, to which the
said real gradation and variety belong, it manifestly
follows that the gradation and variety of beings are
conditions upon which the beatific vision depends, and
which determine, so to speak, its quantity and its
mode. So closely are creatures linked with their
Creator ! So intimately are all the successive states
of the universe connected with the final state of the
heavenly comprehensors, and so necessary both to
their happiness and to the glory which they render to
God!
682. The second reflection which has to be made is
similar to that which I have drawn from the law of
176 On Divine Providence.
Excluded E qualify. I observed that this law must
dominate in creation even for the reason that, without
it, one of the most exquisite kinds of good which the
blessed can enjoy that of each seeing himself adorned
with an excellence reserved for him alone would have
been lost. Now, we must consider that without the
Laws of the Gradation of beings and of their Variety,
a good would have been lost to human nature, for
which it has a very keen longing ; I mean the good of
superiority. This observation is not new, but it seems
to me excellent and important. St. Thomas, among
others, makes use of it for indicating Divine Provi
dence in the following passage : " Perfect goodness
would not be found in created things unless there were
in them an order of goodness, so that some should be
better than others. For, without this, there would not
be realized all the degrees of goodness possible (NON
ENIM IMPLERENTUR OMNES GRADUS POSSIBILES BONI-
TATIS) ; nor would there be any creature resembling
God in this, that it is eminent above others." (i)
(i) It is also well worth while to quote the words in which St. Thomas,
a little further on, proceeds to show that the inequality of beings, and evils
also, are necessary in order that a given essence of things may be made to
yield all the kinds of good of which it is capable. He says : " If there were
perfect equality in things, there would be only one kind of created good, a
thing manifestly derogatory to the perfection of the creature. Now the
superior grade of good is this, that there should be something so good that
it cannot fail in goodness. And the inferior grade is that there should be
that which can fail in goodness. Therefore, the PERFECTION OF THE
UNIVERSE requires both these grades of goodness. Now, it belongs to
the providence of a governor to preserve perfection in the things governed,
not to lessen it. Therefore, it does not belong to Divine Providence to
exclude entirely from things the power of failing in good. But from this
power there follows evil ; because that which can fail sometimes does fail "
(by the law of Probability which I have explained before, 277), "and the
mere defect of good is an evil. Consequently it does not belong to Divine
God s Glory the End of Creation. 177
683. It is certain that man naturally feels pleasure
in his own superiority over other beings. Only two
questions may here be raised about this longing for
superiority, ist, Whether it be nothing more than the
effect of the corruption of human nature, so that it
would not exist if nature were perfect. 2nd, Whether
it be at least a consequence of the unavoidable limita
tion of contingent beings, so that it does not belong to
the order of being itself, is not an ontological but a
cosmological property.
684. As regards the first question, my answer is
that the longing for superiority, considered in itself
(apart from the abuse and the wrong application which
corrupt nature makes of it) proceeds not from the
corruption of human nature, but from nature itself.
The reason which seems to make one doubt as to
whether the contrary may not be the truth, is the very
same which engenders the erroneous suspicion of an
evil origin in the longing for unique excellence.
That reason is the abuse which man in his fallen state
so often makes of both these longings. The wish to
satisfy his natural cravings, without regard to the
laws of justice and of goodness, makes them degenerate
into mere blind, exclusive, over-bearing instincts.
But, cleared of these evil qualities, and considered in
themselves, these desires are good.
Xow, in order to understand how they are good, it is
necessary to inquire whether it be possible, in our
Providence to prevent all evils in the governed" (Contra Gent. Bk. iii., c.
Ixxi., 2). Let it be observed that it is the constant practice of St. Thomas
to start from the principle that the universe must be perfect, and that no
thing can be conceived in it better than what actually takes place ; because
otherwise the work would not correspond to the infinite skill of the
Artificer.
II. N
178 On Divine Providence.
case, for the uniqueness of excellence, and the superi
ority of one being" over another, to be a righteous act,
nay, demanded by justice and goodness itself. For,
given a single case in which they are found not to
offend against either justice or goodness, we may
at once ask whether they have in them the nature
of good. Now, as we have seen that this case is veri
fied in respect to the uniqueness of excellence, (680)
so we may say the same in respect to superiority; for
superiority also may be just and good, if it is distri
buted by God according to merit.
The question therefore is : Whether the superiority
of one being over others, free from all moral evil, can
be a natural object of desire for man in an unfallen
state. And I answer in the affirmative, by having
recourse to the principle which we have stated above,
"That it is impossible fully to understand the excel
lence of a prerogative contemplated in an abstract
essence unless that excellence is perceived or seen
distinctly in all the several grades in which it can be
realized ; abstract essences not being sufficient, by
themselves alone, to show to the human mind which
contemplates them all the fecundity of which they
are capable." Now, if a man or another intelligent
being possesses a given excellence, it is just that he
should enjoy it, indeed that he should draw from it all
the delight which it can give him. If, therefore,
Infinite Wisdom were not to furnish him with the
occasion and the means of knowing fully his own
excellence, he would remain deprived of a part of the
delight which he might justly draw therefrom ; and so
one of the goods which might be obtained from human
nature would be lost. But a created being cannot
God s Glory the End of Creation. 179
fully understand its own excellence if it does not take
account of the various grades in which it can be realized.
It is, therefore, requisite that there should exist inferior
beings, in order that those which are superior, seeing
distributed amongst them the excellence which they
have collected in themselves, may form a full appre
ciation of its value, and thus enjoy their own superiority.
The pleasure, then, of finding oneself superior to a
great many others is simply a means of becoming fully
acquainted with one s own excellence, and hence de
lighting in it to the fullest extent possible. This
delight is just and good, and it does not spring from a
corruption of nature, but is an appetite consequent
upon nature itself.
Hence we find a superiority assigned to man even
from his first creation : " Let us make man to Our
image and likeness : and let him have dominion over
the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the
beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping crea
ture that moveth upon the earth." And when the
woman also was created, God said to them both :
" Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue
it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of
the air, and all living creatures that move upon the
earth." (i) Dominion is given, not to Adam only, but
to Eve likewise; because she being, like him, possessed
of human nature, shared his craving for superiority.
To Adam, however, God granted a superiority over
Eve and the offspring that should be born of them,
for which reason He called the woman man s help,
and made her out of him ; and St. Paul, comment-
(i) Gen. i. 26, 28.
180 On Divine Providence.
ing on this, says that "The man is the head of the
woman/ (i)
685. But if superiority is a good befitting human
nature, and if God, by a law of His Wisdom, wills to
draw from His creatures all the good possible, and to
dispose things so that every kind of good may attain
its highest perfection, may be developed to the fullest
extent of which it is capable; the obvious consequence
is that the good consisting in man s superiority must
attain its maximum. The primitive condition of man
kind was not favourable to the realization of this result ;
for, man could not exercise dominion over his fellow-
men save in a limited measure; because they differed
but little from him in excellence ; and they had not
much need of His governance. Here, then, was a
fresh reason why it behoved Eternal Wisdom so to
dispose events that that primitive condition should be
changed into one more favourable to the development
of this great good of human nature superiority.
Otherwise this nature could never have produced all
the good of which it had in itself the germ; nor, con
sequently could it ever have exhausted in its develop
ments the essence of human nature contemplated
and willed by God. Sin was therefore permitted, an
accident which gave occasion to the greatest inequality
among men. To this inequality consequent upon sin,
God Himself at once very plainly referred when
He said to the woman: "Thou shalt be under thy
husband s power, and he shall have dominion over
thee." (2)
Now, sin causes inequality among men in many
(i) i. Cor. xi. 3. (2) Gen. iii. 16; I. Cor. xiv. 34.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 181
ways. In the first place, as by sin men are rendered
weak, vacillating in their thoughts, and inclined to
evil, it becomes necessary that human society should
be constituted with a stronger and more compact order;
that the evil-disposed should be kept in check by force;
that the ignorant should be instructed by those who are
their betters in knowledge; and that the inconstant
should be governed by fixed laws, or certainly that
one will, either individual or collective, should rule
the others, thus keeping them within certain proper
bounds, which, very many of them are in their way
wardness continually ready to transgress. Hence the
origin of a ruling class (sovereigns, masters, law
givers, etc.); and under them a dependent class (sub
jects, disciples, citizens, etc.). In the second place, God,
having in His mercy willed to open the way and
afford the means of obtaining justification even to
sinners if they wished it, there arose of necessity an
immense inequality, all internal, between the condition
of the wicked and that of the just; an inequality recog
nized even in the earliest period of humanity, when,
as we learn from Genesis, the wicked were called the
children of men, and the just the children of God,(i)
forming, as it were, two cities, over one of which God
presides, and over the other, the devil. Now, the
difference between the just and the wicked is infinite ;
and it is fitly symbolized by that firmament which
divides the superior waters from the inferior, and also
by that " great chaos " which in the Gospel is said to
separate irremediably and for ever the rich man who
was wicked, from the poor beggar who was just. (2)
(i) Gen. vi. (2) Luke xvi. 26.
1 82 On Divine Providence.
686. But if our human nature, in accordance with
the Law of the Least Means, must yield all the good
possible, it was also necessary that there should be
realized in mankind all the inequality possible, and
hence that there should be, on the one side, the extreme
of wickedness, and on the other the highest degree
possible of justice ; that so He Who was the holiest of
all men might have dominion over all the rest in their
degrees, down to the one whose wickedness was
greatest; such being the only way in which there could
appear in humanity the highest of all superiorities
possible. To the attainment of so great a purpose,
it was indispensable that there should be among
men one who would descend to the lowest possible
depths of human malice; and this will be Antichrist;
and one also who would ascend to the highest
possible summit of sanctity ; and this \vas Christ.
That the former should appear, is a Divine permission ;
that the latter should have been born, was God s own
work. Hence we find the superiority of Christ over the
whole human race, and over the devils themselves ex
tolled throughout Scripture. We are informed that
He is sitting at the right hand of the Father, above
all the angelic choirs, and that the series of events is
being unfolded for the end of bringing all things under
Him, according to those most solemn words which the
Father addresses to the Son, and which begin : " Sit
Thou at My right hand until I make Thy enemies Thy
footstool." (i)
687. Another thing to be observed is, that all the
divers kinds of superiority, as also all the classifications
(i) Ps. cix. i.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 183
of things, may be reduced to three supreme cate
gories. In fact, as there are three categorical excel
lences that of power, that of wisdom, and that of preva
lent moral goodness so there are three kinds of supe
riority ; and it was requisite that human nature should,
on the one hand, rise to the highest possible summit
of each of the three, and on the other, sink to the
lowest depth of the inferiorities corresponding to them.
688. To the superiority of power belongs vengeance
upon one s enemies. Consequently, it was fitting that
there should be developed in mankind two widely differ
ent societies, the one good and the other evil; of which
the first should dominate in the most triumphant man
ner and eternally over the second : that moreover in the
first as well as in the second there should be a graduated
hierarchy; one, of thrones ascending step by step until
they rose even to the right hand of God ; the other, of
grades of evil sinking step by step until they reached
even to the lowest depths of the abyss. In the hierarchy
of the good there was to be inferiority of those who were
less to those who were more perfect. And yet this was
not to interfere in the least with the fulness of the joy of
any; because the good do not love nor desire for them
selves all kinds of superiority, but only that kind which
is just; and as in those who excel them in goodness,
superiority is just, so they love to see it in them, and
love to be beneath them. In the hierarchy of the
wicked, on the contrary, all superiority is hated and a
source of torment; nor can even those who possess it
find any delight in it, because they hate justice, and
the hatred of justice is a torture.
689. Let us now pass to the second question, which
was: "Whether the longing for superiority belongs to
184 On Divine Providence.
the ontological order or only to the cosmological, in other
words, whether it proceeds from the very nature of
being, or from the limitation of contingent things." I
answer, that it is natural to God to give glory to
Himself even for His works ad extra, which manifest
to finite intelligences the magnificence of His Wisdom
and Goodness. For He is infinitely well pleased with
them in Himself, in Whom they are in virtue of the
act whereby, seeing them by a voluntary and creative
vision, He makes them to be. He must, therefore, be
infinitely happy also for this : that He is above all con
tingent being, and the infinite source thereof. This
relation between contingent and necessary being, is in
God the reason of the glory which He renders to Him
self, and which belongs to His Own known excellence.
We must therefore say, that the delight felt in superi
ority belongs essentially to the very order of being,
and, considered in itself, does not spring from the
limitations of contingent things, although it involves
an eternal relation with them in the same way as the
word supreme involves a relation with that which falls
short of the supreme.
690. Let us refer all this to the beatific vision
of the he;ivenly comprehensors. In it they see their
superiority: and the gradation of all that stands or
stood beneath them shows them most clearly how great
a good is contained in their own excellence; even as
the gradation of what is above them shows the greater
excellence of other beings, and thus gives them occa
sion to love justice more and more in the just superi
orities of others. And all these graduated excellences
are also seen by them in God as belonging to Him in
an eminent manner. For, he who sees God, sees that
God s Glory the End of Creation. 185
all the unspeakable excellence and goodness of crea
tion is collected in God Himself as in its fountain,
entirely simplified, eternal, essential, no longer the
goodness of created things, but the Goodness of that
God Whose face they behold, and of Whose Divine
Goodness created things afford only the faintest
trace.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CONTINUATION.
691. All that has been said is simply a consequence
of the principles laid down, which it may be well
briefly to recapitulate as a help to the continuation
of our argument.
"Do nothing without a sufficient reason:" such is the
fundamental Law of Wisdom, the law which deter
mines the end as well as the mode of all wise action.
This first law, when applied to the mode of action,
produces a second, which we have called the Law of
the Least Cleans.
This second law requires a principle of application ;
and we found that the principle of its application to
the government of contingent beings may be thus ex
pressed: "Govern these beings in such a manner that
they may produce by their own aptitudes all the good
which they can possibly yield."
The fecundity of this principle revealed itself to us
when we passed on to consider it in the generation of
sundry other laws which preside over the government
of the universe, namely : the law of the Non-interven
tion of God in nature without necessity; that of His
Intervention when necessary ; that of Excluded Super
fluity; that of the Unity aud Harmony of the Universe;
that of the Gradation of Beings; the laws of Variety, of
Excluded Equality, of the Unity of God s Action, of the
God s Glory the End of Creation. 187
Manifestation of God in Time, and of His Manifestation
in Eternity, wherein all passing events become con
sistent and necessary, the means of the Divine Glory,
the ultimate end of creation.
It is necessary to pay particular attention to these
two last laws, which we have explained in the pre
ceding" chapter, and which are founded on the principle
"that it would have been impossible to manifest to the
intellective creature the Wisdom and Goodness of God,
otherwise than by means of the work of creation, either
perceived in itself, as is the case with man in this
present life, or contemplated in the Divine essence, as
is the case with the heavenly comprehensors."
This most important truth deserves very serious con
sideration : we will make a few more reflections upon it.
692. Created beings cannot realize to themselves
the Supreme Goodness of God unless they at the same
time realize to themselves His Wisdom; because good
ness cannot be supreme save on condition that the
will is guided in its action by Supreme Wisdom, a wis
dom which directs the action so that it shall produce
the maximum of good possible. To understand, there
fore, that without the work of creation it would be
impossible for the Goodness of God to be manifested to
finite intelligences, it will be enough to understand,
that without that work His Wisdom could not be mani
fested to them. Let us begin, then, by examining
whether without the work of creation it would be pos
sible to manifest the Wisdom of God to contingent
intellective beings.
693. In the first place, if there were no creation,
there would be no contingent intellective beings ; there
fore nothing could be manifested to them.
1 88 On Divine Providence.
694. In the second place, let us suppose that none
but intellective beings were created, and that God
communicated to them at once the vision of His
Own essence. This communication between God and
these beings would be a supernatural completion
of the creative act itself; (i) because God by a single
act, creative as well as beatific, would have for term
those creatures, and rest in them. They would, there
fore, still see God in so far as He acts in them as creator
and perfecter. Hence the object of their vision would
always be the Divine Essence, not as it is in itself,
apart, so to speak, from its action, but in so far as it
acts with wisdom and goodness in creatures. Creatures,
therefore, could only understand so much of God s
Wisdom as is manifested to them in the creative
and beatific act, whereof the Divine Essence w T ould
show itself to them as the root, source, principle,
foundation, or in whatever other way one may
think more accurate to denominate it. Therefore
the quantum, so to speak, of Divine Wisdom cogniz
able by creatures is, neither more nor less, that which
shines in the Divine Essence in so far as it communi
cates its Goodness to them, in so far as it produces
creatures in that state, more or less perfect, in which
they are, that is to say, in so far as it puts forth more
or less of its Wisdom and Goodness by acting in them.
Thus if in the multiplicity of beings that people the
universe there is more or less perfection; if there are
in them more or fewer vestiges of wisdom; we must
say that there is more or less of Divine Wisdom that
(i) Hence St. Thomas : " Chanty is what unites us to God, Who is THE
ULTIMATE END OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE (mentis httniants). S. p.
II. II. q. clxxxiv., art 1.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 189
can be manifested. For, that Wisdom which manifests
itself in the Divine Essence is proportionate or ana
logous to the vestiges of wisdom imprinted on creation.
In order, therefore, that there might be seen in the Divine
Essence a mode of wisdom of supreme excellence, it
was requisite that the Avork done in creatures should
be disposed with supreme wisdom. It is true that he
who sees God is aware that, besides the wisdom which
he contemplates in God in a limited manner, there is
another abyss of Wisdom into which his vision cannot
penetrate, and this is to him the subject-matter of
eternal adoration. Yet even what remains of God not
comprehended, not seen by him, profits him solely be
cause he forms a certain negative concept of it from
that which he positively comprehends and sees.
695. It will be said that God in giving Himself as
an object of vision to the creature can communicate to
it as much of His essence as He pleases, and hence
can manifest to it His Essential Wisdom and Good
ness to any extent He pleases. I answer, yes, certainly;
but only on condition that He first renders the creature
fit and able to receive that modal part (i) of His essence
which He wills to communicate to it. The reason
is that this modal part must be received by the
capacity of the creature which has perception of it.
Accordingly God could not manifest His Essence to a
stone, or to a brute unless on condition of first giving
(i) The most simple Essence of God cannot be divided even in so far as
it is conceived by man ; but the mode of conceiving it may vary and may
be more or less perfect. To express in what sense a finite being is said to
perceive the Divine Essence in a limited manner, the name of modal essence
is given to the essence itself in so far as it corresponds with the limited
manner in which it is perceived.
1 90 On Divine Providence.
to the stone the faculty of intelligence (which is
an absurdity), or raising the brute to the state of an
intelligent being, when it would no longer be a brute.
Therefore, the communication of the Divine Essence
cannot be effected save in a mode accommodated and
proportional to the natural faculties; and to pretend
the contrary, involves contradiction. And although the
natural faculties can never by themselves attain to the
perception of the Divine Essence, nevertheless there is
found in them the capacity of receiving from God the
faculty of that perception:, and this new faculty is, so to
speak, grafted by God on the natural faculties through
the communication of the light of glory, as theologians
call it, which is the Divine Essence itself. And since
God is seen by the intellect, the intellect is the natural
faculty which has the capacity for being ingrafted with
the supernatural faculty of vision. Hence, although
the object of the vision is infinite, nevertheless the
faculty of seeing that object, being subjective, is finite,
because the subject who receives it is finite, and the
faculty itself bears a proportion to the natural-subjec
tive faculty, upon which it is grafted, (i)
If, then, we wish to ascertain what is the necessary
limit of this faculty of vision as given to man, we must
consider what his natural -intellect is; and the same
would apply to any other intellective being. Now, the
nature of the human intellect is known by its form,
which is universal and indeterminate being. In this
being, taken by itself, no species, no germ, no differ-
(i) St. Thomas says: "The created intellect does not see the Divine
Essence according to the mode of that Essence itself, but according to its
own mode which is finite." (S. p. iii., Supplem., q. xcii., art. 3,
ad 3m. )
God s Glory the End of Creation. 191
ence, no reality is manifested. Hence in order to
enable man to know real beings and their differences,
feelmghdiS been given to him, which, defined in general,
is not limited to the external senses, but is "the faculty
of perceiving every reality which acts upon man s
reality." Special notice should be taken of this defini
tion, which embraces, not the human feeling only, but
also that of every perceptive being ; for every percep
tive being has a feeling, without which it would be
dead. Hence flows the consequence, that "since it is
by the reality of the percipient subject that the feeling
caused in it by the action of other realities is experi
enced, every faculty of feeling has a limit determined
by the amount of reality of which the percipient subject
itself consists. The feeling, therefore, of which the
human subject can be capable is proportional to the
amount of its own real entity. Now, this amount may
be known by considering what are the subjective and
real faculties of human nature. They are: ist, the
faculty of animal feeling; 2nd, the faculty of spiritual
feeling; 3rd, the faculty of mixed feeling. As this
last feeling is the result of the two first, consequent
upon the unity of the human subject, it cannot afford
us any help for determining how far the human feeling
is capable of attaining. We will therefore consider
the two first.
Animal sensitivity produces sensions which mark in
universal being intued by man certain differences,
whence arise first specific, and from these again, by
abstraction, generic ideas. Now, these generic and
specific ideas depend for their formation upon those
sensions in such a manner that, without them, they
1 92 On Divine Providence.
could not be. (i) Hence, supposing that God willed to
infuse them into a human being who had never known
them, He could only do so by exciting within him those
sensions, or images or vestiges of sensions to which
such ideas refer. To say the contrary would be an
absurdity; because the idea of a thing felt is nothing
but the relation of that thing with ideal being; and no
relation is possible without its terms.
Let us pass to the spiritual sensitivity. The feeling
which man has of himself arises in him in consequence
of the animal sensions; hence it may be called a mixed
sensitivity. It is true that man, as intelligent, that is,
as possessed of the intuition of universal being, has a
feeling of himself as subject, and this feeling may be
called a purely spiritual sensitivity. But it should be
noted that this latter kind of sensitivity is not such as
to be capable of becoming an object of thought, inde
pendently of any animal sension moving man to reflec
tion upon himself. Given, however, that man turns
his reflection upon himself as intelligent, he then forms
the specific idea of man, and affirms his own existence.
Now, it is plain that God could not infuse into him
that idea and that intellective perception unless by
infusing into him at the same time the human feeling
to which the idea and the perception refer. The reason
is, as we have indicated above, because that idea is
nothing else than ideal being limited by the said
feeling, and that perception is nothing else than the
(i) How it is that we do not positively know beings save to the extent in
which they act upon us, was explained in the Origin of Ideas, mi. 1203-
1208; and for the reader properly to understand what is said here, it is
indispensable that he should have formed a clear conception of the
principles there laid down.
God s Glory the End of Creation. 10,3
affirmation of the relation between ideal being and the
feeling; which relation would be impossible without
the terms from which it results. From this we may
understand in what the sensitivity of the human
intellect, that is to say, of man as having the vision of
being, consists. It is a feeling produced by the being
which is seen in him who sees it, by the object in the
subject. It is the subject feeling the presence of the
object ; which object, if it is not the pure ideal essence
of being, but has the very reality of being added thereto,
augments the fundamental feeling of the subject, and
consequently the subject himself.
This guides us to the forming a correct notion of
how it is possible for man to attain to the perception
of God s own reality.
That reality is of such a nature that it corresponds
to, and makes equation with, the ideal and universal
being which constitutes the form of the human intellect.
God must, therefore, give Himself to be seen, not
merely as an ideal, but as a real form of this intellect.
In ideal being man must see revealed, must feel,
apprehend the real. And this communication of God s
reality must be so made that, whilst it raises man to a
wonderfully higher state than he held before, it docs
not change him into another being. Man s intellect,
although elevated, must remain of the same nature,
that is to say, a human intellect.
Now, ideal being, the natural form of the human
intellect, is ordered in such a manner as to admit of
being marked by the divers realities of which man, by
his sensitive faculties, feels the action. Indeed, the
primary purpose for which it is intended is precisely
II. O
10,4 On Divine Providence.
the receiving into itself all these marks ; they being
all virtually contained in the fundamental feeling which
constitutes him that subject which he is.
Accordingly, in order that God, in manifesting
Himself, may adequate Himself to all those signs and
realities which the ideal being seen by the human
intellect is capable of manifesting, without at the same
time adding anything further (otherwise the nature of
this intellect would be changed) ; He must of necessity
manifest Himself as the origin or fountain of all those
realities which are destined to produce those marks, in
other words, as that act by which He creates man and
the universe, and in which alone the universe subsists.
Thus is it that the Divine Essence adapts itself to the
human limitation or subjectivity, and thus only can it
completely exercise all the human faculties, and make
their possessors perfectly happy in the vision and
enjoyment of Himself.(i)
(i) I do not by this mean to say that the blessed in heaven must neces
sarily see in God all that lie knows by that which Theologians call sclent ia
visionis [the knowledge of contingent things, past, present, and future]. In
the first place, perhaps not all created things are proportionate to man, and
to his powers of feeling : perhaps man, by reason of the special nature of
his feeling, is constituted in a system of things which is limited, and pecu
liar to himself. Let us hear St. Thomas: "It is not necessary that
lie who knows the cause should know all its effects, unless he entirely com
prehends that cause, a thing which no created intellect can do. And hence
each of the blessed in heaven sees in the Divine Kssence all the more things,
ihe more clearly lie sees that Kssence ; from which it comes to pass that,
regarding these things, one may be able to instruct others. And so the
knowledge of the Angels and of holy souls may go on increasing until
the day of judgment; as also oilier things belonging to the accidental
reward. But beyond that day there will be no increase ; because then
THINGS WILT, HAVE KEACHKD THKIK IINAI. STATIC, and in that State it
i, p issible that all should know all the things which God knows sriii.NTiA
God s Glory the End of Creation. 195
696. It should be carefully noted, that in case God
should \vill to manifest Himself only in so far as His
reality corresponds with the indeterminate being
which shines in the human intellect, and not in so far
as it corresponds with the marks whereof that inde
terminate being is susceptible, man would certainly
feel the presence of an infinite and absolute Being,
and hence would affirm that Being to himself. That
vision would alone suffice to place him in a super
natural state; and it is what constitutes the state of
sanctifying grace. For, in this state, if man is able to
reflect sufficiently upon himself, he comes to perceive
that there is an Infinite Reality, and that the being of
this reality is identical with the intelligible being which
he sees in the idea. From feeling the identity of this
infinite Being, at once real and intelligible, there
VISIONIS (S. p. iii. Supplem., q. xcii., art. 3). Nevertheless, even in the
final state of the universe, in which all the blessed will see all contingent
things (or at least those belonging to their own system), they will not see
them all in the Divine Essence, but only a part ; while regarding the rest,
they will be instructed by Christ. "Not all" (says again St. Thomas)
"see all things in the Divine Essence. But the SOUL OF CHRIST will there
clearly see them all, even as it sees them now. Others, on the contrary,
will see more or less of them, according to the degree in which they will
know God : and so the soul of Christ, in those things which it alone sees
in the Word, will illumine all the others. Hence it is said in the Apoca
lypse (ch. xxi., v. 23) that The glory of God shall enlighten the Heavenly
Jerusalem, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And in a similar way others
of a superior rank will enlighten those beneath them, not indeed with a new
illumination causing the knowledge of the inferiors to increase ; but by a
certain continuation of the illumination, such, for example, as would be un
derstood if one were to say thai the su:i by remaining still would illumine
the air. And for this reason it is said in Daniel (c .i. xii., v. 3), that TJuy
that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity. " (Ibid. j,_l
12VI.)
io,6 On Divine Providence.
results to him a fulness of joy which is of its nature
infinite, and which he also feels to be a new act of the
same infinite Being, identical in three modes.
Nevertheless in this Being, which is the whole of
being, man does not discern any other thing, because
there is as yet, while he remains in the said state, no
contingent reality to refer to Him, nothing finite to see
in Him. In this way God is communicated to man as
ALL ; but man does not as yet necessarily see the action
proper to this all, neither that which it exercises
internally towards itself, nor that which it exercises
towards other things. In short, he sees only a reality
which adequates the indeterminate idea of being, and is
the origin thereof.
Such is, beyond doubt, the state in which Saints in
the New Covenant are constituted upon this earth ;.
such the order of that justice graciously imparted by
the Saviour. Man has through it a perception of God ;
but the act whereby this perception produces all that
it produces remains within him hidden from view : it
is as the perception of God s power which virtually
comprises all, rather than that of its act. Still, God s
power is His Essence ; hence there is here a certain
vision, but only such as is given by the light of Faith,
which does not suffice to explain to man the mystery
of the universe, and to give him complete beatitude.
CHAPTER XXVII.
TENTH CONSEQUENCE. GOD FOLLOWS IN HIS ACTION
THE LAW OF HEROISM, THAT IS TO SAY, THE LAW
OF EXTREMES.
699. The Laws of Wisdom and Goodness hitherto
explained are, therefore, necessary. Dispensation
from these laws there could be none, not only because
God is Himself Essential Wisdom and Goodness,
but also because without them He could not have
obtained the end for which the universe exists, namely.
His glory.
Having thus found a fresh corroborative proof of the
necessity of these august laws by considering the
-end of the universe, we- may now pioceed with the
task of unfolding them in their applications, in which
they will, it seems to me, acquire increased efficacy
for dissipating the objections which human ignor
ance puts forward against the supreme government of
Providence.
700. We will begin by drawing a new consequence
from the laws of Continuity, Variety, and Unity of
: God s Action. It is, that " God in His action in the
universe follows the Law of Heroism," or, in other
words, the " Law of Extremes." In fact, the difference
198 Law of Heroism, or of Extremes.
between the conduct of ordinary men, and that of
heroes, lies precisely in this, that whilst the former do
not go out of the beaten track, and stop at mediocrity,
the latter, according as they are well or ill disposed,
push good and evil to the very farthest limits, stopping
at nothing. Whatever enterprise they take in hand
must be carried to the fullest completion of which it is
capable, and the type of which stands vividly before
their mind. Hence, if well disposed, they will be
paragons of virtue, whereas if they are inclined
to evil, they will be utterly perverse and wicked.
Now, this is how God acts, Who, if I may be allowed
the expression, is certainly the greatest and best of
Heroes.
701. Holy Scripture alludes to this character of
God s action by saying that Wisdom " reacheth
from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things
sweetly." (i) The might of God s action shines forth
in His attaining infallibly every effect which He
proposes to Himself ; and its siveetness is shown in
His bringing about the effect intended without inter
fering with the free course of secondary causes, even
when they seem to act in opposition thereto; so
that in the end, notwithstanding all appearances to
the contrary, thev all conspire to the fulfilment of
the design of the Omniscient.
Hence this sublime Law of Extremes embraces both
the end and the menus.
702. If we consider it in relation to the end, namely,
to the effect which God proposes to Himself, it follows
as a consequence from the Unity of God s Action. For
(l) Wisd. viii. I.
On Dirine Providence. 199
in virtue of this Unity, by a single eternal act all
things are made, and the government of the universe is
directed to a single aim, namely, the attainment of the
greatest good which it is possible to draw from created
things. Now, for the very reason that this final good
is the greatest which creatures can yield, it is the last
extreme attainable. Accordingly the inspired \vords
which tell us that God " reacheth fr r end to end "
are preceded by the declaration that this fact is, as we
have said, due to the unity of God s action : "Being
but ONE, She (Wisdom CAN DO ALL THINGS, and re
maining in Herself the same, She reneweth all things,
and through generations conveyeth Herself into holy
souls, and maketh the friends of God and prophets. . . .
For She is more beautiful than the sun (which illumines
the whole world), and above all the order of the stars
(whose rays traverse such immense distances) : being
compared with the light, She is found before it.
For after this cometh the night, but no evil can
overcome Wisdom (which shines equally in all
times). Therefore (mark the consequence) She reacheth
from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things
sweetly. "( i )
703. If the Law of Extremes is considered in rela
tion to the means, it is found to flow from the laws of
Continuity and Variety. For, all beings in their grada
tions, as well as their varieties and their acts, are, in
the hands of God, means ordained to the accomplish
ment of His one purpose, insomuch that even evils
become subservient to the final sum of good ; as is
clearly indicated by those words just quoted, " no evil
(i) Wisd. vii. 27.
2OO Law of Heroism, or of Extremes.
can overcome wisdom." Indeed, no amount of human
or diabolical malice, no deficiency of creatures, no
perversity of will, can hinder the attainment of that
end of supreme goodness which Divine Wisdom in
tends, or diminish by never so little its perfection ;
they can only contribute to it as means necessary for
its complete realization.
704. All things, then, from the greatest to the least,
are ordained and used by God s Wisdom for His end ;
and that is why it is written: "I fill heaven and
earth." (r) And in the admirable Psalm the i38th God
is magnified, because by His Wisdom and Goodness
He reaches all things, so that nothing can be hid from
His sight or escape from His grasp. It is humanity
which there speaks to its Maker in the following strain :
** Lord, Thou hast proved me, and known me : Thou
hast known my sitting down, an 1 mv rising up. Thou
hast understood my thoughts afar off : my path and
my line Thou hast searched out. And Thou hast fore
seen all my ways : for there is no speech in my tongue.
Behold, O Lord, Thou hast known all things, the last
and those of old : Thou hast formed me, and hast laid
Thy hand upon me. Thy knowledge is become won
derful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it.
Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall
I flee from Thy face? If I ascend into heaven, Thou
art there : if I descend into hell, Thou art present. If
I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in
(i) Jercm. xxiii. 23, 24. In this place God says that He is not far from,
but near to, all things : "Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord,
and not a God afar off? Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see
him, saith the Lord ? Do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord ? "
On Divine Providence. 201
the uttermost parts of the sea, even there also shall
Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.
And I said : Perhaps darkness shall cover me : and
night shall be my light in my pleasures. But dark
ness shall not be dark to Thee, and night shall be light
as the day : the darkness thereof, and the light thereof
are alike to Thee. For thou hast possessed my reins,
Thou hast protected me from my mother s womb. I
will praise Thee, for Thou art fearfully magnified :
wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knoweth right
well. My bone is not hidden from Thee, which Thou
hast made in secret : and iny substance in the lower
parts of the earth. Thy eyes did see my imperfect
being, and in Thy book all shall be written, days shall
be formed, and no one in them." i Such is the lan
guage which suits humanity ; such are the sentiments
of perfect humanity, as it was in Christ.
705. God, therefore, by His Wisdom and His
Action, reaches extremes, both in the natural and in
the supernatural order ; a very frequent theme this for
canticles of praise in Holy Scripture. David exclaims,
44 the name of God is worthy of praise from the
rising of the sun to the going clown of the same," the
two extremes of breadth ; to which he immediately
adds, that " The Lord is high above all nations, and
His glory above the heavens; but that although He
dwelleth on high, He at the same time looketh down
on the low things in heaven and in earth," (2) thus
reaching the two extremes of height and of depth.
And St. Paul, making allusion to this passage of the
Psalms, exhorts the Ephesians to strive after the know-
(i) Ps. cxxxviii. 1-16. (2) Ps. cxii. 3-6.
2O2 Law oj Heroism, or of Extremes.
ledge of these extremes of the Divine greatness ; " That
you may be able (he says) to comprehend, with all the
saints, what is the breadth and length, and height and
depth." (r)
706. God reaches extremes in the sphere of reality
by His Power, creating in each species of real being*
all the links of the chain from one end to the other,
and unfolding all their varieties.
He reaches extremes in the sphere of intelligence,
establishing a wonderful harmony among all beings
in their gradations and varieties (repetitions of the
same type excluded), and causing them all to work to
gether for one sole end.
He reaches extremes in the sphere of morality by so
disposing everything that this one sole end of all
beings shall be the greatest moral-eudemonological good
which they can possibly yield ; and that the whole
of the immense mass of realities, although devoid of
intelligence, and the whole complex of intelligences,
although free, shall serve moral being, shall contribute
to produce it in the fullest possible measure, to make
it happy, and to render honour to it. Hence the.
praise given to God by the Royal Psalmist for this,
that " He raises up the needy from the earth, and
lifts up the poor out of the dunghill, that He may
place him with princes, the princes of His people.
And He maketh the barren woman to dwell in a
house, the joyful mother of children;" (2) all which
means that God brings to happiness and to glory
the just who trust in Him in spite of adverse appear
ances, makes them triumph over all the power of real
(i) Kphes. iii. 18. (2) Ps. cxii. 7-9.
On Divine Providence.
203
being, and over all the devices which intellective being
opposes to Him for a time.
707. He likewise makes the whole of the natural
order serve the supernatural ; and for this purpose He
sends down the Eternal Word from His infinite height,
so that He may become by His extreme abjection even
the last of men. (i) And then He causes this last
among mortals to run the same course in a contrarv
way until He is raised up even to the Father s right
hand : " He that descended (says St. Paul) is the same
also that ascended above all trie heavens, THAT HE
MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS." (2) How entirely consonant
this is \vith God s perfections, was seen in some way
even by natural reason, as may be proved by the fol
lowing words of Plato : " God, as an ancient tradition
tells us, by embracing the beginning, the end, and the
mean of all things, pursues a good course, circling
round according to nature. And He is always accom
panied by judgment, punishing those who deviate
from the Divine law." Whence, with reasoning
well becoming that noble mind, he draws the con
sequence that " He is happy, who, being mindful of
that judgment, follows a way of humility and
temperance. "(3)
(i) Isai. liii. 3. (2) Ephes. iv. 10.
(3) DC Legibu r. IV. On this passage of Halo we may observe : 1st, That
he quotes this doctrine, not as his own finding, but as having been received
from an ancient tradition, oWsp x< o iraXajo* x6<yor ; 2ndly, That from the con
sideration of the greatness of God, Who disposes all things, and Whose
power no one can withstand, he derives the precept of humility , which bows
down to Divine Providence and allows itself to be ruled by its decrees,
xtMffju. nju.ivQt TOLTTIHOS. It is one of the extremely few passages of pagan
writers in which humility is mentioned and praised. The Greek word rat-wivi*
204 Law of Heroism, or of
708. As to the glory which results to God from
reaching by His Wisdom and His Goodness both ex
tremes, we may form some idea of it from the ecstatic
wonder which fills created intelligences when, knowing
the immensity of God s work, they clearly understand
on the one hand the greatness and goodness of its aim,
and on the other the vastness and the difficulty of the
calculation which is necessary in order to attain that
aim. God, according to our human mode of conceiv
ing, had to foresee, and to take into account, all the
combinations that are possible amongst all beings, as
well as all their relations, and reciprocal actions and
influences. From all these He had to single out for
existence such as would answer the purpose, and no
others ; thus harmonizing everything, down to the very
atom which escapes the observation of the senses.
Not the most minute blade of grass, not the lightest
fluttering of a leaf, not a single thought of an intelli
gent being might be selected for existence without its
being first considered in relation with all other beings
and all other actions, however small and slight, and
without its being found opportune. So that we may
say that there was as great a difficulty in deciding as to
whether it would, or would not, be well to create and
corresponds with the humilis of the Latins, low, vile ; 3rdly, That this duty
of humility and submissiveness to Divine Providence which disposes all
things is the first of those which Plato would have imposed on the colonists
who were to form his Republic, and he begins with it the discourse which,
in his opinion, ought to be addressed to them when they arrive at the
places destined for their habitation. Thus is submission to God, to His
laws, to His Providence, recognized by the Athenian Philosopher as the
foundation f civil prosperity ; and this is exactly the foundation of the
Christian Commonwealth .
On Divine Providence.
205
to cause such and such motion to be given at each suc
cessive instant to one elementary unit of air or of light,
as there was in determining the form of the entire uni
verse. Seeing all this,- the creature understands at
last what an absolute power of control over all things
was required for making such a calculation. Then,
bewildered by the splendour of Divine Wisdom, at the
thought of so overwhelmingly vast a work, created
intelligence gives itself up for vanquished, and the cre
ated will can find no affections with which to honour
Divine Goodness as it deserves. This annihilation of
the creature before the Divine Greatness goes on in
creasing in proportion as the creature, by induction,
advances in the knowledge of the work of the Creator :
but the completion of this knowledge is reserved for
the vision of God in heaven.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CONTINUATION. THE LAW OF ANTAGONISM.
709. Seeing, then, that the Law of Extremes, as just
explained, plays so prominent a part in God s action
in the universe, it may well be worth our while to
consider more in particular how this law which is
identical with that of Heroism is carried into effect.
The heroism of God s mode of action is manifest in
that terrible and continual conflict between created
things, in which God, as Champion of the just, whilst
seeming vanquished, is always victorious, and this
without expending the least degree of power beyond
what is necessary for obtaining from creation the very
greatest amount of good possible. Now, this is what
1 call the Law of Antagonism.
710. It is plain that, if it was becoming for Divine
Wisdom to produce beings in a continuous gradation
and with a tendency to develop in all their possible
varieties, a most terrible conflict must inevitably ensue.
For, this development would proceed in directions the
most opposite, so as to touch the last extremes of both
good and evil. And as beings are nothing but a com
bination of forces, so there would have to be a most
powerful activity for evil, and a most powerful activity
Law of Antagonism. 207
for good ; each seeking to prevail and wax stronger to
the injury and overthrow of the other.
711. This condition of the problem of the universe
made it all the more difficult to solve in the way in
tended by Divine Goodness. For, the purpose of that
Goodness was to direct things so wisely as to make the
cause of good triumph in the most complete manner,
notwithstanding, nay, by the very means of, the oppo
sition of the powers of evil, allowing these free scope to
act : so that the amount of final good would have been
less, if there had been no conflict, or if evil had been
prevented from putting forth all its powers. It is in
this supreme difficulty of solving the great problem
with perfect success, that the Wisdom and Goodness
of God reveal themselves to created intelligences in
their greatest splendour.
712. Hence in numberless places of Holy Writ we
find God described as a dauntless warrior who van
quishes his enemies : " The Lord is as a man of war,
Almighty is His name." (i) In the Psalms He is called
the " God of Hosts," (2) the " King of powers," (3) a
" Lord Who is high, terrible, a great King over all the
earth," (4) and, as such, He is continually invoked :
" Judge Thou, O Lord, them that wrong me : overthrow
them that fight against me. Take hold of arms and
shield; and rise up to help me. Bring out the sword
and shut up the way against them that persecute me :
-say to my soul : I am thy salvation." (5)
(1) Exod. xv. 3. (3) P s . Ixvii. 13.
(2) Ps. Ixxix. 5, 8, 20. (4) Ps. xlvi. 3.
(5) Ps. xxxiv. 1-3.,
208 On Divine Providence.
Arid JESUS Christ, to signify how He will appear at
the end of the world, shows Himself to St. John, under
the figure of a knight in full armour, who has conquered
all nations and all things, not, however, without having
sustained many a most severe and bloody encounter:
" And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse,
and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True,
and with justice doth He judge and fight. And His eyes
were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many
diadems, and He had a name written which no man
knoweth but Himself. And He was clothed with a
garment sprinkled with blood, and His name is called :
The Word of God. And the armies that are in heaven
followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen
white and clean. And out of His mouth proceedeth a
sharp two-edged sword, that with it He may strike the
nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron,
and He treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of the
wrath of God the Almighty. And He had on His gar
ment, and ou His thigh written : King of kings, and
Lord of lords. "(i)
713. However, it is not by a display of power that
Christ s victory is to be won. Indeed, if it were a
question of power, all combat would be impossible.
For, Christ has power to annihilate His enemies when
and how He wills, even before the fight ; since it is He
Himself Who gives them existence. He has power to
disable them from perpetrating any hostile act against
Him ; since it is He Himself Who gives them at every
instant whatever strength and life they have. He has
power, in fine, as the First Cause of every good act,
(i) Apoc. xix. 11-16.
Law of Antagonism. 209
however voluntary and free, to bend their wills and
make them all humble and submissive to Himself.
But God enters the lists armed, not so much with
Power as with Infinite Wisdom, which is a faithful guide
to His Infinite Goodness. And this Wisdom it is which
so to speak, curbs His Power, and forbids its being em
ployed without necessity, nay, which gives to the prob
lem that condition of special difficulty which we have
mentioned, namely, " That all the good which created
nature can produce should be obtained from the crea
ture itself, brought to its full realization, and that
beyond what is necessary for this full realization, no
power should be employed except in such a way as to
ensure its producing the very greatest fruit possible."
714. It was on this account that God, knowing for
certain the effect which would follow from His supremely
wise dispositions, said to His people : " Such and such
a King, such and such a law, I give, or I do not give
into your hands." He had no need for that purpose of
any extraordinary or miraculous effort of His Power ;
He simply made use of His Wisdom, which had so pre
disposed the course of natural things, that His people
would surely gam the victory, or else suffer defeat, (i)
(i) This is how God spoke to Moses when the time which He had ap
pointed for the conquest of Palestine was near at hand : " Tluni shalt pass
this day the borders of Moab, the city named Ar. And when thou comest
nigh the frontiers of the children of Ammon, take heed thou fight not
against them, nor once move to battle ; for I will not give thee of the land
of the children of Ammon, because I have given it to the children of Lot
for a possession." And here Moses notes that the land of the Ammonites
was formerly inhabited by a race of giants, and that " the Lord destroyed
them before the face of the Ammonites, and He made these to dwell there
in their stead ; as He had done in favour of the children of Esau, that dwell
II. P
2io On Divine Providence.
Hence this disposal of second causes in view of the
certain fulfilment of His designs is clearly referred to
by God Himself, as for instance where He says : " This
day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee
upon the nations that dwell under the whole heaven,
that when they hear thy name they may fear and
tremble, and be in pain like women in travail." (i)
Afterwards Moses relates how the war against King
Sehon was waged under a title of equity and justice,
that is to say, his having refused to allow the People
of Israel to pass through his territory, notwithstanding
the promise that no damage whatever should be in
flicted upon him, a promise which they had faithfully
kept with the children of Esau and the Moabites, who
had given the permission. " But," Moses writes,
" Schon, the King of Hesebon, would not let us pass;
because the Lord thy God had hardened his spirit, and
fixed his heart, that he might be delivered into thy
hands, as now thou seest." (2)
715. Now, if God had willed to bring about those
events by means of Power alone, there would have
been no need, either of the enemies of His people being
struck with fear, which is an effect according to nature,
or of the King of Hesebon showing obstinacy in re
fusing to let the people pass through, which might also
have been a natural and free disposition. But God,
in Scir, destroying the Horrites, and delivering their land to them." Then
the Almighty continues : " Arise ye and pass the torrent Arnon : behold I
have delivered into thy hand Sehon, King of Hesebon the Amorrhite, and
begin thou to possess his land, and make war against him." Deuteron. ii.
18-24.
(i) Ibid. ii. 25. (2) Jbid. ii. 30.
Law of Antagonism. 21 1
Who orders second causes with Infinite Wisdom, had
so disposed them as to bring about at the proper time
that panic, and that stubbornness of will, which were
to result in the just victory of Israel, and through that
victory destroy those races which, by reason of their
moral corruption, had ceased to contribute to the uni
versal good which God intends to draw from His
creatures.
Wherefore, when the servants of God, both in the
old and in the new Covenant, give to Him the title of
* Lord of Hosts ; " (i) or when they say that * He was
fighting for Israel," (2) their meaning is, not that God
wrought miracles at every turn, but that He secured
the victory to Israel through those secondary causes
which were in His hands from the beginning, and the
series of which He had ordained in such a manner as
would infallibly lead to the accomplishment of His
will. Thus were all the effects of secondary causes
ascribed to Him as First Cause, and all the glory
thereof rendered to Him alone.
716. But, for the greater elucidation of the Law of
Antagonism, we will inquire what is the reason of the
opposition and hostility which as a matter of fact
manifests itself in creation. That reason must be
sought in the very essence of contingent being.
Contingent being is real, but by means of intuition
participates of ideal being. Now, contingent real
being is finite, but ideal being is infinite. The anta
gonism, therefore, lies in the conflict between the
finite and the infinite. I have already touched on this
(i) livings i. 3, et passim. (2} Deuteron. iii. 22, ct passim.
212 On Divine Providence.
important truth ; I will now endeavour to place it
in a clearer light.
717. Real being has three acts : the act that belongs
to it as real, and two additional acts, the one intellec
tive and the other volitive, suscitated by the communi
cation of ideal being.
Real being, considered in its own proper act alone
I mean contingent real being as it presents itself to
our perception is of three kinds : ist, extension or
space; 2nd, corporeal matter; 3rd, feeling.
718. Extension, or space, presents itself as immut
able, and therefore incapable of antagonism.
719. As regards corporeal matter, this seems indif
ferent to every state, whether of union or of separation,
because it has not in itself the reason of its motion ; (i)
so that to conceive the state of union as natural to
matter, i. e., to conceive it as having a continual ten
dency to remain all united, is to add to it something
which, properly speaking, belongs not to it, but to
feeling, in which we manifestly see a cause of the
motion of matter.
Nor would it be a valid objection to say that by
conceiving of matter in this way, that is, by despoiling
it of its forces, we annihilate it ; because to save the
existence of matter it is enough that it may exist by
the aid of other forces not belonging to itself, such as
those of corporeal feeling. The only consequence, a
consequence neither absurd nor improbable, which
(i) St. Thomas teaches that in regard to local motion, bodies are subject
to Anodic intelligences ; Nalttra corporalis obedit eis (Angetts) ad tnolitni
/(>calc/:t (S. j). i., (.[. cxi.. art. 3). He proves this by an argument taken
from a sentence of St. Augustine 7V.
Law of Antagomsm. 213
would follow from the mode of conceiving just indi
cated, is, that matter, by itself alone, is not a complete
substance, and, that in order to subsist, it must have
some other principle conjoined with it. Therefore in
mere matter so conceived, no true antagonism can be
discovered.
720. The antagonism begins to manifest itself in
the animal sensitive principle ; for that principle truly
tends to individuate itself and construct for itself an
organism by assuming that form and configuration
which is most convenient and pleasurable to it. Hence
a strife between it and matter, or rather, between the
divers individualities into which feeling gathers itself
wherever it finds a chance, and each of which tends to
constitute itself in as perfect a mode as it can, by
attracting matter to itself, and absorbing other feelings
into itself. From this continual activity of feeling
there arise the movements of the world, the mutual
clashing of the various forms, their breaking up and
their renewal, a universal labour in all nature,
travailing in the processes of organizing and dis
organizing.
721. Here, indeed, there appears to be a necessary
strife ; and I am not sure that, unless an extraneous
force, namely, the intellective, intervened, the strife
could ever cease until nature reached a state, in which,
all the animal feeling organized into perfect unity
and individuality, formed of all corporeal matter but
one huge animal. However, even if we were to
admit the possibility of that state of rest being ulti
mately arrived at, it would still be certain that the
animal feeling is not ordained merely for that purpose ;
214 On Divine Providence.
because this feeling does not stand alone, and has not
an end in itself, but must serve intelligences, which are
many and manifold.
722. This is why the antagonism which is seen to
occur even in the order of animality does not termi
nate in it, nor has its reason there, but in the intelli
gences for which it is ordained. The multitude of these
intelligences destined, like man s, to make use of a
corporeal feeling, renders a large multiplication of the
individuations of this feeling unavoidable ; and from
the moment that feeling is obliged to constitute itself
into many individual animals, it is ipso facto broken up
and found necessarily in a state of combat and strife
within itself.
Thus is Divine Wisdom fully vindicated in regard
to the conflict between the various individual sentient
principles, and to all that naturally follows from it in
the material world. It only remains, therefore, to
speak of the conflict which manifests itself in the order
of intelligences, whereof that seen in the animal order
is a condition and an instrument.
723. With regard to this class of beings the ob
servation made above holds perfectly good, that the
antagonism from which God derives so much glory is
a strife of the finite with the infinite. I will en
deavour to throw more light upon this truth.
Man is a finite real being endowed with the intuition
of the essence of being, which has no bounds. By
means of this intuition man is fitted to know every
being, in such wise, however, that he has the power to
will and love, or not to will and love, the beings which
he knows. It is this faculty that enables him to act
Law of Antagonism. 215
morally ; for moral good consists " in willing and loving
the essence of being, and therefore the whole of being
without any exclusion whatever." Now, if the nature
of moral good requires that the whole of being should be
willed and loved, it manifestly requires also that each
particular being should be loved in proportion to the
degree in which it partakes of the essence of being.
This proportionate distribution of our appreciation
and love constitutes the sum of our moral duties ; and
the more we maintain and love it, the more perfect we
are. But to maintain this just proportion not unfre-
quently costs labour and suffering. Hence strife and
sacrifice. And as the moral perfection and merit in
creases in proportion to the effort and labour it costs,
it is obvious that man cannot be conceived as having
attained to the very summit of perfection, save on condi
tion of his having been engaged in a conflict, nay,
in the most fierce and terrible conflict that can be
imagined.
724. But why should there be labour and suffering
in distributing our appreciation and love in proportion
as the various beings participate more or less in the
essence of being ?
The reason lies, not in the nature of morality, but in
our own limitation.
We are finite, and the object of morality is infinite
(the essence of being). We have, therefore, continually
to strive hard to overcome our limitation by reaching
out to the infinite. Now, this effort of a finite being to
measure itself with the infinite, is extremely irksome ;
because it entails, as it were, a disruption of itself,
breaking down in a certain way the limits within which
216 On Divine Providence.
created beings are inclosed. And since these limits
are natural to it, the result is that it loves them, and is
naturally loth to pass beyond them, from a feeling that
by thus allowing itself to fall into, and be absorbed by,
the infinite, its individuality would be lost, and in a
manner annihilated. Hence the moral grandeur of the
act of Christian HUMILITY, or the continual annihilation
of oneself before the Infinite Being.
Indian Philosophy abused this great truth, by ex
changing moral and voluntary annihilation with real
annihilation, and considering the absorption of created
beings into God, with the loss of their own individuality,
as the highest perfection and happiness.(i) Monstrous
as this error may appear, it is none the less a truth in
disguise : it is a testimony of approbation which those
ancient sages, although mistaken, involuntarily gave
to Christian teaching regarding the self-humiliation of
the creature before the Creator.
725. This appears all the more manifest, if we con
sider that man, by nature, acts with the practical
understanding, that is to say, with a will that assents
and adheres to the beings which the understanding
represents to it ; and the will, as we have said, is good
and perfect, when it adheres to those beings in propor
tion to the degrees of their respective entities.
It follows, then, that man s actions also, to be morally
(i) "Thus the man who recognizes in his own soul the supreme soul
which is present in all creatures, shows himself ever the same to all, and
obtains the happiest lot, that of being at last absorbed into Brahma"
(Manav.vDharma Sastra, XII., 125). The doctrine of the Absorption
of reality into the Supreme Being flows as a consequence from that of
Emanation.
Law of Antagonism. 217
good, must proceed from that adhesion of the will
and accord with it. But man does not know all beings
in the same way, although he knows the entitative
essences of all. Some he knows as actually present
and felt by him. The others which were formerly so
perceived, and are now at a distance from him, he
knows either by imagination or by simple recollection.
Others, of which he has had no perception either
present or past, he knows purely by intuition, as is the
case with regard to the essence of being (ideal know
ledge) ; or else by reasoning, he infers their existence
as determined by certain relations and nothing more
(inductive-ideal-negative knowledge).
Now, we have seen that if all the beings which man
has to will and love were known by him in the same
mode, he would find it easy to apportion his love and
his action precisely to the degree of entity which they
possess, as the law of morality demands. But since, as
a matter of fact, man is more moved by some beings
than by others, not because of their greater entity,
which constitutes the moral principle, but because of the
different manner in which he knows them, it becomes
necessary for him if he wishes to act toward them
conformably to their degree of entity to counteract
by vigorous effort that stronger motion which they
produce in him. Hence the strife. I will show this
by examples.
The human essence is the same in all men ; therefore
each man owes to every one of his fellow-men a respect
and a love of the same species as that which he has
for himself. Such is the rule which ought to guide his
conduct. But he knows himself by an intimate and
2i8 On Divine Providence.
essential feeling, whereas he knows others only by per
ception, or by imagination. Now, the mode in which
he knows himself is of a kind that moves him to act
much more in favour of himself than in favour of others.
Hence he is often tempted, in opposition to the principle
of morality, to prefer himself unduly to others, by loving
himself as an end, and others only as a means; which
is a love of a different species. To be virtuous, there
fore, he will have to struggle against that temptation
and overcome it.
The moral law, which enjoins love for all beings, tells
us, first, that we must not do them any injury, because
that is abhorrent to the nature of love ; secondly, that we
must do good to them in proportion to the love which
we bear them, a love which must be proportionate to
the entities respectively belonging to them. These
two precepts, the one negative and the other positive,
embrace the whole of morality.
To begin with the first (duty of justice), let us see
ho\v it is often impossible, owing to our limitation, to
practise it without a struggle.
I am, for instance, suffering from hunger, or I find
myself exposed to serious danger, say that of death ;
and at the same time I have it in my power to get rid
of that pain by directly causing it to another, for ex
ample, by stealing from him the food necessary for his
sustenance, or to escape from that danger by killing an
innocent person. If I wish to keep free from guilt,
1 must endure the pangs of hunger, I must even submit
to death. Certainly I am not obliged to do myself an
injury, indeed I am obliged not to injure anyone,
whether it be myself or others ; but for this very reason,
Law of Antagonism. 219
when an evil befalls me, and I cannot avoid it without
myself wronging another, I am bound to suffer it in
peace ; because the moral law is universal, and it says
to all alike : " Do no wrong."
This struggle which virtue has often to sustain is
manifestly due to human LIMITATION. I perceive myself
more vividly than I do other beings, because my reality
is limited to myself, whereas the law of morality
demands that I should direct my action to respect and
love every being according to the essence belonging to it,
quite irrespectively of the mode in which I know it.
Let us pass to the positive precept, that which bids
us do good, and which becomes obligatory whenever
by doing good is meant the endeavour to remove evil
from intelligent beings (duties of charity).
My country is in danger of a hostile invasion; and
I cannot defend it, save at the risk of my life. If I love
things in proportion to their respective entities, I must
prefer my country to my life. But my reality, because
limited, shrinks from the fulfilment of so hard a duty.
If the reality of all my fellow-countrymen were my
reality, I should have the complex instinct of the whole,
and should find no difficulty in sacrificing a portion of
that whole, namely, myself, for the preservation of the
greater portion, that of my fellow-countrymen; nay,
instinct itself would infalliblv lead me to do so. Being,
however, impressed by the feeling and instinct of my
individual reality alone, I naturally draw back from the
requirements of the moral law which has no regard for
this limitation, but says absolutely: " Prefer with thy
esteem, thy love, and thy action, the greater to the
lesser entity, sacrifice thyself for thy country." This,
220 On Divine Providence.
then, is a hard law, and again exacts a struggle and
a sacrifice.
726. This moral conflict, we have said, is always a
conflict between the finite and the infinite. It is so
even when the greater entity which I must prefer to
my own reality is finite, as in the case of my being
called upon to give my life for my country. For the
law which says : " Prefer the greater to the lesser en
tity," is nothing but a consequence of the antecedent
law : * Recognize the essence of being," which essence
is infinite. In the respect due to this infinite
essence, therefore, lies the ultimate ground of every
moral law, of every moral obligation. In it lies the
essence of morality, although this infinite essence be
respected in a real being which partakes of it in a finite
manner.
727. That the moral conflict is between the finite
and the infinite, appears with still greater evidence if
the immediate object of the moral duty is the essence
itself of being, either ideal or realized.
728. Truthfulness and fidelity to promises are duties
the immediate object of which is the essence of
being contemplated in the fundamental idea; and
sometimes these duties can only be fulfilled at the cost
of life.
729. The essence of being fully realized is God. In
man s duties towards God, therefore, there is question
of that Subsistent Being Whose very Reality admits
of no limit. Hence the respect due to this Being can
not bear any comparison with the respect which man
owes to his own reality, which, relatively to the Divine
Reality, is ml. Hence the obligation of giving honour
Law of Antagonism. 221
to God and obeying His will always and at all costs,
at the cost of all sufferings, of death itself. If man
fails in so manifest a duty, he loses his personal per
fection, and renders himself morally perverse.
Again, then, the LIMITATION of the reality which
constitutes man is necessarily an occasion of moral
conflict, of that conflict wherein man is obliged to
break through the bounds of his own nature in order to
reach out into the infinite which is communicated to
his intelligence, and by this means to be made partaker
of the infinite good, for moral good always is infinite
by its very essence.
730. It is needless to say, that the perfection here
spoken of is greater in proportion to the greater inten
sity of the effort which man makes in acquiring if.
Consequently, man could not have attained to the sum
mit of moral good otherwise than through antagonism.
But the Goodness of God, because infinite, tends to
obtain from His creatures ALL the moral good which
they can yield to Him. It therefore behoved the
Wisdom and Goodness of God so to ordain created
things that in them and through them there might be
developed the GREATEST ANTAGONISM POSSIBLE, as an
indispensable means for their GREATEST POSSIBLE
MORAL PERFECTION.
731. Accordingly, it was requisite that all should
conspire against the virtue of the creature, and that
the virtue of the creature should triumph over all : the
infinite in the creature must vanquish ALL THE FINITE.
Such is the triumph of the Wisdom and Goodness of
the Creator, such THE GLORY OF GOD.
732. Now, in order that this antagonism might be
222 On Divine Providence.
the very fiercest possible, it was requisite that the
opposition between the contending sides should like
wise be the greatest possible ; and this it could not be
if the conflict raged merely between individuals. It
was, therefore, fitting that there should be an organized
opposition ; many things, many persons must be
leagued together in the fight against virtue.
733. On the other hand, virtue and moral good be
long to the individual ; and as the creature itself re
quired a force able to repel the opposition organized
against it, so virtue also needed an organized plan of
defence : many things and many persons must combine
together in its support.
734. Hence the two societies existing on earth, the one
composed of those whom Holy Scripture designates as
the " children of God," the other of those whom it calls
the "children of men." Two cities; the city of God
and the city of the devil. They appeared distinct and
at enmity as soon as mankind began to multiply, and
they will be engaged in mortal combat to the end of
time. It was this death-struggle between them that
afforded so sublime a theme to the Eagle of Hippo, in
his immortal work, De Civiiate Dei.
735. In Holy Scripture all kings and all nations
are described as banded together to oppose God s
Anointed One. Thus for example we read : " Why
have the gentiles raged, and the peoples devised vain
things? The kings of the earth have stood up, and
the princes met together against the Lord and
against His Christ (saying) : Let us break their bonds
asunder, and let us cast away their yoke from us." (i)
(i) T.s. ii. l-j.
Law of Antagonism. 223
And the same Holy Scripture describes all kings and
all nations as coming over to the side of Christ : " And
all the kings of the earth shall adore Him : all nations
shall serve Him." (i)
All kings, then, and all nations belong to the city of
the devil, and all kings and all nations belong to the
city of God ; what antagonism ! what a conflict ! It
therefore seems to me, probable that in all royal
families God will surfer powerful enemies to rise up
against His Kingdom, and that He will permit all
nations to be inundated for a time with corruption and
impiety, that so everything may conspire against the
good cause. But we must also suppose that in all
royal families there will be faithful servants of
God, and that all nations will have periods of virtue
and piety, that so everything may be in favour of
the good cause. (2) Thus will good triumph over evil
in the end and gain a most splendid and unlooked-for
victory.
736. In truth, it is written that God will laugh His
enemies to scorn, and will bring all nations to naught, (3)
by humbling their pride and their impiety when they
seem surest of victory. And again, in foretelling the
universal dominion of JESUS CHRIST, it is said: " He
that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them (at the
conspiracy of princes and of peoples), and the Lord
(I) Ps. Ixxi. Tl.
(2) Thus we sec that Holy Scripture, according to the remark of St.
Augustine, speaks sometimes of the part as if it were the whole, Epist.
cxlix. 20.
(3) " Dut Thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them ; THOU SHALT BRING ALL
TIIK NATIONS TO NOTHING. "Ps. Iviii. Q.
224 n Divine Providence.
shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in
His anger, and trouble them in His rage. But I am
appointed King by Him over Sion, His holy mountain,
preaching His commandment. The Lord hath said to
Me : Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy
inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy
possession. Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron,
and shalt break them in pieces like a potter s vessel.
And now, O ye kings, understand ; receive instruction,
you that judge the earth. Serve ye the Lord with fear,
and rejoice unto Him with trembling. Embrace dis
cipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you
perish from the just way." (i) God says that He will
bring the nations to naught, but in order to renovate
them ; Fie will rule them and break them in pieces
like a potter s vessel, but to change them into vessels
of honour that shall stand as ornaments around
His Throne. And so we see the most famous
idolatrous kingdoms fallen, the ancient nations melted
away, and the world daily renovated by the Gospel,
which alone satisfies the aspirations of the human
heart. For this reason is the Redeemer called "the
hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea
afar off." (2)
737- ^ e snou ld consider here a fresh reason of the
necessity of this relentless antagonism to the end that
Divine Wisdom might draw from creatures all the good
possible. From the victory which the principle of good
(the infinite) obtains over the principle of evil (limita-
(i) I s. ii. 4-12. (2) Ps. Ixiv. 6.
Laiv of Antagonism. 225
tion), there springs up in those creatures which are the
fortunate objects of this victory, a sentiment of bound
less and jubilant gratitude to that Sovereign Lord, to
Whose wisdom and goodness alone the victory is due.
In fact, the knowledge that they have been brought
back from iniquity to righteousness, and have received
instead of the punishment they had deserved an un
merited and exceeding great reward, cannot but foster
within them feelings of infinite joy and gratitude.
Their highest happiness consists not merely in the
enjoyment of the good which is now theirs, but in the
delight moreover which they experience in contrasting
this present good with the evil in which they once
were, and the recollection and the sight of which
enable them fully to understand and appreciate the
greatness of the grace they have received. This grace
they see to have been freely bestowed upon them by
God Who has exerted in their favour all the wisdom
and power displayed by Him in the government of the
universe; for all of it was necessary for the salvation
of each.
This jubilant gratitude furnishes an inexhaustible
theme for those canticles which Holy Scripture itself
puts in the mouth of the just, as expressing their inner
most sentiments. For, they say within themselves :
" He hath not dealt with us according to our sins, nor
retributed to us according to our iniquities. For
according to the height of the heaven above the
earth," (the very extremes) " He hath strengthened
His mercy towards them that fear Him. As far as
the east is from the west, so far hath He removed
our iniquities from us. As a father hath compassion
ii. Q
226 On Divine Providence.
on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them
that fear Him." (i) Such, and other similar affection
ate outpourings of praise which often occur in Holy
Writ, and which are of infinite moral value to those
who utter them, could only come from souls that
have a clear knowledge, gained by bitter experience,
of the misery from which man is raised up by the be
nignity of His Creator. And since this passage from
evil to good, through which all the just are gathered to
gether, causes so vivid a knowledge of the goodness of
God, and so thrilling a delight, we read that Mount
Sion, the City of the Great King, is founded on the
exultation and joy of all the earth. (2)
738. If we examine more closely the inmost nature
of this terrible conflict, of this extreme antagonism be
tween the infinite and the finite, we shall feel still more
how great is the goodness of God to men.
On the one hand there is the contingent, which is
a limited reality. This limited reality consists of a
limited substantial feeling, possessed of limited in
stincts and of limited principles of action, all of them
tending to such limited good as a limited reality can
receive.
On the other hand, there is the moral law, which is
unlimited ; there is, namely, the essence of being
naturally manifest to the human intellect, and there
is the Infinite Real Being, God.
Now, that a limited nature should tend to the good
peculiar to it, is not a disorder, but a law of nature.
But that it should, in its esteem and love, prefer its
(i) Ps. cii. 10-13. (2) I -, xlvii. 3.
Law of Antagonism. 227
limited self to the unlimited being which is made
known to it, this is disorder, injustice, an outrage
against the infinite.
This kind of collision between the finite and the
infinite, is not in itself necessary ; for we can very well
conceive the possibility of harmony and peace between
the finite, namely, created nature, and the infinite
which is manifested to it.
God, ho\vever, preferred a different course, because
it accorded better with His Infinite Wisdom and Good
ness. He disposed, therefore, an order of things in
which virtue should vanquish the strongest tempta
tions ; that so the infinite might ultimately be trium
phant over all the finite, and the Creator receive the
greatest glory from His work.
To this end it was necessary to permit sin :
ist. Because, without sin, the creature could not
have been developed in all the states of which it was
susceptible ; for, in the eternal idea there was virtually
contained, not only its limitation, not only its deficiency,
but also its fall, with all the grades by which it un
happily descends ;
2ndly. Because, as sin leaves in the intelligent crea
ture a state of malice and disorder, and consequently
of moral impotence, the struggle of fallen nature
with vice became most difficult, indeed so difficult
as to render it quite impossible for nature, by its
own powers alone, to gain the victory. This was,
therefore, really a case in which, to save the crea
ture, an extraordinary aid from God was called
for: and His intervention had a sufficient reason, in
asmuch as, without it, the creature could no longer
228 On Divine Providence.
yield that maximum of fruit for which it had been
brought into existence.
739. On the other hand, whilst the creature, assisted
by so powerful an aid could yield its maximum of fruit,
the whole glory of it belonged to God alone, Who in
pure loving-kindness had freely stepped forward to
help His fallen and disabled creature in this extra
ordinary way. Hence St. Bernard, in unison with all
ecclesiastical tradition, writes as follows: "Thou
wouldst have me tell thee where our merits are, or on
what our hope is founded. Here is my answer : Not
by the works of justice, which we have done, but ac
cording to His mercy He saved us. (i) What? Didst
thou peradventure believe thyself to be the creator of
thy merits, and to be able to save thyself by thy own
justice, thou who canst not say, The Lord JESUS, but
by the Holy Ghost ? (2) Hast thou, then, forgotten
Who it is that said : Without Me ye can do nothing 7(3)
And, * It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy ? " (4) St.
Augustine too extols the grace of the Redeemer above
that which was first given to Adam, in this, that, by
drawing good out of the fallen, it showed a wonder
fully superior power. u Wherefore, J he says, " these
(the fallen men) require a mightier grace, although for
the present time (the time of this life) it is not more
joyful than the former grace was." (5) Human nature
having fallen, it became necessary that the Eternal
(i) Tit. iii. 5. (2) i. Cor. xii. 3. (3) Jo. xv. 3.
(4) Horn. ix. 16. St. Bernard, De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, n. i.
(5) l^roinde, etsi non interim Lctiore uunc, Tcniintainen rnTKNTIORE
GRATIA indigent ipsi (L. DC Corrept. et Gratia, n. 30).
Law of Antagonism. 229
Word should put Himself at the head of the battle
lost by man ; and under such a captain the victory
could no longer be doubtful.
But what I wish the reader particularly to observe
here, is this, that although God Himself intervened in
the conflict, He did not thereby destroy the hostile forces
which sin had so greatly increased. On the contrary,
He left them in their full vigour, wishing to vanquish
them in a well contested fight ; and this is why the
conflict of which we are speaking became tremendous,
and the antagonism the greatest possible. No, God
would not gain the victory by annihilating the ad
verse forces, as He might have done, but only by
succouring with a Divine power those who stood up
for righteousness, that is to say, by wedding to losing
humanity His Own Eternal Word, or the grace of
the Word, (i)
As for the hostile forces, they must remain intact
the Devil and his princedom in the world (from which
he will not be driven till after a just victory), the re
bellion of the flesh, the inclination to evil, the disorder
of nature no longer harmonizing with virtue, death,
and all the other penal consequences of sin, which
entail on man, even united with the Word, and assisted
by the grace of the Word, the necessity of the keenest
(i) How the justification of men after the fall is not wrought by destroy
ing anything in them, but by implanting a new and supernatural principle of
action, elevated above all the principles of natural action, may be seen in
the Author s Dissertation On the Doctrine of Original Sin (" Dottrina del
Peccato Originate"), Quest, v. [It should be specially noted that, accord
ing to the Author, the supernatural principle of action implanted in man
does not take away his free-will, so that he can still make an evil use of it,
as experience tell us that he often does. Tr.\
2 3 o
On Divine Providence.
struggles. For, all this was necessary in order that the
invincible power of Divine grace might be luminously
shown. "And what more powerful grace" (says St.
Augustine), (i) "than the Only Begotten Son of God,
equal to, and co-eternal with, the Father, made Man
for them (sinners), and without any sin, either original,
or of His own doing, crucified by sinful men? Who,
although He rose again the third day, to die no more,
endured death for the sake of mortals ; He Who
gave life to the guilty, in order that, being redeemed
by His Blood, and having been vouchsafed such and
so great a pledge of love, they might say : If God
be for us, who is against us ? He that spared not
even His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all, how hath He not also, with Him, given us all
things ?" (2)
740. Here it is necessary to reflect that, although
all these victories proceed from God alone, neverthe
less He fights in and with man ; and for this reason
it is in very deed man who, in the hands of God,
effects so great a good. " Men," continues St. Augus
tine, " through this grace of the Saviour receive so much
freedom, that although, while they remain in this life,
they fight against the concupiscences of sins, and some
times fall, on which account they say daily, * forgive us
our trespasses, nevertheless they no longer serve that
sin which is unto death." (3)
This new strength of free-will which redeemed sin
ners acquire from Christ:, is displayed chiefly in the
fiercer conflict which they have to sustain, and which
(l) As <j noted above.
(2) Rom. viii. 31, 32. (3) As quoted.
Law of Antagonism. 231
makes their victory all the more glorious. For, as
St. Augustine again says : " Beyond all doubt, against
temptations so many and so grievous, which had no
place in Eden, a greater liberty, upheld and fortified
by the gift of perseverance, was required, in order that
this world might be vanquished, with all its loves, its
terrors, and its errors." (r) And he seems never to
weary of extolling the valour and merit of sinners
after Redemption, especially in the case of the Martyrs,
over that of Adam in the state of innocence. Lastly
he observes: "Without being threatened by any
body, on the contrary, using his free-will against the
command of God, Who threatened him, Adam failed to
maintain himself in so happy a state, easy as it was
for him not to sin ; whereas redeemed sinners, notwith
standing the threats and harsh treatment of the world
to shake their constancy, remained faithful. Moreover,
Adam beheld the goods before him which he was to
forfeit, whereas the} T did not behold the future blessings
which they were to receive. How came this about, if
not by the mercy of Him from Whom they received the
grace of remaining faithful, and a spirit, not of fear,
that they should yield to their persecutors, but of
valour, of charity, of continence, which rendered them
superior to all threats, all entreaties, all torments? To
him, then, who was free from all sin was given free
will with which he was created, and he made use of it
unto sin ; the will of the redeemed, on the contrary,
being enslaved to sin, was freed by Him Who said : (2)
If, therefore, the Son shall make you free, you shall
be free indeed. " (3)
(i) L. dc Corrept. et Gratia, n. 35.
(2) John viii. 36. (3) Loc. cit. n. 25.
232 On Divine Providence.
741. We must call to mind again and this point
can never be sufficiently insisted on that man, fallen
by sin and raised from an abyss to the eternal king
dom, by the very fact of his having been transferred
from one extreme to the other, between which there is
a measureless chaos, is feelingly persuaded of his own
nothingness and of the greatness and bounty of his
Creator. In this vivid appreciation of the greatness
and bounty of God consists his own moral perfection ;
since, as above said, perfection is constituted by the
practical recognition of God.
Man is a power ; (i) and his perfection consists in
action ; and action is all the more worth, the wider is
its scope, that is to say, the greater the distance is from
its starting-point to the point at which it terminates,
and to which it brings man. Consequently, the most
wide-reaching moral action of which man can be the
subject, is that which reaches from the extreme of
moral evil to the extreme of good ; and the farther-
reaching and the more rapid this transference, the
more intimately does he know and perceive the Good
ness and Power of God, and his own perversity and
impotence.
742. Furthermore, the moral act is of so much the
greater value in proportion to its intensity ; and it gains
in intensity by spirited conflict. Man, as at first con
stituted, had no difficult conflict to engage in, since
God could not be the author of evil, or the creator of
any nature at variance with virtue; nay, it behoved
(i) See the Author s work, Society and its Aim (" La Societa ed il suo
Fine"), lik. iv, ch. 6.
Law of Antagonism. 233
Him to dispose everything to the advantage and easier
exercise of virtue. Opposition, therefore, could not
arise except from that same free-will which made the
created being capable of sin ; and hence the Wisdom
and Bounty of God permitted sin, that in consequence
of it there might spring into existence that mighty
conflict which would bring to the cause of virtue and
God a yet mightier victory. This opposition was
brought about by sin in the following manner. Justice
demanded the punishment of prevarication. After the
transgression of the creature, therefore, God allowed the
harmony established by Him between real, intellectual,
and moral being to be destroyed ; He suffered being
under these three forms to clash in a most dreadful
manner, and the creature, by becoming a burden and a
torment to itself, to punish its own voluntary rebellion.
Wherefore, the penal consequences of sin best suited
to Divine Justice and ordered by a most wise Provi
dence to the furtherance of the good cause, were those
which engendered that contest of nature with itself,
which made St. Paul very properly liken it to a vvoman
groaning in labour. Most suitable is this similitude,
showing as it does in a forcible way that the anguish
experienced by all nature is not intended to terminate
in woe at last, but is directed by God to the obtaining
of good, even as child-birth accompanied by such bitter
pangs is afterwards followed by joy for the birth of a
son. These are the Apostle s words : " For the creature
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason
of him who made it subject, in hope ; because the crea-
tuie also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of
234 O H Divine Providence.
corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children
of God. For we know that every creature groaneth,
and travaileth in pain even till now. And not only it,
but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the
spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, wait
ing for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption
of our body." (i)
Here the Apostle, after describing the conflict which
we behold in disordered nature, goes on to point out
that this strife continues even in those who are
redeemed and justified by Christ, because there remain
in them likewise the consequences of sin \vhence the
struggle proceeds, namely, the corruption of the body,
the natural will of the flesh which lusts against the
spirit, that is to say, against that supernatural principle
which is the apex of the human spirit, the personality
placed in a state of salvation, the new man, the new
creature, whose business it is to combat and vanquish
the old man.
743. This supernatural will and activity, called into
existence in man by the grace and virtue of Christ, is
by Him pitted against corrupt and disharmonized
nature. If Christ Himself had not created in man this
new active principle, the contest would have been at an
end, because human power would have been conquered
and extinguished, man lost, a prisoner, dead for ever
more. Thus sprang up two redoubtable adversaries
which \vage fierce and unrelenting war with each other :
nature, by its own free perversion of itself, permitted
(i) Rom. viii. 20, 23.
Law of Antagonism. 235
by Almighty God, first acted as the power for evil, and
God produced the power for good> to wit, the Incarnate
Word and the grace of the Word, spread abroad in the
hearts of men, and forming in them an invisible
power able to maintain the conflict with unfailing
success. In this way was an extreme antagonism
made possible, and the most glorious of victories
secured, (i)
744. On attentive consideration it will appear
manifest that this vast plan of Divine Providence was
the only one that fully accorded with Infinite Wisdom
and Goodness, which aims at deriving from the crea
ture all moral good possible, and therefore at raising this
creature to the summit of moral perfection by the least
means available. For, as the reader is already aware,
the highest moral perfection, which is ever attended
by the greatest happiness, consists essentially in the
greatest practical knowledge of God as good ; and
God s Goodness is known only by His action, and His
action by experiencing it. In order, therefore, that
intelligent creatures might be furnished with the most
perfect knowledge of God, and so be moved to love
Him, and to work out their own sanctification
and perfection, it was fitting that they should
be made to experience the supreme act of Divine
Goodness, and so led to place all their hopes and
love in Him as in their only good ; it was fitting,
(i) The Author has pointed out, in the work entitled Society and its
Aim ("La Societa ed il suo Fine "), (Bk. iv., ch. 22, 23), how Christian
nations withstand the most severe trials without being contaminated.
236 On Divine Providence.
consequently, that they should be enabled to com
pare the good freely bestowed by God with the
good contained in themselves or in the contingent
universe.
Now, this comparison would be made most advan
tageously by carrying out the plan above described,
in which man is made sensible of all the deficiency
and nothingness of his own nature, rendered unfruitful
and degraded, or rather, rearing itself up in rebellion
and chafing against moral good and human perfection.
Nevertheless, whilst he can discover no ray of hope
either in himself or in the rest of creation, whilst he feels
that he is an enemy to himself, and that all beings,
whether they persecute or whether they flatter him, are
obstacles to his virtue ; he beholds God coming forward
to meet him, and as a still loving Father addressing
him : * Lo, 1 am thy salvation." True it is that man, as
long as he lay prostrate in evil, was not even awake to
his real condition ; being the more profoundly buried in
slumber, the more he allowed himself to be inveigled
by his enemies, and to put his trust in them. But no
sooner was he aroused and brought forth from such an
abyss of death, than he plucked up courage to recog
nize his former desperate condition, and the happy
state that had succeeded to it. It is on this account
that those fortunate souls which undergo so desirable
a change, still bearing the traces of woes and exulting
over the advantages which have been gratuitously
bestowed upon them, are filled with unspeakable
admiration for God s Goodness, and feel themselves
constrained to fling away all inordinate love for finite
Law of Antagonism. 237
things, which had caused them irreparable ruin, and to
transfer their affection to their Creator and Saviour,
to whom they are indebted for so stupendous a
deliverance from evil, and for such an abundance of
blessings.
God the only Saviour of the creature : this was the
wonderful conception to be revealed to intelligent
creatures by way of experience, and this was alone to
afford scope to the greatest love, the most sublime
perfection, the most perfect canticle of glory, to the
Supreme Being.
745. Finite beings, then, in consequence of sin
permitted by Almighty God, became the adversaries
of good and the allies of evil ; the Infinite Being, God,
was the only power that remained to fight in the cause
of good. Thus the words of Isaias received their
perfect accomplishment: "The Lord ALONE shall be
exalted." (i) But this exaltation of God alone was
for the benefit of His lost creature, and God employed
His power for good to the advantage of man, by
uniting Himself to man in the Incarnation. Hence,
Christ was the hero destined to fight the great fight ;
He was the only one who could claim to have
" trodden the winepress alone," and to have had not
a man of the Gentiles with Him. (2)
746. What, then, did human nature contribute to its
own salvation? Before it was redeemed and saved by
God, nothing more than this, itself, as the object to be
saved. A passage of St. Bernard concerning free-will is
(i) Is. ii. ii. (2) Ibid. Ixiii. 3.
238 On Divine Providence.
to our purpose. " How stands the matter, thou sayest,
with regard to free-will ? I answer briefly : it is saved.
Take away free-will, and there remains nothing to be
saved : take away grace, and there remains nothing
that can save. This work cannot be accomplished
without two things ; the one by which it is performed,
the other for which, or in which, it is performed. God
is the Author of salvation, free-will is but capable of
being saved. God alone can grant salvation, free-will
can only receive it. What, therefore, proceeds from
God alone, and is conferred on free-will alone, cannot
exist without the consent of the receiver, just as it
cannot exist without the grace of the giver. Thus,
free-will is said to co-operate with operating grace
by giving its consent, that is to say, by being saved.
For, to consent is to be saved." (i) By free-will is here
to be understood man s will, free to perform some
natural good, but incapable by itself of attaining to
everlasting life, so that it is saved by God when by
Christ it is made capable thereof.
747. But it will be worth our while to consider one
at a time the two mighty combatants, the two powers
which are embattled on this field of the world, as long
as the world lasts, the power of good and the poxver
of evil.
The power of evil, as we saw, was constituted bv the
whole of finite creation, which fell from the first order
of things in which it had been established by the
Creator. The finite being which admits of moral evil
(l) De Gratia ct I.il/cro Arbilrio, n. 2.
Law of Antagonism. 239
is that endowed with intellect and will ; and two kinds
are known to us, angels and men. That the opposi
tion to good might be the most violent possible,
God allowed that both should sin.
748. The prevaricating angels were forthwith
changed into demons, and we may well believe that,
in conformity with the law of variety, as many of them
fell as there are degrees of evil of which the angelic
nature is capable ; and that there remained faithful as
many as are the degrees of goodness to which their
nature can attain. The power of evil, therefore, came
into existence \vith the demons.
749. Moreover the devil later on seduced man,
thereby gaining a first victory, and corrupting man s
nature in such a way that the flaw was to be propagated
to all the individuals of the human race, excepting
solely the predestined Redeemer ; (i) mankind differing
in this respect from the angels, that a large part of
these remained unfallen. Henceforward, human
nature became the object of the most fearful war
between God and the devil. Humanity which Satan
sought to gain over to his side, thereby to recruit the
powers of evil, was to be saved by God, and after hav
ing lent itself as the battle-field, if I may so say, of the
belligerents, was to form the trophy of God s victory.
Man s nature occupied in the scale of intelligent
creatures the lowest place, being feeble, mortal, obliged
to derive the elementary matter of its cognition from
bodies, and God from all eternity had decreed to elevate
(i) Even the Mother of the Redeemer was cbnoxia fcccalo, but was
preserved from the stain of original sin in virtue of the grace of Christ.
240 On Divine Providence.
it by His all-powerful goodness and grace above all
the nobler creatures, above angelic intelligences, nay,
even to set it on God s own throne and make it the
object of the adoration of the whole universe.
All the most exalted creatures were, according to
this Divine plan, to bow down before human nature
and pay it adoration. Now, it would appear that, even
before this grand design was carried into execution,
God revealed it to the angelic intelligences, concealing
from them, however, the manner in which it was
to be brought about ; on which account in Holy
Writ it is styled " the mystery which hath been
hidden from ages." (i) Such was the device to
which the Wisdom of God would seem to have had
recourse in order to raise the angels to the highest
pitch of moral perfection, and consequently to the
summit of felicity. For, the angels, by having revealed
to them so recondite a mystery of His counsel before it
was realized, were given the opportunity of raising
themselves to the most intimate knowledge of God,
and of themselves, and of making the most perfect act
of appreciation, love, confidence, and faith in their
Creator. Indeed, by reposing implicit faith in the
word of God, inexplicable though it was to their minds,
and by adhering with all their heart to His Supreme
Will, they acknowledged that the Infinite is all,
and the finite when compared with it, nothing; in
other \vords, they saw not only that the existence
of the finite depends on the Infinite, but that all
exaltation and happiness of the finite, far from being
the outcome of its own powers, depend, instead,
(i) Colos. i. 26.
Law of Antagonism. 241
solely on the free-will and power of the Infinite. Thus
they understood how necessary it is that the finite
should not place confidence in itself, but exclusively in
its Creator, Whom all the forces of the finite cannot
prevent from controlling them according to His own
good pleasure, since He it is Who gives them exist
ence.
The angelic intelligences, being illumiaed with the
knowledge of so profound a truth, were in a position
to honour and glorify God by voluntarily embracing
that truth, by subjecting themselves to His Will, and
avowing themselves ready with blind and unfaltering
faith in God s word to humble themselves, as they
were so exalted by nature, beneath that Human Being,
comparatively so mean, yet foreknown from eternity
as assumed to the fellowship of God Himself and
seated on the right hand of the Father. Only by such
a voluntary abasement of finite creatures before the
Infinite Creator was the greatest glory of God, and at
the same time the greatest moral perfection of the
angelic creation, to be obtained.
750. Now, some of the angels suffered themselves
to be held back by the instinct of their finite reality,
and for its sake refused to satisfy the moral exigency
of Infinite Being, which demanded that self-abasement
from which their own perfection and the protection
and favour of the Almighty would have accrued. By
this refusal they fell. Others, on the contrary, willinglv
humbled their own finite reality beneath the decree of
the Infinite, and as if annihilating themselves before
Him, did what was their bounden duty. Their
Maker, to reward their steadfastness, took them to
Himself, and made them eternally happy in the
242 On Divine Providence.
beatific vision. By their act of humiliation they
gained a most clear practical knowledge of the great
ness and beauty of God, who in that very instant
gave Himself to them to be known and enjoyed by
them for all eternity.
751. God made use of a certain Human Being,
and of a certain system of human affairs to serve as a
kind of sign by which to reveal to the angels His
Divine attributes, (i) His Wisdom, Goodness and
(i) With regard to the angelic nature the same line of argument holds
good which we pursued when speaking of man. It was then demonstrated
that man could not have been taught t-> understand the Wisdom and
Goodness of God, had not this Wisdom and Goodness been manifested in
creation, which is a combination of signs from which may be inferred the
Supreme Goodness and Wisdom of the creative act. Man as long as he
remains in this life puts together these signs, and ascends by means of them
to the conception of the Essential Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator.
But when he is admitted to behold the Creator Himself, then he perceives
the creative act, which is the Divine Essence, and contemplates in it without
any medium the Creative Wisdom of God. Thus the knowledge of God
which ihe blessed have is the complement of that which may be had bv
in at ores (i.e., by men whilst still wayfarers on earth). Now, the same,
if I mistake not, is to be said of the angels knowledge ; with this difference,
however, that while men on earth get their knowledge of corporeal things
by means of passive sensations, produced in them by the action of bodies,
angeK on the other hand, have knowledge of bodies by means of t he-
active sensations produced by them in t the bodies themselves. In this
manner bodies may be signs of cognitions of a high order to both men and
angels, and means of communication between them. And as the scnsa/icns
and images are (to use a Scholastic Latin term) the sfecies, whereby men
come to the knowledge of bodies : so the a* live sensations are the sp< i i\~s, if
they may be so called, proper to angels. According to the opinion \\hich I
incline to, these active sensations are implanted in the angelic nature and
created with it, in a way similar to that in which \\\Q fundamental sent inu ;//,
by which man feels his own body, is innate, that is to say, implanted in
human nature and created along with it. It is in this way that I explain the
Law of Antagonism. 243
Power. This revelation was to them the occasion of a
free choice, either of perdition or of salvation, accord
ingly as they acknowledged or declined to acknowledge
knowledge angels have per species innatas, by which, as St. Thomas says,
cognoscunt res in propria natura (S. p. I., q. Iviii., art. 7). This granted,
there is no reason why we should not distinguish in the creation of the
angels (as to logical order, though not as to time) the creation of their
subjective reality which may be signified by the word ccelum in the first
verse of Genesis, In principle creavit Deus ccclutn et terrain (that is to
say, the heavenly, or angelic nature, and the earthly, or human nature),
from the communication of the intellectual light, in other words, of the
object which constitutes the form of the angelic intelligence. This com
munication would correspond to the first day of creation, of which it is said :
"Be light made. And light was made" (v. 3); for St. Augustine,
commenting on this passage, says : Lux qua angelica mens formata est
(De Gen. ad litt. bk. iv., n. 50). Moreover, as the work of creation is
divided into six days, so we may reasonably suppose that six activities,
or active sentiments in other words, six angelic perceptions, took place.
These would correspond to that knowledge which St. Augustine calls
vespertina.
From all that has been said it is easy to see that the angels non accipiunt
cognitionein a rebus (St. Thomas, S. p. I., q. Iviii., art. 7), since they
are not, as men are, passive with respect to corporeal things, but have
them for terms of their own activity. It does not follow from this that
they are the creators of bodies, since God is the sole Creator of angels with
all their activities, and of the term of these their natural activities, namely,
bodies ; as in like manner, it is God that creates the fundamental sentiment
which belongs to man and space, although space is the term of that senti
ment. As to the cognitio matutina of the angels, this is the knowledge by
which they know things secnndum quod stint in Verbo, by which they see
things in the creative act, in the Divine Essence ; hence, it belongs to the
angels in a state of beatitude, in which condition they are passive. St.
Augustine thus expresses himself : Mens vero angelica PURA CHARITATE
INH^ERENS VERBO DEI, postea quam illo ordine creata est ut prcecederet
cetera, prius ea vidit in Verbo Dei facienda quam facta sunt (De Gen. ad.
litt. bk. iv., n. 49). This reasoning is not inconsistent with what the same
Doctor likewise affirms, that the angelic intelligence illo ordine creata est
ut prcecedat cetera, since he does not here speak of the order of time, but of
a logical order, as may be gathered from what he adds afterwards (1. c. n.
51-55)-
244 On Divine Providence .
the greatness of God marked out and displayed to
them in the creation of human nature. Now, that
same Man, together with the system devised by God,
afterwards formed the ground of conflict between the
rebel angels and their Creator, whose design they
strove to frustrate and annul by the use of those
natural powers of theirs in which they had so rashly
trusted when they sinned in the beginning.
752. Hence, in Scripture, God is frequently repre
sented as taking mankind under the shelter of His
wings, saving it from the enemy; and for thus saving
man, amid so many perils, He is glorified and extolled.
Such is the subject of the Q2nd Psalm, among others,
wherein occur certain ancient figures of speech peculiar
to Holy Writ, which have become for us enigmatical.
Thus, instead of saying man the Psalmist says earth, and
instead of the powers of hell he says the sea &T\& floods.
We often meet in the Bible with this allegorical reference
to the stormy ocean and to surging floods which threaten
to swallow up the land, and to God, Who puts a stop to
their encroachment, opposing an impassable barrier to
the proud ocean, and defending the land against its
incursions. The following poetical passage is as
beautiful and sublime as it is brief:
" The Lord (Jehovah) hath reigned, He is clothed
with beauty : the Lord is clothed with strength, and
hath girded Himself. For He hath established the
world (earth) which shall not be moved. Thy throne,
(O God,) is prepared from of old : Thou art from ever
lasting.
" The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have
lifted up their voice.
" The floods have lifted up their waves, with the
noise of many waters.
Law of Antagonism. 245
" Wonderful are the surges of the sea : more
wonderful is the Lord on high. Thy testimonies are
become exceedingly credible (trustworthy) : holiness
becometh Thy house, O Lord, unto length of days."
753. That the interpretation of this Psalm which I
have just given is not arbitrary, may be gathered from
the title prefixed to it in the Hebrew text, which
says that this canticle of praise was for the day
preceding the Sabbath, that is, for the sixth day of the
week, the day on which man was formed. The world
(earth), which is said to be established on that day, is
no other than mankind, which God undertakes to
defend with might against the enemies signified by
the sea and the roaring floods ; (i) for, in the day in
which man was created, he had no other enemies to
fear save the rebel angels. For this reason the throne
which in the Psalm is said to be prepared even then
for Jehovah, is the throne of theMan-God predestined in
the eternal decree by which God made Him man, and
the Divine testimonies which are said to be faithful,
are no other than this decree, which was to have its
most complete fulfilment in spite of all the formidable
power of the demons. This interpretation receives
confirmation and new light from the verse with
which the Psalm concludes; for, mention is there made
of God s house, the unfailing ornament of which must
(i) Henry Rosenmliller also entertains no doubt, at least about this fact,
that by the sea and floods in this Psalm are not to be understood the sea
and floods in a material sense, but hostile forces: Significatur potentia
impetusquehorribilishostium ut scepe alias exercitus numero si, omnia instar
fluvii inundantis , fluminibus comparantur, velut Is. uiii, "J-8 ; xvii, 1213;
Jer. xh>i, 7-8. Simili imagine, he observes again, ad adumbrandum
irruentern Gracorum exercitum usus est Virgilius, sEneid. //, 494, seqq.
(Scholia in h. 1.)
246 On Divine Providence.
be holiness, unto the end of the world. Now , this
house of God is mankind, wherein God chose to dwell
by becoming man, and by communicating Himself to
the faithful by means of faith. Wherefore He founded
a chosen society of men, the Church, styled with pro
priety the temple, or house of God, whose characteristic
mark is to be holy, in accordance with the aim God
had in creating the world, and of which Solomon s
temple was no more than a figure, (i)
754. God, however, had designed to defeat the devil,
not by the use of His Power alone, but by opposing
to him His Wisdom, an undeviating law of which is
that of the Least Means. He accordingly gave the
devil licence to do all that evil which was necessary
in order that from created forces, from their most
varied development, from their very limitations and
shortcomings, there might result every possible kind
of good. With this same intent God allowed Satan to
tempt, seduce, and blight the stock from which the whole
human race was to spring. But notwithstanding sin
and the infection spread from it throughout the whole
human race, He had reserved for Himself a Maid, free
from all defilement of original sin, (2) from whose blood,
without the intervention of man, was begotten a Man
who should be at the same time God, the Man-God
(i) This is the theme, too, of Psalm xxiii.
(2) Since the distortion of the will that constitutes original sin arises from
the corruption of the flesh, God, determining to raise an individual from its
lowest depths to an untold degree of moral perfection, might have
disposed even the natural causes of generation in such a way that at a given
time this individual should be born untainted by that physical infection
which is the immediate and efficient cause of the moral disorder. Never
theless, this, too, was a most singular privilege, for that individual, as we
have already seen, was peccato obnoxia.
Law of Antagonism. 247
Who was to bring plentiful redemption unto mankind,
and in this way to overthrow and put to shame the
devil.
Such a creation of the Divine Power arid Wisdom
was in a manner demanded by the Law of Variety,
which required that even this form of human excellence
should not be found wanting.
Moreover, it was in the Son of the Virgin that
human nature reached the height of its greatness and
majesty, for in Him it was indissolubly united to God by
the very closest of bonds, that of personal union ;
and He by Himself was superabundantly able to
redeem all other men from the bonds of the enemy, and
to raise them from the abyss of sin to whatever degree
it pleased Him of moral perfection. Thus it behoved
Him to be a member of the human race, both on
account of the Law of the Least Means, (i) and of that
of Excluded Equality.
755. After this manner did that great Individual of
the human species come among us, Who was to hold
the chiefdom in the vast family of human beings,
nay, the highest place in all creation, which, by the
bond of personal union, was in Him linked to the
Creator. Thus was realized not merely the Archetype
of humanity, but the deification of human nature. Thus
was man, a being inferior to all other intelligences,
nay, even what was meanest in man, his very flesh,
exalted to so sublime a dignity, as to deserve the
adoration of all angelic minds : AND THE WORD WAS
(i) This is precisely the reason St. Thomas adduces : Ad Ire-vitatem via
quam sapiens operator observat, pertinet quod non faciat per multa quod
sufficienterpotest fieri per unum. Etideo convenienlissitnum fuit, quod per
unum hominem omnes alii salvarentur (S., p. III., q. iv., art. 5)-
248 On Divine Providence.
MADE FLESH. Thus was that primitive Divine decree
fulfilled which had proved a stumbling-block to the
rebel angels, and a source of moral perfection and of
endless bliss to those that remained faithful. Thus
the demons, who had refused to believe in a mystery
so repugnant to their pride, beheld the mystery
revealed and accomplished, even as God had assured
them ; they now became aware that they themselves
had co-operated in bringing about its fullest and most
glorious execution by those very measures which they
had imagined best calculated to mar it, namely, the
seduction of the first man and the poisoning of the
very springs of life, of the principle of generation.
756. The highest type of humanity is Christ, Who
stands at the head of all mankind and of the universe,
and reaches the very Godhead, possessing as He does
the Divine Nature, and subsisting as a Divine Person.
But in order that the law of wisdom might be carried
out to its full extent, and human nature be developed
in all its various forms, from the highest to the lowest,
it was requisite that all the full species, that is to say,
all the types contained in the essence of man, should
also be realized. This involved a very numerous
series of human individuals corresponding to the types
of good, and a very numerous series of human in
dividuals corresponding to the types of evil : the latter
all to the advantage and exaltation of the former.
757. The individuals destined to correspend to the
types of good were to be taken from the corrupted mass
in virtue of Christ s merits, and made vessels of election.
The individuals destined to correspond to the types of
evil were to be the work of the devil and of themselves,
not directly willed by God, but merely permitted,
Law of Antagonism. 249
that so the devil might delude himself, and, with his
associates, concur in producing that maximum of good
that was to be derived from creatures with the
minimum of divine intervention.
758. Now, how could Christ communicate a portion
of His holiness to other men, who had become unprofit
able by sin r The obstacle to this communication arose
from the eternal law of justice which demands : " that
the sum of moral evil should be equally balanced with
eudemonological evil ; " in such a way that the created
will that prefers the good of its own finite reality to
the moral exigency of the infinite, should experience
in its own reality as much of pain as it sought of
pleasure. Christ took upon Himself to pay the
enormous debt contracted by human nature ; and
having paid and more than paid the debt, He was
able to save all those men whom His Supreme Bounty
deemed it best to save.
759. But to discharge the debt due to Eternal
Justice, He once more availed Himself of the power of
evil, namely, of the devil, and of such men as God
permitted to be banded together with him. Here again
we have an example of God s drawing good from evil,
and of the necessity of antagonism to obtain the
greatest good, with the least amount of intervention on
the part of the Almighty, but simply, so far as may be,
through the action of creatures themselves. God
accordingly permitted that the devil, and men in
league with him, should put to death Christ, Who
could not be seduced, like Adam, but Who, if
He Himself willed it, could die. Wherefore Christ
Himself said in the Garden : " Thinkest thou that
I cannot ask My Father, and He will give Me
250 On Divine Providence.
presently more than twelve legions of angels ?"(i)
Many are the truths contained in these words.
In the first place, that Christ submitted to His
passion willingly, and not in consequence of a stern
command laid upon Him by His Father; since, had He
prayed the Father in an absolute manner, the Father
would have delivered Him from death by sending
many legions of angels to His assistance. But this
He would not agree to, except on the condition of not
losing an iota of the greatest possible amount of good
which could be purchased by His death ; for He savour
ed the things that are of God, not the things that are
of men, (2) the things of the Infinite, not those of the
finite. He had already besought His Father that His
chalice might pass away, but only, if it were possible,
this is to say, if by its passing away no particle of the
maximum of good to be derived from creatures by the
least means, should be lost. Now, that this maximum
of good could not be obtained without the death of
Christ a calculation quite beyond the grasp of human
minds was writ in the eternal decree, and re
corded in the Old Testament. Hence Christ added:
"How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it
must be done?" (3) It was as if He had said: " I would
beg of the Father to dispatch His angels to defend Me
from death, were I not aware that it is set down in Holy
Writ that I am to die. This clearly shows that My
death is necessary in the great plan of Divine Good
ness, which intends to derive the greatest amount of
good with the least expenditure of power, and to this
loving design I most willingly submit. This is My
(i) Matt. xxvi. 53. (2) Cf. Matt. xvi. 23.
(3) Matt. xxvi. 54.
L aw of A ntagonism . 251
Father s will, and therefore He it is Who holds out to
Me this bitter chalice. ( i ) It is My will also, because I,
too, as God, desire that greatest amount of good which
My Father wills. As man, I submit to this Divine Will
blindly, that is to say, without diving into the profound
reasons of this disposition, and as if I were totally
unacquainted with them, since I know full well that
My Father s Will cannot be other than most excellent
in its intent, and in itself worthy of adoration. Where
fore, if I were to summon to My defence legions of
angels, and I should without doubt have them if I
asked for them unconditionally from My Father, all this
angelic power would be lavished to no avail, seeing
that the means would not be the least when gauged
by the end to be attained; consequently, I should be
acting contrary to Eternal Wisdom and to the Will of
My Father. I submit, therefore, and choose rather
in undeserved passion and death. I willingly allow
the hostile powers to attack Me with all their natural
resources, and once more to defeat human nature in
the fight. My Father will know well how to turn this
momentary discomfiture into an everlasting victory."
760. It would be a crying injustice for an innocent
man to be put to a most atrocious death, had he not
himself renounced his right, and voluntarily accepted
it. But such great sufferings endured by Christ without
a cause, became in His hands a credit of infinite value,
which the Father s justice was bound to acknowledge,
since it is a canon of eternal justice "that all undeserved
suffering should be compensated by an equal amount
of joy." Now, what recompense, what joy did Christ
demand from His Father ? The salvation of His
(i) Jo. xviii. ii.
252 On Divine Providence.
brethren, the rest of mankind. Christ s love towards
men, therefore, took advantage of the enormous credit
which He held in relation to God s justice to pay off
the debt incurred by sinful humanity. Thus were ac
counts balanced to the immense advantage of man, and
the equilibrium, required by Eternal Justice, between
sin and its punishment, once more restored. After
the removal of this obstacle, human nature could be
healed of all its moral infirmities by the communica
tion of the grace of the Incarnate Word, Who was able
to communicate Himself to all human beings in any
measure He pleased. And what was this measure r
Precisely that which Infinite Wisdom and Goodness
determined ; that which agreed with the Law of the
Least Means. Almighty God dispensed and continues
to dispense that amount of grace which He knows will
bring in the largest returns.
761. Accordingly, Christ was empowered to elect
as many individuals of the human family as He saw
vacant mansions in His Father s house, (i) What else
could be meant by those mansions but the types
of human nature corresponding to the various
possible forms of good which flow from the essence of
human nature, and which were from the beginning
distinguished in the creative act, wherein Christ, even
as man, beholds the models of the living stones to be
built up into God s holy temple ?
762. But beneath this hierarchy of the predestined
commences another series of realized human types, in
which it is likely that at the end of the world will be
displayed all the forms which can be assumed by
human nature devoid of grace, and sunk in sin. It
(i) John xiv. 2.
Law of Antagonism. 253
may be, however, that of these forms of evil developed
in time, not all are to last for ever, but that only
those forms will remain as final, which, in accordance
with God s reckoning", will be found necessary for the
greater glory of the saints, and, in general, to fill up
the measure of good obtainable from humanity.
763. With regard to those human individuals who
represent the evil human nature is capable of in all
its varied forms and gradations, we must never lose
sight of the fact that they are not placed in that de
plorable state through God s agency, but through the
devil s, and by the abuse of their own free-will. God
does nothing more than permit more or less of wicked
ness, and prevent more or less of it by His grace, so
that finally there may exist that variety which is
necessary to the highest degree of beauty in the
world, and the greatest amount of fruit that it can
yield.
In fact, this maximum was only to be obtained
through the most violent contest, and this could only
be brought about by constituting a most powerful
opposing force which, in truth, was made up of the
rebel angels and of humanity allied with and enslaved
to them. Of this humanity there remained on God s
side no more than a lowly virgin, called by the
prophets a rod coming forth out of the root of Jesse,
from which root was to bud forth a flower whereon
the Spirit of the Lord was to rest, (i) This budding
shoot contained all the power for good.
764. Human nature thus appeared to be too un
evenly divided between good and evil, since the
whole of it sided with evil, except one individual of
(i) Is. xi. i, 2.
254 @ n Divine Providence.
the weaker sex, without lustre of pedigree or influence
in the world. Again, this very individual was not
preserved from evil by any virtue of her own, but by
disposition of the Creator Who intended to constitute
her as the starting point of His glory. Thus it
came to pass that whilst human nature, with the
exception of the Virgin of Nazareth, grew ever more
degenerate, the Lord of the Universe said : " Behold
I come" (i) to draw forth from the finite, become
utterly worthless, an Infinite good. Then the Word
was made flesh, and a terrible war began, not between
two opposing forces of nature, but between the natural
and the supernatural.
765. The flower that thus blossomed on the rod of
Jesse was in itself a product of infinite worth and
loveliness ; it was a human individual exalted above
all human greatness, an individual Who was GOD.
Hence, even if all the rest of the human species had
been lost, human nature would have brought forth
most abundant fruit. The victory over evil by this
fact alone was secured. But Christ, as has been seen,
saved in addition innumerable other men, and paid
most profusely the debt of all. He saved, namely,
all those that were given Him by the Father, (2) to
Whom is continually attributed in Scripture the great
secret of predestination. Indeed, the calculation of
the greatest amount of good to which predestination
corresponds, can be adequately grasped by the mind
of God alone. The Father made an eternal decree,
wherein the Word, Who made it along with the Father,
counted (so to say) how many, and of what kind, were
to be the individuals of the human race raised to glory,
(i) Ps. xxxix. 8. (2) John xvii. 6-24.
Law of Antagonism. 255
in order that His vineyard might prove most fruitful ;
and by beholding them He created them.
766. As, then, the Man-God was to bestow His
gifts on men according to the method required for
the obtaining of the greatest results, how did He
set about His great work?
He divided into two parts the restoration of His
fellow-men, according to the two elements of which
man is composed : ist, the restoration of the personal
element; 2nd, the restoration of the natural element,
He, moreover, arranged to work out this twofold
restoration in two distinct times most remote from
each other according to man s reckoning. For, the
restoration of the human person takes place as soon as
man believes and is baptized ; whereas the restoration
of human nature is effected at the end of the world by
the resurrection of the body. Both these restorations
are styled in Holy Writ regenerations (i), since by the
first the person is regenerated, and by the second,
man s nature, which is constituted by the union of the
soul with the body. Thus these two restorations, or
regenerations, are separated by a wide interval, part of
which is made up of the life each one leads on earth.
During this life, in which man, though regenerated
as to the spirit, is linked to a body that is corrupted,
disordered, and dead, I mean to say, deserving of
destruction and death, there continues for each one
of the just the combat, the antagonism which we
have seen to be necessary for the perfection of virtue,
and the absence of which would do away with the
moral valour of the combatants, the most signal of
victories, and the most glorious of triumphs.
(i) Tit. iii. 5 ; Matt. xix. 28.
256 On Divine Providence.
767. Certain it is that, if the soul had not been
regenerated by Christ, and a supernatural principle,
the basis of a new personality, created within it, there
would be no question of conflict or victory, since the
champion would be wanting who alone might fight
for the good cause and gain the day, namely, the
supernatural principle which contends with all re
fractory nature. But if, together with the soul, Jesus
Christ had forthwith restored the body also, a thing
He might easily have effected by His power, in this
case again there would have been no chance of a con
flict, since there would have been no adversary in the
field for man to meet. In the first case the contest
would have been impossible, because the power for
evil would have been the only one in existence ; in the
second case, because there would only have been the
power for good. In neither of these two cases would
the two contending parties necessary for the struggle
have been brought together.
768. The present life, therefore, is for the individual
who is redeemed a time of warfare, according to those
words, "the life of man upon earth is a warfare." (i)
The whole length of time the world will last is a period
of conflict for the great mass of redeemed individuals
who form the City 0} God. On this account the King
dom of heaven is by Christ likened to a corn-field,,
over which an enemy has sowed cockle ; for the cockle
impedes the growth of the corn. Nevertheless, the
master sees that it could not be rooted up without
damaging the corn ; wherefore he orders his servants
to wait till the harvest time to gather it in. "The
harvest," as our Blessed Lord explained, * is the end
(i) Job vii, I.
Law of Antagonism. 257
of the world. And the reapers are the Angels. Even
as cockle therefore is gathered up, and burnt with fire ;
so shall it be at the end of the world. The SON OF
MAN (the Conqueror) shall send His Angels, and they
shall gather out of His kingdom all scandals, and
them that work iniquity, and shall cast them into the
furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the just shine as the sun, in the
kingdom of their Father." (i) The sun here meant
is JESUS Christ Himself, Whom His followers shall
resemble.
769. Now, having seen what time has been allotted
to the conflict, the reader must next consider in what
manner this warfare is conducted.
But first let us sum up in a few brief propositions
what has been already considered.
The Infinite Goodness of God determined to raise
the work of His hands to the highest degree of moral
perfection. This supreme degree consists in the most
perfect knowledge of God s Goodness, Wisdom and
Power. Such knowledge could not be obtained except
by a comparison between the creature s nothingness
and the Creator s infinity. God, consequently, gave
creatures an opportunity of performing a most profound
act of self-abasement before Him, by recognizing their
nothingness as contrasted with His greatness. On His
giving such an opportunity to the angels by revealing
to them the mystery of Divinized Humanity, some
adored It, voluntarily abased themselves, acknow
ledged the greatness of God, and thus attained to that
most sublime knowledge which constitutes the summit
of moral perfection ; others trusted in themselves more
(I) Matt. xiii. 39-43.
II. S
258 On Divine Providence.
than in the power of that grace which held out such
great promises to human nature, and forthwith became
hideous demons. Man, too, seduced by the Devil,
trusted in nature rather than in God and God s word.
A like presumption was transmitted from father to
son, a solitary exception being made in the case of
the Virgin Mary, in whom the Divine Word found a
pure and unsullied resting-place in which to become
incarnate, and thus to restore to mankind a principle
of salvation.
Next, it must be borne in mind that the Incarnate
Word gave men "the power to be made the sons of
God." (i) But, as they were to be raised to that height
of moral perfection at which Infinite Goodness aims,
it was required of them to co-operate in their own
salvation. For this reason the alternative was again
set before them, either of acknowledging the nothing
ness of nature as compared with the Creator, and of
laying aside in consequence all confidence in finite
beings, and trusting entirely in the Infinite; or, of
trusting in, and clinging to, the finite. God gave them
the supernatural power to adhere to the better part in
this alternative: He gave them instructions to this
effect, and assured them of their success in the end.
They had most pressing need of such guidance, and
for this reason He taught them unheard-of lessons of
wisdom. He said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek :
for they shall possess the land. Blessed are they that
mourn : for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have
their fill. Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain
(i) John i. 12.
Law of Antagonism. 259
mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart : for they shall
see God. Blessed are the peace-makers : for they shall
be called the children of God. Blessed are they that
suffer persecution for justice sake : for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven." (i)
The pith of this divine lesson is, briefly: "Blessed are
they that reckon nature as a mere nothing in com
parison with what is above nature; blessed are they
that trust not in what is finite, but in what is Infinite,
that prefer the Creator to the creature/ 5
But those words imply still more.
770. If nature had not been deteriorated by sin,
and if man s nature, even after the regeneration of
the spirit, had not remained in a disordered condi
tion, JESUS CHRIST would never have pronounced
the poor to be blessed, for wealth in itself is not an
evil ; He would riot have called blessed the meek who
yield to violence, because it is not wrong to repel
unjust aggression by force; He would not have said
that those who mourn are blessed, because, once more,
there is no harm in the smile of pleasure. While
nature was still untainted the sweets of nature were
spread before man ; riches, power, natural pleasure
would all have harmonized with virtue, and not have
formed a harmful allurement. On the contrary, as
things are, such goods oftentimes prove an incentive
to evil ; moreover, they have become fleeting and
transitory, even as nature itself given over to death is
fleeting and transitory. In fine, even supposing they
were neither seductive, nor fallacious, nor perishable,
still they could not constitute the happiness of a man
that has been regenerated, elevated so far above the
(i) Matt. v. 3-10.
260 On Divine Providence.
natural order, born of the Holy Ghost, Who has in store
for him a bliss so great that all the delights nature
could give in exchange for it must pall. The happiness
of the redeemed sinner, therefore, is incomparably supe
rior to all pleasures the creature can afford nay, it is
wholly independent of them, or rather, so far above
them that no created good can augment it, and, what
is most marvellous, such that the very evils that exist
in creation, are the fittest means for securing it in its
very fullest extent.
771. On this account man thus renewed and regener
ated was likewise taught to distrust merely natural
good, as being infected with deadly poison, according
to the words of St. John : " All that is in the world,
is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence
of the eyes, and the pride of life And the world
passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof. But
he that doth the will of God, abideth for ever." (i) He
was taught and admonished to look upon those goods
as flattering and deceitful, since nature quickly fades
and passes away, whereas the supernatural principle
imparts to man what nature cannot give, immortality,
which is man s all. (2)
"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the
flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live
according to the flesh, you shall die. But if by the
spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall
live. "(3) The immortal life here spoken of which God
(i) i. John ii. 16, 17.
(2) Immortality is here referred to in its complete sense, namely, of soul
and body. For proofs of the natural immortality of the soul, see Psy
chology, Vol. I., Bk. v. Tr.
(3) Rom. viii. 12, 13
Law of A ntagon ism . 261
promises to those who confide in Him alone, and not
in nature, is so full of delight, that the very sufferings
endured for it by corrupt human nature cease to be
suffering. " For I reckon that the sufferings of this
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to
come, that shall be revealed in us. For the expectation
of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of
God."(0
772. Here we have a satisfactory reason for God s
allowing nature to become disorganized, and to break
away from that admirable alliance with virtue, whose
cause it had espoused in the beginning, supplying it
with every aid, and thwarting it in nothing. At
present, nature is frequently at variance with virtue,
acting the part of an unfaithful servant, and instead of
lending a helping hand, causing all kinds of annoyance.
But this very opposition brings out more luminously
than ever the sublime power of the virtue ingrafted
by Christ on tainted nature, and its independence on
the finite, over which the Infinite, to Whom alone that
triumphant virtue belongs, had gained so splendid a
victory.
773. Such was the Redeemer s Gospel to mankind.
And did men receive it r
Some did, others did not. The former, by siding
with Christ, formed part of the power for good ; the
latter, by joining Satan, increased the power for evil.
God once more permitted the defection of the latter,
because this also was seen to be necessary to the
production of the greatest good and of the most com
plete victory.
774. Now, as the moral good acquired by those who
(i) Rom. viii. 18, 19.
262 On Divine Providence.
believed and followed Christ was of such value that all
moral good within the bounds of nature sinks into
utter insignificance beside it ; so the moral wickedness
of those who disbelieved and would not follow Christ,
assumes a heinousness of the very deepest dye.
Wherefore is it written that Christ came to bring
separation between men; (i) and that He is set for
the fall and for the resurrection of many; (2) that He
is the corner-stone, and " whosoever shall fall on this
stone, shall be broken ; but on whomsoever it shall
fall, it shall grind him to powder." (3) For this
reason Christ said : " If I had not come, and spoken
to them they would not have sin : but now they have
no excuse for their sin/ (4) They have no excuse,
because to all those to whom the Gospel was preached
was grace held out together with the Gospel ; but
they, through their unworthy dispositions, rejected it,
and by this refusal, according to the prophecy of
Simeon, " out of many hearts, thoughts were re
vealed." (5) In consequence of these their evil dis
positions, they were not of God s planting ; and u every
plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted,
shall be rooted up." (6)
775. True it is, that as God alone is to be glorified
in whatever good is done, not even those who believed
did so of their own power, but by a gratuitous gift, by
God s free election of them from all eternity. Hence
God says by the mouth of Isaias : " I was found by
them that did not seek Me : I appeared openly to
them that asked not after Me." (7) If God had not
(1) Matt. x. 35. (4) John xv. 22.
(2) Luke ii. 34. (5) Luke ii. 35.
(3) Matt. xxi. 42-44. (6) Matt. xv. 13.
(7) Quoted by St. Paul, Rom. x. 20.
Law of Antagonism* 263
thus disposed the economy of their salvation, they
would not have been able to know the infinity and
Essential Goodness of God, nor to feel that unspeak
able gratitude towards Him which forms the crowning
point of their perfection. And yet those who have be
lieved the Gospel must have had some remote predis
position to faith, w T hich may have consisted in their
being undeceived with respect to creatures, and in their
having but a low esteem of their own worth. This
want of self-depreciation was the occasion of the Jews
infidelity ; for they neglected to receive the grace of
faith in Christ through overweening confidence in
their own good works, in the external works of the
Law of Moses, and in the advantages of the natural
order promised to those who observed that Law.
They thus failed to yield to God the full measure of
glory, according to which the creature attributes
everything to the Creator, and nothing to itself. Such
is the mystery of the reprobation of the Jews and
of the vocation of the Gentiles, explained by the
Apostle, (i) "The Gentiles," he says, "who followed
not after justice, have attained to justice, even the
justice that is of faith. But Israel, by following after
the law of justice, is not come unto the law of justice.
Why so ? because they sought it not by faith, but as it
were of works. For they stumbled at the stumbling-
stone, as it is written : l Behold, I lay in Sion a stum
bling-stone and a rock of scandal : and whosoever
believeth in him, shall not be confounded. 3 " (2)
776. The power of evil hates the power of good,
and hates it the more intensely, the more exalted is
the perfection aimed at. Now, the plenitude of perfec-
(i) Rom. ix. 30-32. (2) Isaias xxviii. 16.
264 On Divine Providence.
tion resided in Christ, because His human nature had
been assumed by a Divine Person. He was the source
of all moral good to those men that clung to Him, and
the good they derived from Him was most sublime,
most perfect, because supernatural and deiform. A
necessary consequence was, therefore, that the power
of evil made Christ a special object of attack ; indeed,
our Lord is called " a sign which shall be contra
dicted." (i) Another consequence was, that that
enmity reached a pitch of fury that knew no bounds,
because of the very exalted nature of His holiness.
In the third place, that hatred extended likewise, in
due proportion, to all those who shared in our
Saviour s sanctity. The Divine Master forewarned
His disciples : (2) " If the world hate you, know ye
that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of
the world, the world would love its own ; but because
you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remem
ber My word that I said to you : The servant is not
greater than his master. If they have persecuted Me,
they will also persecute you : if they have kept My
word, they will keep yours also. But all these things
they will do to you for My name s sake : because they
know not Him that sent Me. . . . He that hateth Me,
hateth My Father also. . . . But (so it came to pass)
that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their
law : They hated Me without cause. " (3)
The world here alluded to by Christ is man s finite
reality, which loves and exalts itself instead of the
Infinite, and for which Christ does not pray. Where-
(i) Luke ii. 34. (2) John xv. 18-26.
(3) Ps. xxiv. 19.
Law of Antagonism. 265
fore He asserts that " if they had been of the world,
the world would have loved its own/ But He puts
His disciples on their guard against the world, bidding
them not to trust in the finite, but in the infinite
reality ; and for this reason the world hates them.
Finite reality, all taken up with itself, cannot practi
cally recognize the dignity and majestic beauty of
the Infinite Reality ; therefore He says that the world
does not know the Father, that is, practically and
intimately. Yet the world knew Him well enough in
a speculative manner by external manifestations, for
Christ showed men the works of the Father. This
speculative and outward knowledge was sufficient to
beget a hatred of the Father, although it could not
kindle love towards Him. " And now they have both
seen and hated both Me and My Father." (i) Frequent
mention is made in Holy Writ of these two sorts of
knowledge, the speculative and the practical, the
necessary cognition and the voluntary recognition. (2)
The world is destitute of the latter, because it wilfully
refuses to acknowledge God s claims ; but it can have,
and cannot but have, the former, and is thereby
rendered inexcusable.
777. The deadly hatred, then, that is characteristic
of the power of evil, was roused to the highest pitch
by the excellence of Christ s virtue, which, soaring on
high, looked down with supreme contempt upon that
nature which it saw to be wholly depraved and
corrupt pitying not its destruction and confiding in
God alone as in the sole fountain of all good.
(i) John xv. 24.
(2) See the author s Philosophy of Rights ("Filosofia del Diritto"),
Moral System, Sect. iii. 2.
266 On Divine Providence.
Hence the fierce and obstinate persecutions, other
wise inexplicable, of which Christ and His Church
have ever been the mark in ages gone by, and will
be for all ages to come. Hence that fearful struggle,
that war to the death between the two universal and
never-failing cities.
778. The victory at which each aims is final felicity,
part of which consists in dominion over the universe ;
for intelligences aspire after dominion, seek to do all
that they like, and by their will to dispose of every
thing. The City of the devil hopes to find such inde
pendence of will and dominion over everything, in its
own strength, in the strength of the creature; the City
of God puts no trust in the finite, but expects to find
everything in the infinite, in the power of Christ, in
God. Consequently, the city of the devil is ever wont
to be violent, for it keeps in continual commotion
and agitation all the created forces it can control,
nothing caring about virtue if only it can succeed in
destroying the city of God, which interferes with that
dominion and independence wherein it seeks its own
contentment. The City of God, on the other hand,
goes to work in a peaceful and tranquil way ; for
having no confidence in the resources of the finite, it
looks up to God for its all, and heeds nothing else but
virtue, fully convinced that God is the all-just rewarder
of holiness. For this reason the City of God, while
aspiring after the perfection of virtue, is meek and
gentle, and in a manner at the mercy of the impious,
according to those w r ords of its Divine Head, Who
said to those He sent: "Behold, I send you as sheep
in the midst of wolves:" (i) " Blessed are ye when
(i) Matt. x. 1 6.
Law of Antagonism. 267
they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all
that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake : be glad
and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven/ (i)
779. Now, in this decisive battle, God sustains, if
I may so say,- two characters : that of the champion
who fights, having taken human flesh, and that of an
impartial judge who watches the conflict in order to
reward and crown the most deserving.
While acting the part of the champion, He keeps
the weapon of His power hidden, as it were, in the
sheath of His humanity, and He combats in the guise
of mortal humanity, affording it every opportunity to
display its prowess in the field of virtue.
But not even as Judge does He employ His power,
but brings into play His impartial justice and equity,
pronouncing most just judgment. He reserves His
power unto the end, to carry out this sentence. The
only use He will make of that power will be to sanction
the unbiassed judgment which will be passed on the
combatants, and to reward him who shall have striven
lawfully.
780. It must be here observed that the power of
evil and the power of good make their victory to
consist in things quite contrary to one another.
The power of evil would think it had gained the
mastery, if only it had succeeded in these two points :
ist, in seducing human nature, and stripping it of all
justice ; 2nd, in exterminating it by death, which is
the consequence of sin.
The power of good, on the contrary, makes its
victory to consist in righteousness of the soul despite
all temptations, the consequences being left in the
hands of Almighty God.
(i) Matt. v. ii, 12.
268 On Divine Providence.
781. Hence the power of evil coming into conflict
with the Man-God, left no means untried to seduce
Him. The angel of falsehood, abusing the very words
of inspired Writ, tempted Him to gluttony, presump
tion and ambition! (i) This most audacious attempt
having failed, there remained another course, that of
putting Him to death, of destroying His human
nature, in which the power for good existed. The
Man-God, Whose only concern was to attain to the
highest moral perfection, suffered death, from which,
had He willed, He might have exempted Himself, and
the eudemonological consequences He left to God.
Fly from death He would not, because His dying
afforded Him the opportunity of exercising the
greatest and most heroic act of confidence and of love
towards His Father. In this way the power of evil
imagined for a moment that it had destroyed the
power of good, and gained a complete triumph.
782. But this was a vain delusion. The enemy had
not considered that, although Christ s human nature
was dissolved, the elements of this nature, namely,
the body and the soul, still subsisted, and, though
those elements could not of themselves ever re-unite,
they were conjoined to a supernatural principle incap
able of death, the very Person of the Divine Word
consubstantial with the Father. Thus death had not,
as at first appeared, put the real victor out of the field.
This conqueror had been worsted as to His lower
nature, His Humanity ; but here again it was the
finite which perished, it was the finite which tortured
and wrecked the finite : the Infinite remained un
scathed. Only His garments, as Scripture has it, were
(i) Matt. iv. 1-9.
Law of Antagonism. 269
dyed with red, while He trod His enemies under foot,
as grapes in the wine-press; (i) that is to say, God
subjected to punishment that very humanity which
He Himself, in the excess of His condescension, had
chosen for His own abode.
783. Then it was that the Father Himself, stepping
in in the quality of arbiter, decided in favour of the
Conqueror, Who was not really dead, but lives for
ever and ever. This Conqueror along with the Father
raised to life again the human nature which had placed
unbounded confidence in God, and had practised and
given proof of moral perfection of the highest order.
This moral perfection lay in the great reverence and
love He bore towards His Father; for, although
resurrection and glory were due to His human nature as
the fitting meed of its fidelity and piety, nevertheless
Christ, as man, preferred to depend on the liberality of
His Father, so that all glory might redound to the
sole bounty of the Father. He behaved, accordingly,
as if He had not merited so great a favour, this, too,
is an act of consummate perfection, through such a
motive, to renounce one s right to an extraordinary
recompense, " He in the days of His flesh, with a
strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and sup
plications to Him that was able to save Him from
death, was heard for His reverence/ 5 (2) Here was
human nature owning that it was mortal, and protest
ing that it could lay no claim to immortality as its own
prerogative, but only through the mere clemency of
God ; confessing at the same time that virtue and fidelity
to the Almighty ought to be maintained even without
any pretence to remuneration ; that it is only right for
(i) Is. Ixiii. 1-4. (2) Heb. v 7.
270 On Divine Providence.
the finite being to offer itself as a holocaust to the
Infinite.
Hence, Christ when petitioning His Father for life,
founds His request on nothing else than the foreknown
will of the same Father, to wit, on the eternal predes
tination by which life and immortal glory had been
decreed to our Lord s humanity for immolating itself as
a victim of love, to the Father s honour and glory. " I
have glorified Thee on the earth : I have finished the
work which Thou gavest me to do. And now glorify
Thou me, O Father with Thyself, with the glory which
I had before the world was, with Thee."(i) In fact,
the creative act contained from all eternity the whole
series of events which were to take place in time with
regard to Christ, including His passion and consequent
glory ; and Christ, beholding them in the creative act,
asked that they should be fulfilled in time, as they
already w r ere with the Father.
784. The palm, therefore, having been awarded by
God, most just Judge, to the immortal and invincible
Conqueror, this same Hero, that is, the Person of the
Divine Word, which had never abandoned either the
body or the soul of Christ, re-united these two elements ;
and the human nature that erewhile had been over
thrown by its wicked adversary, appeared again
resplendent with glory, and displaying its trophy.
The enemy of all good could not complain that God
had not acted with sufficient fairness in this matter,
on the ground that He had intervened with His Omni
potence. Indeed, Christ, after being put to death, rose
again of Himself, without the aid of any extraneous
power ; for the executioners had not slain His Divine
(i) John xvii. 4, 5.
Law of Antagonism. 271
Personality. But the Person of the Word, while it
called to life again its own humanity, a thing it always
had a perfect right to do, conformed even in this
respect to the eternal, infinitely just and most meet
decree of God s bounty, and to Christ s humble
entreaty to which the all-loving Divinity could not
turn a deaf ear.
785. In this manner the power of evil, having joined
battle with Christ, was foiled in both the schemes it
had rashly concerted, viz., of seduction and destruction,
the former belonging to the moral order, the other to
the physical. As to the former, far from decoying
Christ into sin, the devil afforded Him a most fitting
opportunity of displaying with infinite merit before
the eyes of intelligent creatures the dazzling brightness
of His sanctity. As to the latter, Satan, although
permitted to exert his whole power, proved to be much
weaker than the Saviour ; for his power extended no
farther than the killing of Him, within whom the whole
power for good lay concealed. It was beyond his
power to destroy the Person, Who was enabled to
restore the human nature destroyed by death, and to
adorn it with all that brightness, power and glory
which the Divine Person was willing and able and,
in a manner, called upon to bestow.
786. At this juncture the whole conflict seemed at
an end. In fact, Christ being risen again, said: "All
power is given to Me in heaven and in earth. "(i)
And even before His passion, seeing in the creative act
that this power was from all eternity conferred upon
Him when risen again, He had said : " Father, the
hour is come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may
(i) Matt, xxviii. 18.
272 On Divine Providence.
glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power over all
flesh, that He may give eternal life to all whom Thou
hast given Him/ (i) Christ, then, having in fair fight
acquired power over all things, from that very hour
could do with the world just as He liked, so much so,
that the will of the Lord, to use the phrase of Isaias,
was prosperous in His hand. (2) He was able, there
fore, to save all men, to deliver them from every
temptation and infirmity, and to strengthen them in
what was good. But in the exalted counsel of His
most wise bounty He would not act thus, because He
designed greater and better things for men, namely,
to draw out of men themselves and their own acts all
that moral good which they could bring forth. By
this method, not only inasmuch as God, but also
as man, He followed the same Law of Wisdom,
that of the Least Means, according to which eternal
predestination had been ordained. In gazing upon
this He beheld all that He wished to do, because He
saw the most perfect and sublime object of the Divine
Will, the exemplar from which to copy. Now, in con
formity with the infinitely profound calculation made
by Eternal Wisdom, a larger quantity of good was to
be gathered from the human race, if all the redeemed
were in turn allowed to enter the lists and measure
their strength with the power of evil, as their Redeemer
had done, and by their own valour gain their victory
and crown. Even though some succumbed in the
tight, their loss was amply compensated for by the
(i) John xvii. I, 2.
(2) "And the Lord was pleased to bruise Him in His infirmity : if He shall
lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the
Lord shall be prosperous in His hand." (Is. liii. 10.)
Law of Antagonism. 273
immeasurably greater gain accumulated by the
conquerors. On this account Christ oftentimes alludes
to those who during His life-time on earth were given
to Him by His Father, such as the Apostles and first
disciples, and He prays for those also who would
believe on their word. He prays not for the world, He
prays not that all men without exception should
believe : not because He is not Lord of all ; but
because He wishes to exercise His dominion to
the greater advantage of the whole of mankind
taken in a body : a result which could not be arrived
at unless some of the combatants were allowed to
perish of their own accord. With the will of good
pleasure, therefore, He wills the salvation of all those
and of those alone that can be saved by a system
which produces the maximum of good ; for His will,
as God, is identical with the Father s, wherein He
sees what souls are to be saved in order that there
may be realized the greatest amount of good neces
sarily willed by Infinite Goodness and Wisdom. "I
have manifested Thy name," He said, " to the men
whom Thou hast given Me out of the world ....
I pray for them : I pray not for the world, but for
them whom Thou hast given Me ; because they are
Thine ; and all My things are Thine, and Thine are
Mine ; and I am glorified in them .... Holy Father,
keep them in Thy name, whom Thou hast given Me;
that they may be one as We also are .... And not for
them only do I pray, but for them also who, through
their word, shall believe in Me: that they all may be
one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee : that they
also may be one in Us : that the world may believe that
Thou hast sent Me." (i)
II. (i) Johnxvii. 6-21. T
274 On Divine Providence.
He prays not, then, that the disciples be taken out
of this world, in which and against which they must
fight ; neither does He pray for the world, that is to
say, for those whose delights and hopes are all centred
in the finite reality of the creature. But He prays for
those who, without trusting in the finite, believe His
words and the words of His representative, the Church ;
that so the world itself may believe in His mission,
and thus cease to be world, or, remaining * world
may be subdued by the brilliant light of His eternal
truth and glory. All this He asks through love of
the Father ; for in the salvation of the predestined He
likewise seeks and loves the will and glory of the
Father; "because they are Thine," He says, "and
all My things are Thine, and Thine are Mine."
787. The Apocalypse, or the Revelation of JESUS
CHRIST, is the manifestation of the mighty combat
which Christ, arisen and glorious, continues, in His
faithful servants, to maintain with the powers of evil
till the end of time not from necessity, but of His
own spontaneous and generous will. Hence, this
mysterious book, according to the exposition of the
Fathers, contains the history, as it were, of the vicis
situdes of the Church ; a history which recounts a
series of manifold conflicts.
788. The manner in which Christ appears to St.
John, as described in the first chapter, leaves us in no
doubt as to that plenitude of power which has been
given to Christ after His Resurrection and exaltation at
the right hand of the Father. " I am," He says, " the
first and the last, and am alive and was dead ; and
behold I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys
of death and of hell. "(i) If, then, He does not carry
(i) Apoc. i. 17, 1 8.
Law of Antagonism. 275
things with a high hand, and still allows death and
hell to war against mankind, it is not from any want
of power to prevent their raging. God would deal
generously even with the powers of evil themselves,
knowing that their confusion will on this very account
be all the greater in the end ; He leaves them at
liberty to renew the fight, because the victories of the
saints will be thereby multiplied, and a greater good
result finally from the strife.
789. The Apocalypse has two principal parts ; for,
St. John is ordered to write the things " which are,"
to wit, the state of the Church as it was then and
this he does in the second and third chapters and the
things "which must be done hereafter," (i) that is, the
different states through which the Church was to pass
in succession after the death of the Apostles, and
this is what is done in the remainder of the book.
790. In chapter V., there appears in heaven
the book of eternal predestination, containing the
names of the elect,(2) who constitute that greatest
possible good which God had decreed should be
yielded by human nature ; and the opening of the
book means the fulfilment of that most excellent
eternal decree. This fulfilment is the work of Christ,
victorious and risen from the dead, and it is so mar
vellous as to have appeared utterly impossible of
attainment. "And I Avept much," says St. John,
"because no man was found worthy to open the book,
nor to see it " (for who among the sinful children of
(i) Apoc. i. 19.
(2) That the sealed book contained only the names of the elect is clear
from c. xx., 12, where the "Book of Life " is distinguished from the books
in which are written the deeds of other men.
276 On Divine Providence.
men was able to see the decree of eternal predestina
tion, let alone to accomplish it r). " And one of
the ancients said to me : Weep not ; behold the Lion
of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed
to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.
And I saw : and behold in the midst of the throne and
of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the
ancients, a Lamb standing as it were slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes ; which are the seven
Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He
came and took the book out of the right hand of Him
that sat on the throne. And when he had opened the
book, the four living creatures, and the four-and-
twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having
every one of them harps and golden vials full of
odours, which are the prayers of Saints. And they
sung a new canticle, saying : Thou art worthy, O
Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
because Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to
God, in Thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and
people, and nation, and hast made us to our God a
kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the
earth." (i) This passage refers to the Church of the
ancient people of God which was detained in Limbo,
and which being admitted, through the death and
resurrection of Christ, to the vision of the Creative
Act in God, discerns therein Christ s glory, as well as
the way in which He accomplishes the predestination
of the saints belonging to the Church, by gathering
to Himself the remnants of the seed of Abraham,
destined to be the means of salvation to all the nations
among which they shall be dispersed. For, the four-
(i) Apoc. v. 4-10.
Law of Antagonism. 277
and-twenty ancients, corresponding to the heads of the
four-and-twenty sacerdotal families, represent the
Jewish priesthood, and the four living creatures
represent the four prophets who proclaimed the four
prerogatives of Christ, namely, His divinity, His
humanity, His kingdom, and His priesthood : now by
the priesthood and by prophecy is represented the
whole of the Jewish Church. Wherefore this Church,
admitted to the vision of the Creative Act, gives glory
to God in the following words, expressive of the
honour due to Him for the Wisdom and Goodness of
His Providence : " Thou art worthy, O Lord our God,
to receive glory, and honour and power; because
Thou hast created all things, and for Thy will they
were (in the Creative Act) and have been created (in
themselves)/ (i) The Lamb receives the book from
the right hand of the Father, because the Father has
committed to Him the execution of the decree of pre
destination ; (2) He has committed it to His very
humanity both because by the immolation of Hishuman
nature He saved the world, and because with the per
fect sanctity of His humanity He sought only to do
the Father s Will, seen by Him in the beatific vision,
and with the perfect wisdom of this same humanity,
directed by His divinity as by the principal and
personal agent, He carried out that Will most fully.
Therefore it was that He had said of His disciples :
" They were Thine, and Thou hast given them to Me."
But St. John says : " The Lamb was standing, as it
were slain," (3) because Christ received the right and
the power of carrying the decree of predestination
(i) Apoc. iv. n. (2) John xvii. 6.
(3) Apoc. v. 6.
278 On Divine Providence.
into effect immediately after the consummation of His
holocaust ; even before His rising" from the dead.
Although He then seemed extinct in the grave, His
humanity alone was a prey to death, while His Person
because divine still lived, and, in union with His
soul, appeared to the Fathers in Limbo, as their
deliverer.
791. But how is it, then, that when the book later on
comes to be opened by the Lamb, the visions of St.
John begin again, and the seals of the book, as though
it were still closed, are opened one after the other at
intervals of time and with varied events ?
Through His death, Christ had gained the victory ;
hence all obstacles which hindered the opening of the
book of predestination were removed ; since Christ
possessed, and most deservedly, the fullest power to
carry out the eternal decrees and save the elect.
Now, in consequence of His being risen, and having
taken with Him to heaven, the saints of old who were
captives in the lower places, these who were now
" made unto God a kingdom and priests/ 3 (i) had the
great book laid open to them. But there still
remained to be fulfilled the predestination of the
saints of the new Church, pursuant to the laws of that
Wisdom which had dictated the book when the Victor
read what was fitting for Him to do ; and these could
not be gathered together into the celestial kingdom,
till after a long course of ages. Therefore it seems to
me that the opening of the seven seals is the use of the
seven great means or operations by which Jesus Christ,
already Lord and Ruler of the world, fulfils His
Father s hidden Will, which He alone, as God, can
(i) Apoc. v. 10.
Law of Antagonism. 279
read in the Divine Essence, and which, as man also,
He has been made worthy to read through the merit
of His heroic virtue. These great means, these great
and divine operations are appropriately called seals,
because in Holy Writ, as we have already said, the
word seal expresses the signs of the divine greatness,
and, as it were, the impress of God Himself acting in
the universe.
792. Thus, as the first opening of the book, which
signifies the fulfilment of the predestination of the
house of Jacob, is indicated to St. John by one of the
four-and-twenty ancients representing the old priest
hood guardian of the Mosaic law ; so the opening of
the four first seals is indicated to St. John by the four
living creatures representing the prophets, the pro-
claimers of Christ s triumph to all mankind, invited
by Him to the Gospel.
793. Christ, risen from the dead, acts in the
world as King, as Priest, as Man and as God ; and to
these four prerogatives seem to correspond the four
modes of operation by which He conducts His inheri
tance human nature, to the good it has to reach,
namely, the greatest glory of God and its own highest
moral good. Christ having to be glorified in each of
these His four magnificent prerogatives, is pleased,
it seems to me, in the different ages of the Church, to
make one shine forth more vividly than another, by a
mode of operation analogous to one rather than the
other.
794. As King, vested with all power, He infallibly
obtains all that He wills, and the royal mode of His
action shows itself first in His Resurrection, where He
comes forth from the tomb victorious over death, and
2 So On Divine Providence.
then in His triumph at the final judgment ; wherefore
this prerogative is displayed with particular force in
the beginning and end of the Church, and hence in
the beginning and end of the Apocalypse.
795. As Priest, Man, and God, He disposes of the
means whereby the end of this Royalty is infallibly
attained, by exalting the supernatural principle com
municated to His servants, and at the same time
humbling nature, which must appear as it were
annihilated in the presence of the infinite. And how
does He do this ?
796. In His capacity of High Priest He immolates
victims. As He first immolated Himself, so He offers
mankind, day by day, as a holocaust to the Creator,
though with a widely different issue in the case of the
godly and of the impious. For, in the godly, while
nature is humbled and destroyed, after the likeness of
what took place in Himself, there still remains in them
the supernaturalized personal principle, on which
alone they rely, and through which all that they have
lost will be abundantly repaid.
797. But in the impious, nature having once failed,
all ground of hope will have vanished for ever.
Hence, Christ says to His disciples : " Do not think
that I am come to send peace upon earth ; I am not
come to send peace, but the sword." (i) Again, "he
that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not
worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it ;
and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it." (2)
So, by violent deaths and by wars ordained by that
Providence in whose hands are all things, Christ
chastises and brings to naught the impious, to whom
(i) Matt. x. 34. (2) Ibid. 38, 39.
Law of Antagonism. 281
therefore, these misfortunes are terrible and irrepar
able ills. The priestly mode of Christ s action is
strikingly visible in the first ages of the Church,
namely, in the sacrifices of the martyrs and in the
appalling deaths with which their persecutors were
visited.
798. As Man, He fasted first, and then enjoined
fasting on His followers, who, through this penitential
spirit, purify themselves more and more. They are fully
aware that " not in bread alone doth man live, but in
every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God/ (i)
Like their Master, they have another food besides the
earthly 5(2) and, in fine, Christ gives them a super-
substantial food, His own flesh, under the sacramental
species, together with the sweet-smelling ointment of
His grace, which can never be destroyed. (3) On the
other hand, He makes use of famine to chastise the
world, to humble it, and to convince it that it has not
in itself wherewith to subsist. This mode of Christ s
action as Man may be observed in the penitents and
recluses who succeeded the martyrs ; and likewise in
the dearths which were so frequent in the middle ages,
and, in general, in the poverty, the decadence of
industry, and the ignorance which so long afflicted
and humbled the world.
799. As God, He comes to the bed of death to take
His elect as a royal bridegroom coming for his lovely
bride, that He may introduce her into His bright and
festive mansion, (4) while He leaves the obstinately
perverse to an evil death, casting them into hell. Thus
to the heresies of the XVIth century and to the
(1) Matt. iv. 4. (3) Apoc. vi. 6.
(2) Jo. iv. 32-34. (4) Cant. i. 3.
282 On Divine Providence.
infidelity which has sprung from them, Christ opposed
as fitting 1 counterparts the reprobation of many on the
one hand, and on the other a great number of extra
ordinary saints, who at that period adorned His
Church ; by His Divine Power exercising justice on
the first, and showing grace and mercy to the second.
800. Here, then, we have the first four seals
opened :
The lion, the symbol of royal dignity, indicates to
St. John how, the first seal being opened, a white
horse came forth, "and he that sat on him had a bow,
and there was a crown given him, and he went forth
conquering that he might conquer." (i) He was
already a conqueror, and yet He came forth to conquer
still. This is Christ risen from death as the King of
glory, Who traverses the earth and does what He
pleases there, nothing being able to withstand the
strength of His love.
80 1. The calf, the symbol of the priestly office,
indicates to St. John how, on the opening of the
second seal, " there went out another horse that was
red ; and to him that sat thereon it was given that he
should take peace from the earth, and that they should
kill one another, and a great sword was given to
him." (2) It is the era of the persecutions ; and the
blood-coloured horse and his rider represent the power
which Christ has to scourge the various regions of the
world with violent and appalling deaths ; and perhaps
this power is an angel, deputed by and representing
Christ in the execution of this office.
802. The third animal, with the face of a man, the
symbol of Christ s human nature, indicates to St.
(i) Apoc. vi. 2. (2) Ibid. 4.
Law of Antagonism. 283
John how, on the opening of the third seal, there came
forth " a black horse, and he that sat on him had a
pair of scales in his hand," and a voice said: "Two
pounds of wheat for a penny, and thrice two pounds
of barley for a penny/ (i) It is the period of the
middle ages ; and the black horse and his rider
represent the power which Christ has to scourge the
world from region to region, by dearths and by famine,
and perhaps this power is an angel deputed by and
representing Christ in the execution of this office.
803. Lastly, the eagle, the symbol of Christ s
divine nature, indicates to St. John how, the fourth
seal being opened, there came forth " a pale horse,
and he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and
hell followed him. And power was given to him over
the four parts of the earth, to kill with the sword, with
famine, and with death, and with the beasts of the
earth." (2) This is the time in which human reason,
grown bold after the middle ag es, abuses science for
corrupting the world by means of error and of unbelief,
and the pale horse, and death, and hell represent the
power which Christ has to chastise the reprobate with
eternal loss, leaving them to die in sin ; and perhaps
this also means an angel, deputed by and represent
ing Christ, in the execution of this just and terrible
sentence.
804. In like manner, at the breaking of the three
last seals, events occur in which Christ intervenes by a
display of His three prerogatives as Priest, Man, and
God ; and the whole of the great drama is brought to
a close by the return of Christ as King, Who, having
judged the world and executed justice on His enemies,
(i) Apoc. vi. 5, 6. (2) Ibid. vi. 8.
284 On Divine Providence.
enters the marriage feast with His royal bride, the
Church of His elect.
805. At the opening of the fifth seal are heard the
prayers of the martyrs who ask to be avenged on the
ungodly that have shed their innocent blood. They
believe the time for revenge to have arrived, because
Christ has now been glorified in every way, as King,
as Priest, as Man, and as God. But He must be
glorified anew after each of these four ways, as it is
written : " I have both glorified Him and will glorify
Him again/ (i) Up to this He has been glorified in
men as individuals, now He must be glorified in men
as members of society. The two powers of good and
evil have not yet been fully organized ; and their
organization must be made the most complete pos
sible ; for evil is permitted to strengthen itself and to
develop all its forces, in order that it may be van
quished all the more gloriously by good. Therefore
the martyrs are told in reply that the number of
victims is not yet filled up, and that they are to rest
a while under the altar till the eternal High Priest
shall have consummated the great sacrifice which He
is to offer in the person of His servants. The retribu
tion which divine justice owes to the martyrs, hastens
the coming of the kingdom of God. The prayers of
the martyrs which cannot go unheard, is a fifth means
added to the above four, and, together with them,
continues to further the fulfilment of the great design
of Providence. This marks a time of new persecutions,
such as we see taking place every day, especially in
Japan and China, and in other regions where the
Gospel is still being announced. The difference
(i) John xii. 28.
Law of Antagonism. 285
between these persecutions and martyrdoms, and
those others which will happen in the last times, is,
that the former are occasioned by efforts to spread the
Gospel abroad through the whole world, while the
latter will be inflicted by apostates in the midst of a
world already become Christian.
806. Good is organized upon earth in the Church
of Jesus Christ, the great society of believers ; and
the fifth age is destined to preach the Gospel to infidel
nations, which the preachers will water with their
blood.
807. Whilst the number is being filled up of those
who give their lives for Christ, and voluntarily make
themselves victims with Him, in order to diffuse the
Gospel to the most remote corners of the earth, the
sixth seal is opened. The humanity of Christ now
appears as the principal agent. At this stage begin
planetary phenomena predicted by the prophets and
by Christ Himself; and in these prodigies Christ
shows the power which He, as man, possesses over
the elements, as He had in the three preceding seals
shown His power over human nature. First of all, a
great earthquake strikes terror into the whole world,
now risen to the highest pitch of civilization and
fiercely proud of itself. Tsaias describes it. (i) But
what says the Apostle r "The kings of the earth, and
the princes, and tribunes, and the rich and the strong,
and every bondman, and every freeman hid themselves
in the dens and in the rocks of mountains. And they
say to the mountains and the rocks : Fall on us, and
hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." (2) Thus
(i) Is. ii. (2) Apoc. vi. 15, 16.
286 On Divine Providence.
terrified and effectually cured of their presumption,
men acquire that sense of wholesome fear which pre
pares the way for the Divine mercy. Then it is that
Christ, mindful of His Father according to the flesh
and of the covenant which God made with them,
gathers the remnants of Israel, a fixed number of the
several tribes, into the bosom of the Church, which
revives with new fervour, and embraces within her
fold an innumerable multitude of all nations. The
conversion of the Jews was already foretold by the
ancient prophets and by Moses himself, (i)
808. This is the time when baptism, which marks
the soul with an indelible character, as well as the
other sacraments instituted by Christ and operating
through a virtue communicated to them by His most
sacred and glorified humanity, are received by many
fervent souls to the great increase of their sanctifica-
tion. But in others, human pride still prevails ;
hence it is necessary that Christ should at last em
ploy new means belonging directly to His Divinity,
such as new interior illuminations bestowed on the
teachers of His Church whereby to crush errors, and
likewise new efficacy of divine grace and charity
communicated to the saints of His Church whereby to
vanquish the coldness of men and their hate of holy
things. This is signified by the opening of the
seventh seal.
809. For, after the Church has been in the enjoy
ment of so much prosperity and peace, and piety has
(i) " After all the things aforesaid shall find thee, in the latter time
them shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear His voice. Because
the Lord Thy God is a merciful God : Pie will not leave thee, nor
altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant by which He swore to thy
fathers." (Dcut. iv. 30, 31.)
Law of Antagonism. 287
everywhere flourished, God permits it to be more than,
ever disturbed by false systems of doctrine a new
outburst of human and diabolical wickedness
productive of great disorders in the world, which
nevertheless must also be withstood and vanquished
by the wisdom and power of the Son of God. Where
fore at the opening of the seventh seal, appear on the
scene seven angels, seemingly denoting seven rulers
and doctors of the Church (as is indicated at the very
beginning of the revelation in the angels of the seven
Churches of Asia), having each a trumpet, by which I
am inclined to think is signified the good or evil
doctrines to be proclaimed by them with striking
effects upon the world. But before they blow their
trumpets and convulse the world, another angel, taking
some fire from the altar in heaven, throws it down on
the earth prepared for it, producing peals of thunder
and great earthquakes. This angel seems also to
denote a great saint, and perhaps a Roman Pontiff of
sublime sanctity, who with the fire of divine charity
performs stupendous prodigies to the terror and
dismay of the wicked. Then the four first angels
sound their trumpets in succession ; whereupon four
perverse doctrines arise, causing evils of the worst
description. The blowing of the trumpet of the
fifth angel follows next, and the infernal doctrine
indicated by it is the signal of a war which will be
countenanced by the support of the secular powers.
Still worse is the discord consequent on the preaching
of the sixth doctrine, signified by the sound of the
sixth trumpet. The wars produced by this will be of
a yet more destructive nature. Two hundred millions
of horsemen are said to be engaged in the combat
288 On Divine Providence.
(perhaps in succession), and the description of their
weapons clearly corresponds with the invention of
gunpowder and firearms, (i) These doctrines and
these commotions called by Christ " the beginnings of
sorrows/ (2) will corrupt the w r orld anew, to such a
degree as to re-introduce idolatry. After the power
of evil has worked such havoc, Christ will come to the
rescue of humanity, thus far perverted, by the
immediate action of His divinity. He will so
illumine the minds of His servants that instead of
being scandalized by these events they will begin to
have a clear insight into the hitherto incomprehensible
ways of Divine Wisdom, and the mystery of divine
predestination will appear so right and holy to them
that they cannot help giving infinite glory to God.
Christ, Who reveals the great mystery, is called an
angel. "And I saw," says the sacred text, "another
mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a
cloud, and a rainbow was on his head, and his face
was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he
had in his hand a little book open ; and he set his
right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the
earth. And he cried with a loud voice as when a lion
roareth." (3) The open book is the secret of Providence,
now made manifest ; and the sea and the land signify
the angelic and human nature, over which the divinity
of Christ holds entire sway. The communication of
light which Christ here makes to His Church, is
signified by the voices resembling seven thunders,
which St. John is forbidden to \vrite, but must only
indicate or note by way of enigma, in order that the
(i) Apoc. ix. 1 6-1 8.
(3) Apoc. x. 1-3.
Law of Antagonism. 289
full character of the great work of God may remain
hidden until that time when its disclosure shall have
become necessary for men s salvation. By that
disclosure man will also come to know the part yet
remaining to be fulfilled on the sounding of the
trumpet of the seventh angel ; and it is for this reason
that the book of divine Providence and divine
predestination is given to St. John to eat, (i) St.
John representing herein the saints of that period, to
whom such light shall be given ; while the eating ot
the book signifies the mastering of its contents with a
practical and not merely a speculative knowledge,
such as might be obtained by simply reading it.
Therefore it is said to St. John : " Thou must prophesy
again to many nations and prophets, and tongues,
and kings." (2) This revelation is indicated in a com
pendious manner, and not written, but merely hinted
at, in the oath made by the angel of the Testament,
Jesus Christ : " Time shall be no longer. But in the
days of the voice of the seventh angel, when
he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery
of God shall be finished, as He hath declared by
His servants the prophets." (3) The expression,
"In the days of the voice of the seventh angel,"
is used, to indicate thereby a long era ; and the
expression, " when he shall begin to sound the
trumpet, the mystery of God shall be accomplished,"
because Christ shall then begin to put forth His
power as king, and shall then see His kingdom founded
immovably on this earth. Hence, at the sounding of
the seventh trumpet, mighty voices are heard in
(i) Apoc. x. 10. (2) Ibid. ii.
(3) Ibid. 6, 7.
II. U
2 go On Divine Providence.
heaven, saying : " The kingdom of this world is
become our Lord s and His Christ s, and He shall
reign for ever and ever. Amen." (i) The events,
therefore, destined to be fulfilled during the sound of
the seventh trumpet are fore-announced in the time
of the sixth, for the enlightenment and support of the
faithful ones, represented by St. John. This holy
seer measures the temple of God, beheld by Him as
though it were already completed, and recognizes the
two prophetic witnesses destined to preach, work
miracles, suffer martyrdom, rise again after three
days and a half, and then go up into heaven. Their
enemies, in whose presence these events took place,
are at that same moment overtaken by an earthquake
that destroys seven thousand of them ; the rest are
struck with fear, and give glory to the God of heaven. (2)
8 10. In the days, therefore, of the seventh angel,
representing Christ Himself, Who comes to oppose
the false prophets that have gone before, and to
remedy the evils which have befallen men at the
sounding of the six trumpets, the kingdom of Christ
upon earth is consummated, and the four- and- twenty
elders celebrate the event in these words : " We give
Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Who art, and
Who wast, and Who art to come ; because Thou hast
taken to Thee Thy great power, and Thou hast
reigned," (3) words which allude to the great regal act
of the judgment of the reprobate and the reward of
the elect. (4)
Si i. The first judgment delivered during the
sounding of the seventh trumpet is that against the
(1) Apoc. xi. 15. (3) Ibid. 17.
(2) Ibid. 1-13. (4) Ibid. 18, 19.
Law of Antagonism. 291
devils, and the sentence is executed by the good
angels. "And there was a great battle in heaven;
Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and
the dragon fought and his angels ; and they prevailed
not, neither was their place found any more in
heaven." (i)
812. The expulsion of the devils from heaven
signifies their having been completely baffled by the
Wisdom of God, Who would not bring His Power into
play until He had scattered to the winds all the cavils
and objections which the prevaricating angel, in his
exceeding subtilty, was opposing to Christ s victory
on behalf of man. The Almighty permitted the fiend
(as he had done in the case of Job), to make use of all
these different trials with which he asked to test the
virtue of the saints ; but all ended in failure. When
the last of these experiments or temptations had been
exhausted, Satan, brought to utter confusion, could no
longer return into God s presence to dispute with Him
and to sue for further trials. Nevertheless, although
silenced, far from acknowledging his discomfiture, he
resists the chastisement which Michael and the other
celestial spirits inflict on him by force. But if Satan
is vanquished on the ground of argument and then
cast out of heaven, the house of perfect wisdom, he
has yet another way left for giving vent to his lawless
hate of men ; and that is by using his power, blind
though it be, and acknowledged by himself as iniquitous.
This is what is meant by " Satan being thrown down
from heaven to earth/ "And that great dragon was
cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and
Satan, who seduceth the whole world ; and he was
(i) Apoc. xii. 7.
2Q2
O)i Divine Providence.
cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down
with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying :
Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom
of our God, and the power of His Christ ; because the
accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused
them before our God, day and night." (i) These
accusations are precisely the evils which the devil
made use of in order to cast doubt on the victory
obtained by Christ in His saints, and the crucial
tests he demanded whereby to try their fidelity, all of
which had already come to an end !
813. All his former attempts having thus proved
vain, Satan, full of rage, betakes himself to the one
means of warfare still remaining to him, I mean the
power which, as a spirit, he possessed over matter.
Therefore it is written : "Woe to the earth, and to the
sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having
great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time/ (2)
814. Thus the equity, the generosity, the wisdom
and the perfect justice of Christ vanquish the devil by
degrees, driving him back in succession from one
stronghold to another, until he is at last thrust down
into hell.
The great strife then was no longer in heaven, but
on earth ; a trial not of skill, but of power. Now, here
also Christ was to triumph in the most complete
manner, and in order that this might be brought about,
the power of the dragon was not at first to be crushed ;
on the contrary, full scope was to be allowed him to
do his worst.
815. As a consequence, satanic and human malice
(signified by the two beasts coming up, one from the
(i) Apoc. xii. 9, 10. (2) Ibid. 12.
Law of Antagonism. 293
sea, and the other from the land], (i) will combine in a
most powerful organization. It will be the epoch of
satanic miracles, so portentous as to deceive, if it were
possible, even the elect. (2) The beast seems to be a
great potentate, to whom many kings owe allegiance,
and one of the portents by which he will amaze the world
will be the healing of a most fatal wound inflicted on
one of his tributary kings who apparently is dead. (3)
Now the potentate set up by the dragon, and invested
with satanic power, will prevail against the godly,
form a universal monarchy, and cause himself to be
adored as God. As his persecution will be of the most
violent kind, the prophecy concludes by saying :
" Here is the patience and the faith of the saints/ (4)
that is, the extreme and greatest trial of their faith
and constancy. This potentate will reign for three
and a half years, and during this same period two
prophets, most probably Enoch and Elias, will appear,
as had been foretold, preaching the truth of God for
a thousand two hundred and sixty days, opposing true
to counterfeit miracles, and in the end receiving the
martyr s crown. "And when they shall have finished
their testimony, the beast that ascended out of the
abyss" (the same as the sea), " shall make war against
them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." (5)
With this same potentate, a blasphemer of God, an
instrument of the devil, and a warrior most violent
and cruel, will be associated as prime minister, a most
crafty intriguer. He is the second beast, who comes
up from the land, and represents human nature.
(1) Apoc. xiii. (3) Apoc. xiii. 3.
(2) Matt. xxiv. 24. (4) fbid. 10.
(5) Ibid. xi. 7.
294 On Divine Providence.
This man will put on the mask of gentleness and, by
consummate hypocrisy and most subtle sophistry, will
reduce the nations. Wherefore it is said that he
" had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke as a
dragon/ (i) To this most skilled master in the dread
art of evil, his lord that is the first beast will intrust
powers most ample ; whence it is said : " And he
executed all the power of the former beast in his
sight; "(2) and to indicate that he is precisely the
minister here referred to, it is added : "And he caused
the earth and them that dwell therein to adore the
first beast, whose wound to death was healed." (3)
As a means of seducing the world, this wily one will
also simulate prodigies by making use of the natural
sciences, which at that time will have been carried to
the height of perfection, so as even to bring down fire
from heaven (perhaps by means of some great electric
contrivance), and to give life to the image of his lord
and make it speak as a man (it may be by having
found out the secret of producing living organisms).
And although he will put to death those who do not
adore his lord s image, to which he has, at least in
appearance, given life, his cunning will be greater
than his violence, as shown in his legal enactments,
one of them being an inhibition to buy or sell by any
one who has not the mark of the beast. (4) Thus the
craftiness of man is still kept as an instrument of the
devil ; and the reason is, that this kind of craftiness
has not, like that of the devil, been as yet baffled in
all its devices. Hence the description of this kind of
persecution concludes with the words : " Here is
(1) Apoc. xiii. IT. (3) Ibid.
(2) Ibid. 12. (4) Ibid. 17.
Law of Antagonism. 295
wisdom/ (i) that is, the wisdom of the saints, because
they will require the greatest wisdom in order success
fully to withstand the evil devices of such a seducer.
8 1 6. Here it is proper to remark that during- this
persecution, greater than any that had preceded it,
the Church of Christ will contain a certain number of
saints of the highest order, and so invincible as to
make the two beasts, notwithstanding all their power,
despair of prevailing over them. But they will live
in a humble state, secluded from social power, hidden
in solitude, and practising therein the religious life
with a fervour hitherto unknown. In this sense, it
will be the persecution of Nero over again, which was
the occasion of the solitary and contemplative life,
especially of the Fathers of the Egyptian deserts.
Regarding this point the prophecy seems quite clear.
817. The pre-Christian Church conceived and
brought forth its fruit, the Redeemer, in the pangs of
sorrow. Vainly did the dragon seek to devour the
" man-child," for He " was taken up to God and to
His throne." (2) When, therefore, the dragon, baffled
in that mode of warfare which we have described
above, fell down upon this earth, he no longer found
Christ against whom to exercise his brute force. At
this time, then, the Catholic Church, which is nothing
but a continuation of the Church of old, betakes herself
with her chosen ones to the wilderness, as she did in
the first ages of her existence, so long as the tremendous
persecution of the two beasts continues "And the
woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place
prepared by God, that there they should feed her a
thousand two hundred and sixty days/ 3 (3) Though
(i) Apoc. v. 18. (2) Ibid. xii. 5. (3) Ibid. 6.
296 On Divine Providence.
the serpent persecuted the woman even in her retire
ment, he afterwards gave up all hope of being able to
destroy her. Then the dragon was angry against the
woman, and went to make war with the rest of her
seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have
the testimony of Jesus Christ ;"(i) that is to say,
ceasing to persecute the holy solitaries, and despising
them, he turned his rage, or continued it, against the
Christians who remained mixed up with the world.
All this, as we have said, had been foreshown during
the sounding of the sixth trumpet ; the Church in the
wilderness being signified by the temple spoken of in
this prophecy, and the Christians living in the world
being signified by the court of the temple. It had
been said to St. John : u Arise, and measure the temple
of God, and the altar, and them that adore therein.
But the court that is without the temple, cast out, and
measure it not ; because it is given unto the gentiles,
and the holy city they shall tread underfoot for two-
and-forty months," (2) t.e. y the three years and a half
assigned to the onslaught made by the two beasts.
8 1 8. Now, just as this most dire and crafty persecu
tion has reached its height, the two prophets are seen
to rise again and to go up to heaven, and simultane
ously with this there is a frightful earthquake which
kills seven thousand men, and so terrifies the rest, that
they give glory to the God of heaven. (3) The city
founded by the devil in this our planet does not fall
as yet.
819. Nevertheless, the terror struck into men s hearts
prepares the way for the advent of the kingdom of
(i) Apoc. v. 17. (2) Ibid. xi. i, 2.
(3) Ibid, v, 13.
Law of Antagonism. 297
Christ on this earth. But before that, St. John is
shown the glory of those holy solitaries, who, as we
have said, escaping from a world so sunk in corruption,
had observed a life of perfect continence. Of them it
is said : " These are they who were not defiled with
women ; for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb
whithersoever He goeth. These were purchased from
among men, the first-fruits to God and to the Lamb.
And in their mouth there was found no lie ; for they
are without spot before the throne of God." (i)
820. Then the true faith is preached with success to
the great ones of the world described as they who
u sit upon the earth, and over every nation, and tribe,
and tongue, and people," (2) by an angel, who is
probably some great pontiff; and the Gospel, now
resplendent with so many victories, is clearly show^n
to be eternal ; while at the same time the future judg
ment, which must complete the work of Divine Provi
dence, now already made manifest, is intimated to
men thus : " Fear the Lord and give Him honour,
because the hour of His judgment is come ; and adore
ye Him that made heaven and earth, the sea, and the
fountains of waters." (3)
821. Another angel follows, another holy preacher,
who predicts the fall of Babylon ; and again a third,
who announces the punishment of those who have
adored the beast or his image, and have received his
character on their forehead or on their hands. (4)
822. The earthquake and the preaching of these
three angels restrains in some measure the impious
fury of Babylon ; nevertheless the great majority of
(1) Apoc. xiv. 4, 5. (3) MM- xiv - 7-
(2) Ibid.v. 6. (4) Ibid - v. 8-1 1.
298 On Divine Providence.
mankind give no heed to the preachers and refuse to
do penance ; nay, they go on revelling in iniquity, as
Christ foretold, when He said that the charity of many
will grow cold, and that at His coming He will hardly
find faith on the earth, (i)
The fall of Babylon is therefore reserved till the
coming of Christ, the King, who descends to the earth
on which the dragon had been cast, in order to over
throw him completely. This will be the fulfilment of
what the two angels said to the Apostles as they looked
on Christ ascending into heaven. "This JESUS Who
is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you
have seen Him going into heaven/ (2) that is, caught
up into a cloud. Hence, describing his vision of this
period, St. John says : "And I saw, and beheld a white
cloud ; and upon the cloud, one sitting like to the Son
of man, having on His head a crown of gold" (the
symbol of royal dignity), "and in His hand a sharp
sickle." (3) This, however, seems to be as yet a peace
able descent of Christ and visible only to a few saints,
as was His ascension to heaven from Mount Olivet ;
therefore it is not that public and solemn coming which
will be terrible to behold. It seems likewise that from
that day forth Christ will appear frequently to His
faithful ones, as was the case in the forty days after
His resurrection. During that period He will also
come suddenly to take many of the just to heaven, by
means of a happy death, made holy and even delight
ful by His own visible presence. (4) These just ones
are signified by the ripe corn which the Son of Man
reaps with His sickle. But a still greater number of
(i) Matt. xxiv. Mark xiii. Lukexvii., xxi.
(2) Acts i. ii. (3) Apoc. xiv. 14.
(4) Matt. xxiv. 42-51 ; xxv. 1-46.
Law of Antagonism. 299
the wicked, signified by the bunches of grapes gathered
from the whole earth, not by Christ Himself, but by
His ministering angel, shall perish by the sword in
the most deadly wars waged between the two cities of
God and the devil. " And the angel thrust in his sharp
sickle into the earth, and gathered the vineyard of the
earth, and cast it into the great press of the wrath
of God. And the press was trodden without the city,
and blood came out of the press up to the horses
bridles for a thousand and six hundred furlongs." (i)
To this follows the new song intoned in honour of their
King by the just safely taken up to heaven : " Great
and wonderful are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty :
just and true are Thy ways, O King of ages, etc.," (2)
the whole of this song being directed to celebrate the
most wise and most excellent design of God s Provi
dence, successively unfolded in the course of ages.
With these most sanguinary wars are associated seven
scourges, signified by the seven vials containing the
seven plagues called "last," because in them is "filled
up the wrath of God." (3) In fact, at the breaking of
the seventh vial, Babylon falls, and thereupon the Son
of Man appears to His enemies also with great power
and majesty. (4)
823. Although the first six plagues were so terrible
that all nature was thrown into a state of anguish and
consternation, (5) and especially by the sixth, in which
there happened a great earthquake such " as hath
(1) Apoc. xiv. 19, 20. (3) Apoc. xv. i.
(2) Ibid. xv. 13. (4) Luke xxi. 27.
(5) This convulsion of all nature seems to be referred to by Christ when
He says that men shall wither away for fear, " by reason of the confusion of
the roaring of the sea and of the waves." Luke xxi. 25, 26.
300 On Divine Providence.
never been since men were on the earth," (i) neverthe
less the organized power of evil, in spite of the rude
shock it had received, was not humbled. On the
contrary, growing" all the more enraged, it only thought
of uniting all its forces closer than ever in the mad
intent of engaging in a decisive struggle with the
power of good : " And I saw from the mouth of the
dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the
mouth of the false Prophet" (the beast s minister)
"three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are the
spirits of devils working signs, and they go forth unto
the kings of the whole earth to gather them to battle
against the great day of the Almighty God." (2) In
consequence of this alliance, offensive and defensive,
compassed through messengers sent out by the poten
tate called the beast, the power of evil will reach the
climax of its organized union and strength, according
to the word of the Psalmist : " The kings of the earth
stood up, and the princes met together against the
Lord and against His Christ." (3} The devil was
permitted to succeed in effecting this, the most formid
able of all combinations of the powers of this world, in
order that Christ s victory, which is to follow the
sounding of the seventh trumpet, might have nothing
wanting to the fulness of its glory.
824. Here three whole chapters are devoted to
describing the complete overthrow of the power of evil
as organized in the mightiest of empires, the capital of
which is called Babylon. This great city is repre
sented under the image of a harlot, with whom the
kings of the earth commit fornication, and who sits-
(i) Apoc. xvi. 1 8. (2) Ibid. xvi. 13, 14.
(3) Ps. ii. 2.
Law of Antagonism. 301
upon the beast, namely, that most wicked potentate
who had already persecuted the Church for three years
and a half without restraint. The seven heads of the
beast (for so they are called) seem to be his seven
tributary kings, five of these are contemporaneous,
and by the time the great alliance above spoken of
is formed, they have already disappeared, perhaps
because dethroned by their master to make way for
the sixth king. Whether this king simply occupies
the place of the fallen ones or is a monarch newly
subjugated by the beast, the prophecy does not state.
To him succeeds the seventh, whose rule is likewise of
short duration. Having ultimately got rid of all these
kings, the beast reigns alone. But his empire also
comes to an end, either because he is vanquished by
tributary princes, or because his own ministers and
subjects depose him, or because, from some crafty
design, he abdicates of his own accord. He is super
seded by ten potentates, who seem to rule jointly by
an aristocratic form of government. "And the ten
horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have not
yet received a kingdom, but shall receive power as
kings one hour after the beast. These have one
design." (i) Nevertheless, the conspiracy which the
beast had formed against Christ does not cease; on
the contrary, these ten joint rulers, feeling that a great
leader is needed to carry on their enterprise, have
recourse to the beast, replace him at the head of their
armies, and transfer to him their power and author
ity. (2)
825. But Christ, Who is to crush this formidable
confederate army, headed by a commander of extra-
(i) Apoc. xvii. 12, 13. (2) Ibid. xvii. 13.
3O2 On Divine Providence.
ordinary valour, and to capture the proud city, appears
first to such of His faithful servants as are found in
Babylon, and dooms her to the flames, bidding them
to depart thence and escape from the impending
destruction ; (i) nay, He summons them to take up
arms against that queen of iniquity : " Render to her
as she also hath rendered to you ; and double unto her
double according to her works, in the cup, wherein she
hath mingled, mingle ye double unto her." (2) Indeed,
that will be the time in which, according to our Lord s
words, a man must " sell his coat, and buy a sword/ (3)
Then also will Jesus Christ reveal to His servants on
earth all the things that are about to happen, while
those in heaven, seeing that the greatest of all the
triumphs of their king is nigh at hand, will burst forth
into most joyous alleluias. "And I heard, as it were,
the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many
waters, and as the voice of great thunders saying :
Alleluia ; for the Lord our God the Almighty hath
reigned." (4)
826. Then will the conquering king appear, the
same who was signified by the white horse seen by St.
John at the breaking of the first seal ; for the rega?
power of Christ the Man-God, which was displayed in
the resurrection, is the same which will shine forth
with dazzling splendour at the end of the world, as the
finale, so to speak, of all things. "And I saw heaven
opened, and behold a white horse ; and He that sat
upon him was called Faithful and True, and with
justice doth He judge and fight. And His eyes were
as a flame of fire, and on His head were many
(1) Apoc. xviii. 4. (3) Luke xxii. 36.
(2) Ibid. 5. (4) Apoc. xix. 6.
Law of Antagonism. 303
diadems, and He had a name written which no man
knoweth but Himself. And He was clothed with a
garment sprinkled with blood, and His name is called
THE WORD OF GOD. And the armies that are in heaven
followed Him on white horses clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. And out of His mouth proceeded a
sharp two-edged sword, that with it He may strike the
nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron ;
and He treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of the
wrath of God the Almighty. And He hath on His
garment and on His thigh written, KING OF KINGS
AND LORD OF LORDS." (i) This is that coming of the
Son of God which He Himself announced as having
to take place in the sight of all. " And they shall see
the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
much power and majesty; "(2) and "As lightning
cometh out. of the east and appeareth even into the
west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be." (3) The same is spoken of by St. John in the
beginning of the Apocalypse : " Behold He cometh
with clouds" (the symbols of His angels), " and every
eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him.
And all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves
because of Him." (4) Thus, then, will Christ appear
at the head of the army of the saints, arrayed in
battle against the confederate hosts commanded by
the beast and his subordinate kings. And forthwith
" the beast was taken " (perhaps without need of any
battle at all), " and with him the false prophet who
wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them
who received the character of the beast, and who
(1) Apoc. xix. 11-16. (3) Ibid. xxiv. 27.
(2) Matt. xxiv. 30. (4) Apoc. i. 7.
304 On Divine Providence.
adored his image." (i) Then the ten kings, finding
themselves deluded, will turn their anger against
Babylon, putting her people to the sword, and con
signing her to the flames. (2) And the beast and his
false prophet "were cast alive into the pool of fire,
burning with brimstone" (a temporal punishment
symbolizing the eternal). And the rest were slain
by the sword which proceedeth out of the mouth of
Him that sitteth upon the horse, and all the birds were
filled with their flesh." (3)
827. Thus was discomfited the devil, who, after
being confounded in his false wisdom, would proudly
challenge Christ to a trial of strength. Then all
obstacles being removed, Christ, having lawfully con
quered in all ways, will be free to restore the kingdom
to Israel as predicted by the prophets, and concerning
which the Apostles, after the resurrection, asked their
Master if that were the time at which he would restore
it. By not negativing their question but simply
replying : " It is not for you to know the times or
moments which the Father hath put in His own
power," (4) He implicitly affirmed that the desired
restoration would surely come at some future date.
This is the temporal kingdom of Jesus Christ described
in the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse, and
beginning with the expulsion of the dragon from the
earth to be enchained in hell. "And I saw an angel
coming down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And
he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent which is
the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand
(1) Apoc. xix. 20. (3) Ibid. xix. 20, 21.
(2) Ibid. xvii. 16, 17. (4) Acts i. 7.
Law of Antagonism. 305
years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and
shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should
no more seduce the nations till the thousand years
be finished." (i) Here the saints who had died, or
perhaps only the most perfect among" them, rise again
to sit as judges together with Christ, and to reign
with Him on the earth for a thousand years. " And I
saw seats ; and they sat upon them ; and judgment
was given unto them, and the souls of them that were
beheaded for the testimony of JESUS and for the word
of God, and who had not adored the beast nor his
image, nor received his character on their foreheads
or in their hands ; and they lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived
not, till the thousand years were finished. This is
the first resurrection." (2) The Psalmist had already
prophesied : " The wicked shall not rise again in
judgment" (that is to judge), "nor sinners in the
council of the just." (3) St. Paul had taught that the
order of the resurrection would be as follows : First,
Christ, then they that are Christ s, who have believed
in His coming, and then the end, namely, the
resurrection and the condemnation of the wicked. (4)
As therefore when Christ came forth as a conquering
king from the tomb, a the graves were opened, and
many bodies of the saints that had slept arose, and
coming out of the graves after His resurrection, came
into the holy city and appeared to many," (5) so at
His second coming, as conquering King and Judge
of the world, other saints who were either martyred,
(1) Apoc. xx. 1-3. (3) p s. i- 5-
(2) Ibid. 4, 5. (4) i- Cor - xv - 2 3. 2 4-
(5) Matt, xxvii. 52, 53.
II. X
306 On Divine Providence.
or, by clinging fast to the way of perfection, emulated
the martyrs, shall rise again to exercise judgment
and to reign on the earth together with Him. I am
well aware that many Catholic writers of high repute
think it probable that the saints who arose after the
resurrection of Christ died again ; but as this is not
a point defined by the Church, I own that I cannot
bring myself to endorse such an opinion. For, after
the resurrection of our Lord, the saints were already
admitted to the beatific vision, as may be gathered
also from the promise of Christ to the good thief,
" This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise/ (2) If
then they arose, they were in the state of glory.
Their apparitions would be enough to prove that their
bodies had the properties of glorified bodies ; hence
it does not seem to me at all credible that death could
any longer have dominion over men once placed in
such a state. In my opinion this would be derogatory
to the power of Christ s resurrection, as well as wholly
out of keeping with the ordinary action of God,
Whose gifts, as we are often told in Holy Writ, are
"without repentance." (3)
Now, the saints, who shall have risen from death
after Christ s second coming, will not always be
visible, but will shew themselves here and there, as
Christ Himself will do, and as He did during the
forty days that he remained with His disciples after
His resurrection. And although even during Christ s
reign of a thousand years, some holy persons will
succumb to death, it seems that they will speedily
rise again ; at least if we apply to this circumstance
that difficult passage of the Apostle : " For the Lord
(i) Luke xxiii. 43. (2) Rom. xi. 29.
Law of Antagonism. 307
Himself shall come down from heaven with command
ment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with
the trumpet of God ; and the dead who are in Christ
shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left "
(that is, the faithful then living), " shall be taken up
together with them in the clouds to meet Christ." (i)
These words seem clearly to indicate that the bodies,
not of Christ only, but also of His saints, will no
longer be affected by the laws of gravity, but be per
fectly free to appear when and to whom they will. (2)
828. Therefore Christ, and the saints reigning with
Him on earth, will at that period direct by their
counsels the children of men, who will be no longer
seduced by the spirit of error, and will form together
one society perfectly constituted and most excellent.
Thus also will human society have attained its ideal
acme of perfection, through God Himself communing
with it as in the terrestrial paradise, but now in a
sublimer form, because God will be with men as one of
themselves, a God-Man. The opinion which holds
that Jerusalem, or perhaps rather Rome, will be the
capital of this universal and most happy kingdom,
seems quite in harmony with what Zacharias and
other prophets foretold of that city, the rebuilding of
which, after the captivity, was a mere foreshadowing
of far greater things to come.
829. But we are told that when a thousand years of
such holiness and happiness have passed away, the
dragon will once more be let loose for a short time, and
this, I think, may be explained as follows :
The false wisdom of the devil had already been con
founded by the wisdom of Christ, and he had been in
(i) i Thess. iv. 15, 16. (2) See Appendix A.
308 On Divine Providence.
consequence cast down from heaven to earth. His
blind and unjust power had likewise been vanquished
by the just power of Christ, and he had been, in conse
quence, cast from this earth into the abyss. It seemed
then that nothing remained for the fiend to oppose to
God. But it was not unlikely that he would find a
new expedient I mean hypocrisy. There is nothing
absurd in the thought that after a thousand years of
confinement in hell s torments, the father of lies should
resort to the scheme of feigning repentance, and
promising to God that if only set at large he would
no longer do any hurt to men. The insincerity of such
protestations would, of course, be known to God.
Still there are several reasons why God should allow
the Angel of Darkness this last trial : first, in order that
the father of lies might be made to brook this extreme
ignominy of being by facts convicted of hypocrisy and
incapability for good ; secondly, in order that Christ
might not be deprived of this very last glory of having
most fully shewn the absolute impotence of the devil
and his obstinacy in evil ; and finally, in order that
new occasions might be afforded to the saints for the
exercise of heroic acts of virtue. Thus will the proud
spirit be made to bear solemnly and finally the triple
confusion arising from proved foolishness, proved
impotence, and proved malice three confusions, it will
be seen, corresponding to the three divine attributes
glorified in Christ, of Wisdom, of Power, and of
Holiness, which attributes are subservient to and are
founded on that of GOODNESS.
830. The devil, then, is unchained, and lo ! he at
once betakes himself to seducing the nations as of yore,
and even with greater ardour. " And when the thou-
Law of Antagonism. 309
sand years shall be finished, Satan shall be loosed out
of his prison and shall go forth and seduce the nations
which are over the four quarters of the earth, Gog and
Magog, and shall gather them together to battle, the
number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they
came upon the breadth of the earth, and encompassed
the camp of the saints, and the beloved city."(i) By
this trial, another intent was gained. The whole of
humanity had been sanctified, all aids for that purpose
had been lavished on it by Christ ; and yet no sooner
is the devil let loose than it falls a victim to his seduc
tions. The most manifest proofs given to it by God
of His Goodness, Wisdom and Power, fail in the object
of keeping it faithful to Him. How completely does
this fact establish the nothingness of human nature
when relying on itself! How conclusively does it
show that finite beings cannot give to themselves any
true good, moral or eudemonological, but that all
good must come from God and Christ alone ! And
what a glory is this for the Infinite ! Therefore this
conflict also was, like the previous ones, opportune
and necessary, that humanity might be thoroughly
instructed and humbled, and by the complete humilia
tion of itself, and the greatest glory thereby given
to God, attain that supreme good, moral and eude
monological, to which Christ intended to raise it.
831. Now, how could a sacrilegious perjurer like
Satan be dealt with except by summary justice?
Accordingly we see the strife quickly terminated by
God Himself. " And there came down fire from God
out of heaven and devoured them " (the impious men
who were beleaguering the holy city), " and the devil
(i) Apoc. xx. 7, 8.
3io On Divine Providence.
who seduced them was cast into the pool of fire and
brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (i)
Here it may be pertinent to remark that when the
devil was shut up the first time in the abyss, no
mention was made as yet of fire and brimstone. Thus
we have three distinct degrees of punishment corres
ponding to the devil s three defeats, ist degree, his
being thrown down from heaven to earth, correspond
ing to the discomfiture of his false wisdom ; 2nd, his
expulsion from the earth and imprisonment in the
abyss, corresponding to the discomfiture of his vaunted
power; 3rd, the eternal fire, corresponding to the
unmasking of his hypocritical feint of goodness. Ante
cedently to these three overthrows and punishments
he was already reprobated and punished on account
of his original pride; but his three shameless attempts
made the torment of his eternal perdition threefold
more intense.
832. After the judgment and condemnation of the
devil follows the solemn judgment of mankind. On
the appearance of the Judge s throne, the heavens
and earth flee away, the latter being converted into
human bodies. (2) The wicked also rise again,
and in the twinkling of an eye the angels sent forth
by Christ gather all men into His presence. The
books are opened, and the final sentence is pronounced
on every human creature according to his deeds. The
heavenly Jerusalem is built up entirely of living stones,
each exquisitely perfect both as to form and workman
ship ; each prepared beforehand and each of infinite
value. In this spouse of the Lamb, without spot or
(i) Apoc. xx. 9, 10. (2) Ibid. v. 11-13.
Law of Antagonism. 311
wrinkle, decked out in festal attire, exquisitely beautiful,
the masterpiece of the Wisdom, Power, and Goodness of
God, the harvest yielded by all creation, the work of
all the ages of the world, is Divine Providence, finally,
and with a grandeur surpassing all human thought,
justified, exalted, and glorified for evermore.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CONTINUATION. ISSUE OF ANTAGONISM.
833. Let me now sum up what has been said, and
make some reflections on the issue of the conflict
between the finite and the infinite just described.
We have seen that it is befitting God s attributes
that He should raise His creatures to the highest pitch
of moral perfection and happiness. This was demon
strated by three arguments.
The first was deduced from the Law of Extremes,
which God ever observes in His dealings with created
beings.
The second was shewn to be the outcome of the Law
of the Greatest Results. Indeed, God could not obtain
the greatest results from His creatures, except on the
condition of raising them to the summit of moral per
fection and happiness ; for one degree of moral perfec
tion of a higher standard cannot be compensated for
by any accumulation whatsoever of degrees of perfec
tion of a lower standard ; since there is as much differ
ence between the different degrees of moral perfection
as there is between one species and another. Thus, in
the same way that a thousand units of heat, if kept
separate, do not produce the effect obtained by ten
units acting together; so a lower standard of perfection
in a thousand men is of incomparably less worth than
a higher standard of perfection even though realized
in only one man.
Issue of Antagonism. 313
A third argument was drawn as a consequence from
the Law of the Complete Realization of the Species;
for a given essence is never fully realized, unless its
very highest perfection is reached.
834. Now, the highest point of moral perfection in
an intelligent creature, consists in the positive and
practical knowledge of its Creator, of its own original
nothingness, and of its own complete dependence on
the Creator, from Whom it derives its every good.
This is the only way left open to the creature for
arriving at the most intimate knowledge obtainable of
God, Whose essential quality it is to embrace all
entity, to be the beginning and the end, and, conse
quently, to be the cause of the existence and perfec
tion of all beings. The acknowledging of one s own
nothingness as compared with the Creator, Essential
Good, and the cause of all created good, is precisely
what constitutes the greatest possible act of humility,
and the greatest possible act of adoration and praise.
But the creature cannot be practically acquainted
with the Infinite Greatness of God in comparison with
itself, except by means of self-abnegation, that is, by
means of an act whereby it actually prefers the Creator
to whatever pleasurable feeling it can derive from its
own limited excellence.
It was, therefore, necessary that God should afford
creatures a suitable opportunity of renouncing them
selves in order to bring about the greater exaltation
of their Maker. Such opportunity He gave both to
angels and men.
Angels, as being active and purely spiritual beings,
have, by their very constitution, a sentiment of excel
lence and superiority over men ; God gave them the
3 1 4 On Divine Providence.
opportunity of renouncing this sentiment by adoring
deified humanity, the Man-God CHRIST.
Men, passive and composite, take a natural delight
in animal gratifications ; God gave them the oppor
tunity of renouncing this delight by abstaining from
a fruit "good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful
to behold/ (i)
In both instances, by obeying, they would have
paid God the homage that was His due, and would
themselves, at the same time, have advanced in
virtue. (2)
But was the moral perfection they might thus have
acquired, the greatest possible r
Not so ; for the abasement required of the angels
was not sufficient to make them practically recognize
to its full extent the nothingness of the angelic nature
when compared with God. Thus, in like manner, the
act of mortification man was called upon to make, was
not a complete sacrifice of human nature in honour of
the Creator, and could not beget in man a full, prac
tical, and meritorious knowledge of the utter nothing
ness of human nature in comparison with its Maker.
The angel could not recognize practically and
meritoriously all the defectibility of his nature, unless
he beheld it precipitated into the lowest depths of
wickedness. So, too, man could not practically and
meritoriously recognize all the defectibility of human
nature, without seeing it infected with all the vice of
which it was capable.
Such being the case, God might so have ordained
that both angel and man should be proof against
(i) Gen. iii. 6.
(2) See St Augustine, De Civit. Dei, Bk. xix., ch. 13.
Issue of An tagon ism . 315
temptation. But His Infinite Goodness intervened,
and entering into consultation with His Wisdom, if
the expression may be allowed, proposed the question :
Will angels and men be enabled to yield greater fruits
of virtue by allowing them to fall, than by efficaciously
succouring them to remain faithful r
The decision was this :
First, that a greater amount of fruit would be yielded
by allowing a portion of the angels to fall, in order
that the angelic nature, possessed by those who did
not fall in common with those who fell, might have
an experimental knowledge of itself, that is to say,
might know what depravity its own nature was sus
ceptible of, and might exercise a complete act of self-
abasement before its Creator, by acknowledging the
fact that its own safety and salvation depended
entirely on Him and His gratuitous election, and
might at the same time gain the merit of detesting
and combating evil more actively than ever. Now,
the moral perfection of the faithful angels, enhanced
by these sublime sentiments, acquired in God s eyes
a value far surpassing the salvation of all the angels
that were lost.
Secondly, that more abundant fruits would be
obtained by allowing man to fall, and all his posterity
to be blighted, with the exception of a solitary maid,
destined to be Mother of the Redeemer, in order that
redeemed human nature might likewise practically
recognize the depravity it is capable of, and into
which it had sunk of its own accord, and might extol
its Creator as its only hope and refuge, and the source
of all its good.
835. Furthermore, the redemption of mankind was
316 On Divine Providence.
not only a boon to themselves, but redounded to the
benefit of the angels, whose moral perfection and con
sequent happiness was immeasurably increased on
account of man s redemption. Several reasons may
be assigned for this statement.
In the first place, the loss or salvation, the preserva
tion or destruction of human nature having become a
subject of contention between hell and the Almighty,
it is plain that the discomfiture of Satan afforded the
good angels a fresh and more lively experimental
knowledge of the Greatness, Wisdom, and Goodness of
God, as well as of the comparative powerlessness,
folly, and wickedness of their own nature. Hence,
they had full scope for giving endless praise to their
Lord, humbling themselves meanwhile in His presence
in the intimate conviction of their own nullity.
836. In the second place, they had occasion to
display their zeal in the strife with Satan, and hence,
as they were free co-operators and secondary causes,
to become sharers in God s victory, and in the glory
consequent upon the same.
837. In the third place, they were able to exercise
charity towards men, whose guardians and defenders
they became.
838. In the fourth place, they were able to adore
the Humanity of Christ, to minister to it, and, through
the reverence due to Christ, to minister also to those
who possess Christ within themselves. This was an
exercise of supernatural humility, by which a being of
more elevated nature rightly lowers itself beneath
one of an incomparably inferior order, for the reason
that the latter is united to the Creator.
839. In the fifth place, they who first practised
Issue of Antagonism. 317
faith in the words of God by believing in the mystery
of the Incarnation, later on discovered in this mystery
an abyss of light, from which they derived a wonderful
increase of wisdom while pondering on the Wisdom
and Goodness of God which shine forth beyond all
measure in that great mystery.
840. In the sixth place, their love of JESUS CHRIST
and their beholding Him added immensely to their
happiness ; for it is written that upon Him " the
Angels desire to look." (i)
841. Thus God disposed all creation with the
aim of accumulating in intelligent creatures the
greatest quantity of moral perfection and of bliss ;
both of which consisted in a knowledge of their
Creator at once experimental and practical, a know
ledge, that is to say, accompanied by the assent of
the will, love, and deeds. Such a knowledge could
not be acquired but by a kind of contrast between
creatures and their Creator, which should clearly
bring" out that they are a mere nothing, and that He
is their ALL ; and this contrast could not be fully
brought out otherwise than by Antagonism bet\veen
the finite and the Infinite.
842. I have stated that the knowledge of the
Creator which was to perfect the creature could only
be the result of the experimental contrast between
themselves and their Maker ; for the creature, in fact,
by means of perception, can gain experimental kno\v-
ledge only of itself and of what it feels in itself, and
whenever what it feels is infinite, this infinite is
subjected in consequence to a sort of limitation, so
that we can apply to our case that adage of the
(r)i Peter t. 12.
318 On Divine Providence.
Schoolmen, quidquid recipitur ad instar recipients
recipitur. It was fitting, therefore, that the creature
should acquire an experimental knowledge of the
Grandeur, the Power, the Wisdom, the Goodness of
its Creator. It was fitting that in this way it should be
able to form an estimate, on the one hand, of its own
deficiency, and, on the other, of the never-failing great
ness of the Creator, taking itself, as it were, as the
standard of worth, and arguing after this fashion :
" I have thus much of being, but my being is alto
gether limited ; therefore, the being I have is as
nothing to that Being Who is infinite/
But how could the creature arrive at such a con
clusion by way of experience ? The experience of a
real annihilation is an impossibility ; for, if the
creature came to be actually annihilated, it could
learn no lesson from this fact, whereas God requires
created beings to yield the greatest possible fruit, nay,
rather to gather that fruit from the knowledge of their
own original nothingness. The creature, therefore,
could only acquire a vivid and practical persuasion of
its own nothingness, of its own insufficiency in every
thing for which it was made and after which it longs,
by falling short of all that it aims at, and by finding
itself incapable of attaining that end, the non-attain
ment of which must render its very existence profitless.
Created beings were made for righteousness and moral
perfection : it was necessary that they should experi
ence its loss. They were framed for happiness ; it
was requisite they should experience the extreme of
suffering. As the angelic nature is simple, it could
not be destroyed but by annihilation. Human nature
being composite, could be destroyed, as such, without
Issue of Antagonism. 319
its component parts being annihilated. The soul
separated from its body would still remain capable of
intelligence, a subject and a subsistent person : the
dolorous experience therefore best fitted to human
nature was that of death.
843. But since such bitter experiences of its own
insufficiency were not designed by God for the
creature s ruin, but, on the contrary, for its greater
good ; it remained for the spontaneous and gratuitous
Goodness of God to stretch out His hand to the creature
that had been found altogether unable to uphold itself,
and to lift it up from the lowest depths of misery to
the very summit of perfection and happiness, to the
end that the creature, after being made acquainted
with itself, and with the result of its own deeds, might
come to know its Creator and what was wrought by
Him in its behalf.
844. Now, the angelic nature acquired this two-fold
knowledge at one and the same time. For, while one
portion of the angels gave proof of their own natural
liability to fail, the rest, in whom the same nature is
realized, experienced the action of the Creator Who
enlightened and upheld them, and, at the same time,
from the sad fate of their companions, perceived
what they themselves w^ere and might have been.
845. Human nature, however, acquired possession
of this twofold knowledge at different times, man s
prevarication having first taken place, and later on
his redemption and sanctification ; first death, after
wards the resurrection.
846. Limiting ourselves on this point to the con
sideration of mankind in particular, we may observe
that there were two crowning works which God
320 On Divine Providence,
wrought in favour of fallen man, and by means of
which He gave proof of His own Goodness, Wisdom
and Power :
i st. One was relative to moral evil, and consisted
in redemption from sin and in sanctification. This
was the fruit of the victory Christ won over sin, and it
continues to have its effect in His faithful followers
through all ages unto the end of the world. In this
splendid victory God associated man with Himself;
for the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord JESUS Christ
conquered in company with the Word ; and the
triumph of the human nature of Christ was the
triumph of the whole of humanity. Nevertheless, this
triumph is not due to man s own valour and strength
but to God alone, for it was God Who came to
man s help, rescued him from sin, and rendered him
capable of performing works of justice. Hence, St.
Paul writes : " But now without the law" that is, not
by virtue of the Mosaic law " the justice of God is
made manifest ; being witnessed by the law and the
prophets. Even the justice of God by faith of JESUS
Christ," that is, not by any confidence man can place
in his own power to do good, for in that he failed
" unto all and upon all them that believe in Him : for
there is no distinction. For all have sinned, and do
need the glory of God," that is, God s gratuitous
Goodness, in which His glory and His victory over
finite creatures are most clearly manifested : "being
justified freely by His grace, through the redemption
that is in Christ JESUS." (i)
847. 2nd. The other work of God, relating to
eudemonological evil, was the saving man from des-
(i) Rom. iii. 21-24.
Issue of Antagonism. 321
traction. This constitutes the victory which Christ
gained over death, and which will be consummated at
the final resurrection, according to the -words of the
Apostle: The enemy death shall be destroyed last.
For He hath put all things under His feet. And
whereas He saith : All things are put under Him,
undoubtedly, He is excepted, who put all things under
Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto
Him, then the Son also Himself" (as man) "shall be
subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that
God may be all in all." (i)
Be it observed that in this passage St. Paul asserts
that it was God Who subdued all things to Christ, and
that in the end even Christ, as man, shall be subject
to God, as to the only one recognized fountain-head
of all good ; in order that in the GLORY OF GOD
ALONE, the end of the universe, all may be consum
mated ; and all the Saints, both Head and members,
may from this exalted glory derive their sanctification
and their bliss.
848. A fact that calls for our careful attention is,
that Christ s victory over death is in a special manner
extolled in Holy Writ. It is, in truth, a decisive
victory, for, by death human nature is destroyed, and
it was precisely on this destruction that the enemy of
all good was fully intent. The destruction of so great
a work of God would have cast a slur on its Creator,
making it almost appear that what He does can be
undone by some other power. And human nature, if
destroyed, would no longer have been able either to
merit, or to praise its Maker, or to yield any fruit to
(i) i Cor. xv. 26-28,
II. Y
322 On Divine Providence.
Him. True it is that the soul would still have
remained immortal ; but the soul alone does not con
stitute human nature in its entirety, but only an
element of human nature, which survives the disunion
of the parts. From the very depths of human nature,
then, proceed those words of the Psalmist : " Wilt
Thou show wonders to the dead ? or shall physicians
raise to life, and give praise to thee ? Shall any one
in the sepulchre declare Thy mercy : and Thy truth
in destruction? Shall Thy wonders be known in the
dark, and Thy justice in the land of forgetfulness ? " (i)
It may be here observed that death is often alluded
to in Scripture as darkness, and the land of oblivion,
because by death man, if dependent solely on his
natural constitution, would forget all knowledge
acquired in this life. It was, therefore, with sentiments
prompted by human nature, that the Israelites sang:
44 The heaven of heavens is the Lord s; but the earth
He has given to the children of men. The dead shall
not praise Thee, O Lord : nor any of them that go
down to hell. But we that live bless the Lord : from
this time now and for ever." (2) In this passage we
are given to understand that it is naturally beyond
our comprehension how men can dwell in heaven, the
habitation of God, Who is a pure spirit, and of the
other pure spirits. This was a profound mystery to
nature, and impenetrable to the multitude of the
Israelites themselves. As, therefore, after this great
mystery had been revealed, Christ taught that the
greatest act of love is that by which a man lays down
his own life ; so in the olden time the greatest act of
(i) Ps. Ixxxvii. 11-13. ( 2 ) P S - cxiii. 16-18. See also Uaruch ii. 17.
Issue of Antagonism. 323
faith and hope was that by which a man yielded up
his life at the word of God. Such was the sacrifice of
Abraham. Such was the protest of Job, " Although He
should kill me I will trust in Him." (i) Such likewise
was that of the Psalmist, " For Thy mercy is better
than lives ; Thee my lips shall praise." (2)
From not understanding how the soul could live
without the body, sprang the error of the Sadducees.
Hence Christ, \vhen confuting them, does not under
take to explain to them that the soul would exist even
though stript of the body, that would not have sufficed ;
but He convinces them with the word of God, called in
Scripture the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob ;
a phrase which denotes that those patriarchs were alive,
God not being u the God of the dead, but of the liv
ing." (3) In truth, the objection of the Sadducees bore
upon the resurrection, and not upon the mere subsistence
of the soul, for it was difficult to see how the soul could
live of an operative life unless there were a resurrection.
Neither does Christ explain to the Sadducees that when
the souls of the just have been separated from their
bodies, a mysterious communication with the glorified
body of Christ will more than compensate the loss of
their bodily life, since the text of Holy Writ was plain
enough to confute their error, and they themselves
\vere not capable of being instructed in higher truths.
He did not fail, however, to unfold the secret to His
disciples, when He informed them that He was about
to give them His own flesh instead of 4 the life of the
world;" (4) and when He told Martha that He was
(i) Job xiii. 15. (2) Ps. Ixii. 4.
(3) Malt. xxii. 32. (4) John vi 52
3 2 4
On Divine Providence.
" the resurrection and the life."(i) For, as there are two
deaths, so there are two resurrections. In fact, the
soul of the believer, even before he has his body
restored to him in the final resurrection, at the very
moment in which this earthly life becomes extinct,
is drawn into contact with the Sacred Humanity of
JESUS Christ, Who comes, according to the words of
the gospel, to receive him on his death-bed.
And as Christ by uniting to Himself the soul of the
deceased becomes its resurrection, so He continues to
be its true life afterwards, because He never separates
Himself from that soul for all eternity. For this icason
St. Paul speaks of a habitation that the soul receives
after the present life instead of the habitation of its own
body in which it previously dwelt: "We know, if
our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, that
we have a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in heaven," (2) which supplies for the
instrumentality of the body.
849. Sin conquered, Hell is likewise conquered ;
and death being conquered together with sin, an
entrance may be effected into the eternal life of
heaven, the final state for which humanity is destined.
Still, a part of mankind, as also a part of the
angels is lost, the sad effect of the creature s free
will, but necessary, nevertheless, to the obtaining of
the greatest amount of good, in consequence of that
law of wisdom, which requires that the greatest results
must be obtained with the least expenditure. For, if
this evil had not been allowed by Divine Wisdom, no
(i) John xi. 25. (2) II Cor. v. r.
Issue of Antagonism. 325
room would have been left for that kind of good which
angelic and human nature is capable of bringing
forth in a state of perdition. To understand this we
may reflect :
ist. That the reprobate are an experimental
demonstration which the just have continually under
their eyes, proving the nothingness of their own
nature, and the Infinite Goodness of God Who has
elected them ;
2ndly. That they render possible a just superiority
and dominion, which God s holy and faithful servants
enjoy and exercise over His wicked and rebel subjects ;
3rdly. That they afford a palpable proof of the
deformity of sin, thereby rendering more manifest
the beauty of virtue in the eyes of all intelligent
creatures ;
4thly. That they demonstrate the high and incon
testable claims of Eternal Justice, which by inevitable
punishment, proportioned to the crime committed,
restores the equilibrium between moral and eudemono-
logical good, between moral and eudemonological
evil, a new experimental method of manifesting to
all creatures the Greatness and Holiness of God.
850. All these reasons, powerful as they are,
cannot be fully grasped, unless one understands
aright the truth above laid down, that every created
intelligence needs to be made acquainted with the
defectibility of the finite and the indefectibility of
the infinite by actual experience, in order that its
cognition may be life-giving and productive of
great actions. This is a necessity springing from the
limitation of the finite, which God Himself cannot
326 On Divine Providence,
take away without rendering it infinite ; and that
would involve an absurdity. Thus does the Apostle
explain the mystery of election and reprobation,
telling us that by the latter God wished " to SHEW
His \vrath, and to MAKE His power KNOWN," and by
the former to " SHEW the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy, which He hath prepared unto
glory." (i) To whom did He wish to shew the extent
both of His Justice and of His Mercy ? To the whole
of the angelic and human nature. And why ? In
order that knowing His attributes, making use of this
knowledge to magnify Him, both men and angels
might enhance their own perfection and happiness,
the consummation of which consists precisely in this
knowledge, this praise, given to the Creator. And in
what individuals did the creature reach such a height
of perfection and happiness? In those who by
cleaving to virtue are styled on that account by St.
Paul " vessels of mercy." But could not God have
manifested these attributes of His to creatures without
their effects being made visible in creatures? No.
And why? Not assuredly through want of power on
the part of God, but through the creature s own
insufficiency and limitation. This doctrine, too, St. Paul
confirms with the authority of the Old Testament. In
fact, what is the reason assigned by Scripture for God s
inflicting so many scourges on the Egyptians? It is
clearly and repeatedly stated that God, by chastising
Pharaoh, intended to give a striking lesson to all nations,
to wit, that they might know His Power, and so might
learn to stand in dread of His name. Thus indeed did
(i) Rom. ix. 22, 23
Issue of Antagonism. 327
Moses, by God s own order, speak to Pharaoh : " There
fore have I raised thee, that I may show my power in
thee, and My name may be spoken of throughout all the
earth." (i) Nay, God even wished to teach Pharaoh
himself a lesson by means of the very scourges with
which He afflicted him, had not that monarch become
hardened in obstinacy. Wherefore He bade Moses to say
to him : " I will at this time send all my plagues upon
thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people :
that thou mayest know there is none like me in all the
earth." (2) So too the Israelites had, in their own
experience of the privileges wrought for them in Egypt,
in the wilderness, and in the conquest of Chanaan, a
continual theme for praising the Greatness of God.
In exactly a similar manner does the whole of
Christendom exalt God for so many manifestations of
His attributes made known by means of His chastise
ments and blessings ; and these same events will
afford the blessed in heaven an everlasting subject of
eternal praise.
It was requisite, to repeat this truth once more,
that God should in a complete manner reveal His
Justice and Goodness in the works of His hands, in
order that the knowledge of these divine attributes
might sink so deep into the minds and hearts of
creatures as efficaciously to arouse in them corres
ponding sentiments and actions. The same wholesome
result is obtained by the terrible justice which is
meted out to the lost in the unquenchable flames of
hell. This truth suggested to St. Augustine those
words of his which sum up the whole of the preceding
I) Exod. ix. 16. (2) Exod. ix. 14.
328 On Divine Providence.
argument: If every one were saved, the penalty
justly due to sin WOULD REMAIN UNKNOWN ; if no
one, the benefits freely bestowed by grace." (i)
(i) Si omnis homo liberaretur, utique lateret quid peccatis per justitiam
debeatur : si nemo, quid gratia largiretttr. (Efist. cxciv. , n. 5). No less
worthy of perusal are the words of the Holy Doctor which precede those
just quoted, and are quite to the point : Quod autem personarum acceptorem
Dcum se credere existimant, si credant qiiod sine ullis prcecedentibus
meritis, cujus vult miseretur, et qitos dignatur vocat, el quern vult religio-
suni Jacit : parum attendunt, quod debita reddatur pcena daninato^
indebita gratia liberate, ut nee ille se indignum queratur nee dignum se
iste glorietur, atque ibi potius acceptionein nullain fieri personarum, ubi
jiua rademque massa damnationis et offensionis involvit UT LIRERATUS DE
NON I.IHI-;KATO DISCAT, QUOD ETIAM SIBI SUPPLICIUM CONVENIRKT, NISI
<;KATIA SUBVENIRET. (n. 4.)
CHAPTER XXX.
CONTINUATION. FORCES GOD BRINGS TOGETHER IN
THE CONFLICT.
851. The universe, \vith all that happens in it,
depends on God as its first cause. But God orders the
events necessary for the fulfilment of His supremely
good and eternal designs, for giving them feature and
form, by acting now as a positive cause, now as a ne
gative cause. As a positive cause He produces good, as
a negative cause He excludes the unnecessary, permits
the evil of wilful sin, determines the evil of suffering.
All that happens in the universe in relation to the
great design of God, is either good or evil. From
the mixture of good and evil and from the combat
between them there results the most \vonderful and
complete victory of good over evil, and the triumph
of God, Who is the Essential Good, and also the
ultimate perfection of the creature, the perennial
source of which is the knowledge of this triumph.
Therefore it is that the Scripture says that God has
poured wisdom out upon all His works, (i)
852. First we will consider how the divine opera
tions are directed by Wisdom when God works as a
positive cause, and we will shew the different laws
(i) Et effudit illani super omnia opera sua, ct super oinnem carnew
ecundum datum suum, el prifbuit tllam diligentibus se. (Eccles. i. 10. )
Wisdom is poured upon all the works of God ; but only those who love
Him properly, possess it, making use of it to great advantage.
33 On Divine Providence.
which govern this operation. Then we will pass on
to consider how the same Wisdom disposes created
natures when He remains as a negative cause, and
what a conflict ensues between the deficient effects of
these natures, which deficiency constitutes evil and
their full and completed effects which fulness and
completeness constitute good. But the inaccessible
height and the inexhaustible fecundity of the subject
forbid us to pass on till we have reverted to some
considerations regarding the nature of the forces
which God places in the field in the mortal battle
between good and evil, which have not yet been
sufficiently elaborated.
853. We have seen that God employs His Wisdom
in the combat, and does not exhibit His Power till
after He has conquered legitimately with the peaceful
weapons of reason, and this Wisdom He displays in
order to do justice to the conqueror and the conquered,
decreeing triumph to the first, and punishment to the
second. This truth is so important that we must treat
it more at large.
What is meant by saying God fights against the
adversaries of good not with His Power, but with His
Wisdom ? How can Wisdom alone succeed against all
the real strength which the wicked always violent
bring into the field ?
It means that God acts in such a way that the battle
is carried on only by secondary causes. Himself giving
existence, nature, strength, to them that is, to the
good as well as to the wicked, with equal impartial
ity. As we have seen. He in the beginning created all
natures, did good to all the free, the intelligent; He
established universal laws for good and for evil, laws
Forces in the Conflict. 331
which regulate the natural as well as the supernatural
order, and to which all beings were to be equally
subject ; He maintained the constant subordination
and concatenation of causes, and thus sent them forth
to their work. To create natures was certainly a work
of His Power, and there was in this no combat. This
Power did no more than produce and mature beings
which were afterwards left to their own will and to
their native virtues. When any of these stray away
from justice and thus engage in the first battles
against it and those who maintain it, He does not
interfere in favour of these last by annihilating the
former, or by any other act of Divine Power which He
might exercise ; on the contrary, He maintains the
strength of the bad as well as that of the good ; He
leaves them to fight among themselves and wills that
the victory should be gained as the spontaneous con
sequence of the valour of the combatants and of the
action of secondary causes.
854. But how is it that we say He conquers by His
Wisdom? In this manner : it was the Divine Power
that brought contingent natures out of nothing and
maintains them and their respective laws, but it was
Wisdom that determined the manner and order of these
natures ; the manner by fixing the quantity, the
weight, the number, the measure of species and
individuals, time, space, etc. ; then the order con
necting them and blending them together, placing
them in certain determinate relations with each other
and giving them suitable spheres of action. Now, this
manner and this order, according to which they were
chosen, disposed, and distributed, had been determined
and decreed by Infinite Wisdom, foreseeing all, and
33 2 On Divine Providence.
therefore in the first arrangement of them placing the
seeds of all future events, the relations with each
other which would be interwoven in succession, and
that harmony among them from which in the end of
time would arise the complex result of the greatest
good the most stupendous victory of good over evil.
Thus this victory had been foreseen and decided
on from the beginning by a simple act of wisdom
which alone could determine it, since power had no
further part in it than to cause the existence of
the combatants. The victory itself is only an order,
an order of substances and acts, not the substances
themselves or their acts as such, (i) Order is then
the object of wisdom, substances and their acts, of
power. Hence, whenever the Scripture says that all
creatures always execute the Divine Will, it attributes
such obedience to the virtue of the first creative act
by which they had subsistence and order, and in it the
precept, so to speak, of what they were to do in
future : k For He spoke, and they were made," is an
utterance of the Word that gives them existence ; " He
commanded, and they were created," is a command, an
act of Wisdom that harmonizes them wiili each other ;
41 He hath established them for ever, and for ages of
ages (producing the substance) ; He hath made a decree
(placing them in suitable order) and it shall not pass
away." (2)
855. It is evident to every thoughtful mind how
the issue of human things depends on the series and
(i) Hence St. Thomas aptly says that Fat urn dicitur dispositio non qua
est in genere qualitalis, ud sccundnm qitod dispcsitio designat ordinem gui
non est stibstantia sed ? c!atio, S. p. I., q. cxvi., art. 2, ad 3-
(2) Ps. cxlviii. 4, 5.
Forces in the Conflict. 333
concatenation of events. Hence the common proverb,
"Make me a prophet, and I will make you rich."
Hence also the origin of the ancient common belief,
even of poets and philosophers, in that fate the power
of which was superior to that of Jove himself; an
error manifestly arising from the observation of the
constant course of secondary causes, which, we may
almost say, the Supreme Being respects as that which
is His own first law and will, but which the grossness
of the human mind regarded as a proof that this course
was independent of Divine Power. The Mahome
tans, instead of considering fate as the infrangible
connection of secondary causes, make it consist in the
necessity of single events, which they attribute to the
decretory will of God. They thus fall into the
absurdity of admitting that every event would equally
occur whether man gave cause for it or not, or even
removed the cause, and repeat the sophism which the
ancient philosophers fittingly denominated " the slug
gard s argument," xpyos Xoyos-. (i) This sophism sways
the minds of those who, observing that consequences
often follow from events in spite of the will of man and
his provisions against them, and considering this neces
sity only, do not bear in mind that events are neverthe
less always connected with their causes, so that if they
are fated, the causes of them must be fated along
with them, as Chrysippus would have it. (2) In our
times the study of so long a history as that of the
life of the human race, which has been unfolding
for thousands of years, has opened the eyes of men
to see clearly enough the invincible power of the
enchainment of innumerable causes to produce effects
(i) Cicero calls it ignava raiio, De Fato, xii, (2) Cicero, De Fato, xiii.
334 n Divine Providence.
often inevitable, and often beyond the power of man
to foresee, though clearly foreseen and predisposed by
the First Author of this concatenation. The result
has been that in our day, stumbling against the error
of the gentile fate, we have seen a school arise of
fatalist historians.
856. But although there is error and ignorance in
such a system, yet it is not the less true that the
complex issue of events composed of a long and
complicated series of causes, and of effects which
become causes in their turn, in great measure subtracts
from the power of the individual man, and often even
from that of the masses, whose foresight is vain
because they do not see far enough, rior provide in
time against that which either is insensibly going on
or happens unexpectedly, and which they themselves
are the means of bringing about. Divine Wisdom,
on the contrary, which has foreseen everything and
disposed all causes from the beginning according to
His high intent, obtains that the succession of things
shall always issue in the end He wills, and in the
great victory which He has predetermined.
857. With reason then have all men, in all ages,
conscious of their own impotence with regard to the
final issue of things, recurred to the belief that there
was above them a great mysterious power, the lord of
all, the dispenser of everything, whether they called
it fate or deity, or by any other name, and they felt
great need of it and great fear, and so were religious.
The impious motto of the Epicureans itself, primus in
orbe deos jecit timor, is a striking proof of the existence
of this immense, recondite supermundane power, upon
which all mortals, and the wicked first, in spite of
Forces in the Conflict. 335
themselves confess their dependence. And therefore
when Thrasymedes, celebrating the feast of Neptune
in the island of Pylos, gave Mentor the golden cup in
order that he might pass it to Telemachus, and drink
in honour of that god, Homer makes him speak thus :
" Deliver to thy friend
The generous juice, that he may also make
Libation ; for he, doubtless, seeks in prayer
The Immortals, of whose favour all have need." (j)
And this thought is found continually repeated by all the
most ancient writers. Hence again when the gentiles
found themselves oppressed and had no refuge, nor
strength to resist the violence of the oppressors, they had
recourse, as suppliants, to the invisible being, the dis
poser of the world, with that same spontaneity of nature
by which the mind ascends to God by the principle of
integration. (2) Not that they believed that they
should break the chain of secondary causes, but they
understood naturally and instinctively that the issue
of events depended entirely on this chain being dis
posed and woven rather in one way than in another,
by a supreme mind, in which alone there existed the
sufficient reason why things should be connected and
arranged rather in this than in any other manner.
Natural sense attached so much importance to
this first ordering which mundane things must have
from some eternal mind, that it often forgot that it is not
upon these secondary causes, as such, that the complex
issue of events, happy or unhappy, desirable or to be
dreaded, in reality depends. On the contrary this issue
depends entirely on the order of those causes, and this on
(1) Ocfysst } , III., 57-61. Cowper s Translation.
(2) See Origin of J tit as, sec. vi., p. iv., c, ii,, a. vii.
336 On Divine Providence.
the wisdom which had thus disposed them, and under
whose dispensation justice could not fail. This
intimate persuasion being common in all, is often
expressed by the poets as that of mankind, but
especially of the miserable and ill-treated, as for
example in these verses of Horace :
Regum timendorum in proprios greges,
Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis,
Clari giganteo triumpho,
Cuncta supercilio moventis. (i)
858. What is this power of moving all things
attributed to the very eyebrow of Jove ? Very properly
are all the movements of the \vorld attributed to the
eyebrow, that is, to the look of Jove, since the bodily
sight signifies the sight of the mind, or rather the
knowledge of things, and by only knowing things
God establishes and conducts them. It is not, there
fore, according to the inward feeling of the gentiles
that the power of Jove broke the series of causes, but
that by it these causes were created and were
disposed as was suitable in order that justice should
not perish, but triumph in the end.
859. But we shall understand much better what is
the still and hidden strength of the wisdom that
disposes the order of causes, if we consider that no
single event occurs but as the effect of the very long
(i) " Great King, whose frown doth make
Their crouching vassals quake,
Themselves must own
The mastering sway of Jove, imperial god,
Who from the crash of giants overthrown
Triumphant honours took, and by his nod
Shakes all creation s zone."
(Odes iii., i. Sir Theodore Martin s Translation, ).
Forces in the Conflict. 337
and intricate series of causes which have prepared
and disposed it. Now, there are events and acci
dental occurrences, single and instantaneous, of no
moment when taken by themselves, on which depends
the happiness or unhappiness of a man ; one of them
alone is often sufficient to cut short his projects, how
ever great, to destroy his power, to render certain
what appears to be most unlikely, and entirely to
alter the course of his life, and with the course of
one man s life is changed that of millions of other
men, and even the fate of whole nations. Against
these events, planned as it were in secret, what
can man do ? One of them is death. Who can
for certain prolong his life even for a single day ?
How many accidents there are which may at any
moment cut short the thread of life ; accidents which
cannot be foreseen, but which are simply in the hands
of Him Who in His own mind had arranged the order
of causes and effects and prescribed to each of these
the hour, the minute, in which it is to take place, and
punctually to obey the command.
" In fair expanse of soil,
Teeming with rich returns of wine and oil,
His neighbour one outvies ;
Another claims to rise
To civic dignities,
Because of ancestry, and noble birth,
Or fame, or proved pre-eminence of worth,
Or troops of clients, clamorous in his cause ;
Still Fate doth grimly stand,
And with impartial hand
II. z
338 On Divine Providence.
The lots of lofty and of lowly draws
From that capacious urn,
Whence every name that lives is shaken in its turn."(i)
Let him who can, tell us how different would
have been the world s history if Julian, instead of
being conquered by the Parthians, had returned vic
torious from that war, or if Alexander had not been
struck by death at Babylon, before having issue, and
arranging the government of his conquests, or if
Julius Csesar had lived longer ?
860. As the moment in which men shall cease to
live upon earth is in the hands of the Wisdom that
ordains events, so upon that Wisdom alone depends
the preservation or extinction of races. Who can
give or take away the succession of a prince ? Does
it depend on his will ? On his valour r On the
strength of his armies ? And yet the fate of empires
is bound up, in great part, with the continuance or
extinction of the reigning house. What, let us
suppose, would be the present condition of Italy, if
the races of so many of her princes had not unex
pectedly become extinct ? Who knows ? God only,
Who so ordered it.
86 1. What we say of the life of man and the dura
tion of races, may be said with equal truth of every
great human undertaking. The order of events deter
mines the point at which the undertaking shall come
to an end. The heathens saw and confessed this, and
one of their number says :
"Debemur morti nos nostraque; sive receptus
Terra Neptunus classes aquilonibus arcet,
(i) Horace, Odes iii., i.
Forces in the Conflict. 339
Regis opus, sterilisve diu palus aptaque remis
Vicinas urbes alit, et grave sentit aratrum :
Seu cursum mutavit iniquum frugibus amnis
Doctus iter melius; MORTALIA FACTA PERIBUNT." (i)
862. These events, the death of individuals, the
extinction of families, the certain end of the greatest
human works within a time fixed from eternity, by
means of a concatenation of causes, are merely
examples. The same may be said of every single
event, great or little ; the time of every one is decreed ;
man is himself only a means destined for the execution
of certain high decrees.
863. It is this very truth, represented in action,
which forms the admirable sublimity of the Greek
tragedies. In them, fate asserts herself by an in
fallible issue brought about contrary to all appear
ances, in spite of all human power and all human pru
dence, by a series of natural causes wonderfully con
tinued and inevitable. Indeed, the good sense of the
ancients blamed the tragic poet, if, by any contrivance
he made a god appear upon the scene, because
they desired that the Divine Wisdom should be shown
forth in the wonderful succession of events, and not
that power should be arbitrarily introduced ; hence
the Horatian precept :
Nee deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus
Incident, (2)
given manifestly upon our principle of Sufficient
Reason, or the Least Means, which requires that God
should not interfere immediately in human affairs
(i) Horace, Ars Poetica, 63-68. (2) Ibid. 191-2.
340 On Divine Providence.
except when necessary for effecting some good which
could not otherwise be obtained.
864. Here I may be permitted to observe, that
whenever a tragedy brings about the disentanglement
of a knot by natural means which were yet unforeseen
by the wisest men, and striven against by them with
all their prudence and with all their might, it will
always prove sublime ; because it is something sublime
to understand, and almost to see with the bodily eyes
human affairs conducted by a preternatural, hidden,
awe-inspiring and inevitable power, which, how
ever, is in no way violent. But if the issue is, besides
this, in favour of justice and of virtue and opposed to
injustice, which had already almost prevailed, and to
vice, almost triumphant, then the tragedy will not
only seem sublime, but will also have all the appear
ance of truth ; for this, as we have seen, is the law
according to which causes are connected, viz., that
the final issue of external events should harmonize
with virtuous and good works, and oppose injustice
and iniquity ; and the contrary to this is the exception,
and happens only when the Law of the Least Means
requires it. That which happens usually constitutes
the likely ; that which is not usual but happens by
exception, the unlikely. Thus every school of poetry
which makes vice triumphant, sins against the law of
probability.
865. But here it must be observed that it is not
only the ordered series of exterior events which Divine
Wisdom has determined, it has also determined the
thoughts and affections of men ; and this is another
powerful arm by which it conquers, causing that all
things thus conspire to the issue pre-ordained.
Forces in the Conflict. 341
In point of fact, a single thought which arises or
does not arise in the mind of a man just at the right
moment, is sufficient to change the destiny of the
world. Let us question the most famous conquerors ;
every one of them had a consciousness of being guided
by a destiny of this kind. The successful career of Caesar
is celebrated ; and yet this ambitious man ignored his
own valour, and ascribed his wonderful success to his
fortune, that is, to a supernal disposition of events,
without which he was unable to account to himself
either for his own victories or the course of his life.
And who does not remember what this inward senti
ment spake even to Attila r The barbarian devastator
protested that it was not himself, but something
superior to himself, which moved him to his enter
prises, and he called himself the " Scourge of God."
The terrible Nadir Shah, conqueror of the Indies,
declared the same thing. Have we not ourselves
heard how the most recent of famous generals Napo
leon I. judged of his successes ? How many times
he declared, in wonderment, that victory did not depend
on man, but, on the contrary, on a fleeting moment,
on a sudden thought which came unsought, quite of
itself, at the right instant, and without which every
thing would have been lost ? How often in his really
great warlike achievements did he not, as all his
predecessors had done, point to his star ? How often
did he not pay homage to the divinity, and feel and
confess the profound sentiment which is contained in
the title which Holy Scripture gives to the supreme
Being, " The God of hosts."
866. Not only is an instantaneous thought, which
passes like a flash of lightning, sufficient to decide
342 On Divine Providence.
victory or defeat, but all the determinations of man
depend on the sudden presence or on the equally
sudden cessation of thoughts, the coming and going
of which are not in his hands. When the brothers of
Joseph, seeing him coming from afar, said : " Let us
kill this dreamer, and we shall see of what use are his
dreams/ they believed that they had their brother s
destiny in their hands, and that by their own will
they could make the presages of his dreams come to
nought ; and yet it was not so. And wherefore not ?
Because their own thoughts and the consequent
movement and persuasions of their souls were not in
their own hands, although these thoughts and persua
sions are in the very soul of man. It happened, in
fact, that the thought of killing their brother was, after
a short time, changed into the thought that they would
sell him, which they believed would be equally avail
able for their design ; but they thus co-operated,
without knowing it, in the fulfilment of the dream they
had despised. It is certain that if the brothers had
not persuaded themselves that they were able to
prevent the fulfilment of those dreams, and undertaken
to nullify them, Joseph would not have had the vice-
royalty of Egypt. Yet, being free, they might
certainly have killed him just as they were able to sell
him, or just as they might have given no thought to
the dreams and have taken no heed of them. Of
their own free will they preferred the second thought
as more merciful than the first ; but they could not so
have chosen it, had not in the series of their thoughts
this second thought succeeded the first.
867. Constantine is a hostage to Galerius; but he
obtains permission from the tyrant to return to his
Forces in the Conflict. 343
father Constantius Chlorus. If Galerius had upon
reflection deferred to grant this permission for a single
day, or if the ready thought had not come into the
young hero s mind of leaving the court of Nicomedia at
once the very evening the permission was granted,
and of killing all the post-horses on his way, he would
have been the victim of the cruel and ambitious old
man, who on the following day would fain have given
chase. It was a case of a thought not occurring to
Galerius, and of one occurring to Constantine. On this
little, then, depended the triumph of the Cross, the
peace of the Church, the extirpation of the tyranny
which was so hurtful to the human race, the re-forma
tion of the Roman Empire, the foundation of Constan
tinople, the Council of Nice, the great works of the
Fathers of the IVth Century ; in short, the destiny of
the world. We are ourselves the offspring of that
thought. It is certain that the immense and innu
merable consequences of that unseen thought, which
at the moment was wanting to Galerius, and of that
other which at the moment was not wanting to
Constantine, could not be known either to Galerius or
to Constantine ; and they could not therefore be the
objects of their choice; but they were fully known to
God, and God alone had chosen them beforehand.
Here the passage of Job naturally occurs which thus
speaks of God : " He changeth the heart of the
princes of the people of the earth, and deceiveth them
that they walk in vain where there is no way. They
shall grope as in the dark, and not in the light, and he
shall make them stagger like men that are drunk/ 3 (i)
By God s deceiving bold and impious princes, Job
(i) Job xii. 24, 25. The whole of the context deserves to be attentively
studied in connexion with our argument.
344 On Divine Providence.
means to say, that God permits them to deceive them
selves and to confound themselves in their own thoughts
and counsels. We read the same elsewhere: "The
heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord : whither
soever He will He shall turn it ;" which Divine power
over the thoughts of the great is likened in Scripture
to the power that God has of sending down the
waters from heaven, of making them descend from the
mountains, to distribute them over the face of the
earth, (i)
868. Thus as rain and water divided into rivers
move on and are further divided in virtue of natural
causes previously disposed by God, so the series of
human thoughts, and their occurring to the mind at
certain determinate moments, as also their departure
from it, are the natural effects produced by natural
causes among which causes are included purely
spiritual and intellective agencies but yet such as
God Himself had in the beginning ordained and
established, or else moved afterwards by the manifesta
tion of His will. Hence if it is considered that all
human operations, without exception, begin from the
thoughts, and cannot be begun without them, it will
clearly be seen that as God is the first orderer and
disposer of the thoughts, by this alone He already has
in His hand all human events and their infallible
issue.
869. I say then that the series of human thoughts
has its natural causes, although sometimes evident,
sometimes hidden. But I do not say that the origin
and the coming and going of thoughts in the human
mind depends only either on their natural connexion
(I) Prov. xxi. i.
Forces in the Conflict. 345
and association or on the accidental sensations which
man receives from the objects by which he is sur
rounded, and which are yet ordered by Providence.
No doubt these causes have an immense influence
over the movements of the human mind. But in
causing thoughts either to arise or to disappear from
the mind, invisible beings, both good and evil, may,
as has been already noticed, also concur. These are
likewise secondary causes ordained by God for His
infallible designs, and they are indeed working in
every part of the universe according to the laws of
their own nature. This was always the sentiment of
antiquity, even of gentile antiquity, which gave to
every man his genius; and it is confirmed by Christian
tradition. Hence Boetius writes: "the fatal series ol
events, or fate, is then fulfilled by the ministry render
ed to Divine Providence by spirits, or by the working
of the soul, or by the service of all nature, or by the
celestial movements of the stars, or by angelic virtue,
or by the manifold craft of demons, or by some or all
of these together." (i) The same is the teaching also
of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas. (2)
870. If, therefore, God permits evil spirits, within
certain limits prescribed by His Wisdom, to awaken in
the human mind thoughts and designs which tempt or
lead to evil, and commits it to His angels to suggest
to the human mind thoughts which invite them to
good or direct their good undertaking to a happy
end, not even thus does He make direct use of His
Power. God still employs secondary causes, which
follow their own peculiar laws, and their pre-estab
lished connexion, and the utmost He does is
(i) De Consol. Lib. iv. p. 6. (2) S. p. I., q. xcvi., art. 2.
346 On Divine Providence.
to fill the pacific office of teacher and adviser not to
exercise the dominion of a Sovereign Lord.
871. But we must allude to other arms with which
the Divine Wisdom vanquishes evil, and procures the
triumph of good, in addition to those of the most wise
connexion of things, and the interior operations of
the soul. One of these consists in the spontaneous
effects which are consequent on human malice and
on human virtue and sanctity.
872. Malice and iniquity are in themselves a
deterioration of the nature and of the person of him
whom they pervert, so that these persons themselves,
by freely choosing them, degrade and ruin themselves.
He then who sins, has already by his sin, without
anything more, brought shame arid injury upon him
self. Hence St. Augustine appropriately remarks of
a man who robs, and of him who is robbed, that the
former does more injury to himself than to the person
whom he robs : cum ille patiatur damnum pecunice y
iste innoccntice. (i)
873. Besides the moral evil which corrupts what
is most excellent in man, there follows in a natural
way the evil of suffering; hence the Psalmist: " Behold
the sinful man, he hath been in labour with injustice ;
he hath conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity,
he hath opened a pit and dug it, and he is fallen into
the hole he made. His sorrow shall be turned on his
own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his
crown. "(2) On these words St. Augustine observes that
we must not believe that the tranquillity and the
ineffable light, which is God, draws from itself where
with to punish sin, but that it orders sin itself in such
(I) Enarr. in ps. vii., n. 17, (2) Ps. vii. 15-17.
Forces in the Conflict. 347
a manner that those very things which were the
delight of the sinner, become the instruments of the
Lord for his punishment.(i) And this teaching has
most ample place in Scripture, which describes the
ills which are naturally united with sin, and in the
books of moral philosophers of all ages, and daily
experience itself affords most luminous testimony to
its truth. Therefore, not to be endless, I will merely
touch upon the subject.
874. In the first place, sin blinds, more or less, the
person who commits and loves it. It not only deprives
him of the supernatural light, but it also diminishes
the natural, and in this way. The cognitions with
which the human mind is furnished are not necessarily
the rules by which man acts ; but those only are the
rules and principles of his actions which man chooses
to make such.
Now, if a man acts according to the tenor of what
he knows, if in his actions he follows exactly all the
knowledge he possesses, as so many rules, his way of
acting will be right and just. But the perverse man,
who conceives a disorderly affection, takes this for his
guide ; and hence chooses for the rule of his operations
only those cognitions which aid his passions or justify
them, or foment them, or minister the means of
satisfying them. Thus was the intelligence of the rebel
angel obscured by his own pride ; that angel knew
God and knew himself; but he took for the rule of
his actions, only the knowledge of himself. Confining
his gaze to himself, to his own excellences, he thus
withdrew it from God and the Divine excellence, and
grew so proud as to try vainly to persuade himself
(i) Enarr. in ps. vii. 16.
348 On Divine Providence.
that he should gain the victory over Him Who he
yet knew could not be vanquished. And how else
did the antediluvian giants act, those renowned and
wicked men whose memory has been preserved among
all peoples, whose bold deeds are told of in every
mythology, and whose defeat may be read of as well
in Horace as in Job ?
That there is a power, from which there is no
escape, a necessity, a fate, a God, the first cause
and ordainer of everything, which rules over all
the powers of men, is a truth which has always
been felt and confessed by all nations, and of which
they were therefore not in ignorance. But they did
not take this for the rule of their own actions ;
but, on the contrary, restricted their attention to
the robustness of their own bodies, to the boldness
of their own spirit, and blindly persuaded themselves
that they could contend with God Himself, and should
in some way be able to succeed in the strife. Mean
while they were quite ignorant that the author of
nature had stored up in His reservoirs the waters in
which they and their boldness were to perish and be
drowned. Hence it is with reason that the Scripture
attributes their destruction to their own folly, which
thought not of the means of humbling them, possessed
by God in the mere forces of nature ; as it attri
butes the safety of Noe to his wisdom, which took for
its rule of action the knowledge of that God Who dis
poses, or rather had already disposed of all things from
the beginning, (i)
(i) Wisd. xiv. ; Ecclus. xvi. We have seen that God willed to draw from
the humiliation of nature an instruction most salutary for man, teaching him
to recognize the Creator as far surpassing in greatness even the immensity
Forces in the Conflict. 349
875. There is then this natural difference between
the good man and the wicked, that the former is
illuminated by the whole of the truth which he knows,
whereas the second attaches himself to a small
portion of the truth, and voluntarily deprives himself
of the light of the other part which, as it is opposed
to his passions, he refuses. This is an immense
advantage which the first, who is also called in Scrip
ture wise, has over the second, who is called foolish.
For, it is said that the latter walks in darkness and
stumbles and falls, and that the former, on the contrary,
walks in the light, master of himself, prudent and going
directly and securely to his end. How appropriately,
too, is it written that the wicked man who narrows, as
it were, the limits of his own heart, sets limits to his
understanding. Qui minoratur corde cogitat mihi
inania, et vir imprudens et errans cogitat stulta.(\]
of nature. This necessity, that God, for the supreme advantage of nature
that is, of the intelligences He had created should dispose that all nature
should be humbled even to the nothing from which it sprang, arises from this
psychological or rather pneumatological law, in other words, from this law of
the spiritual nature, that when an intellective being has gifts beyond those of
his ordinary state, he is tempted so to fix his understanding and his
affections on them as to blind himself to everything beyond them, to all
that is above him ; in short, to forget the greatness of the Creator from
Whom he receives all. This is the reason why science of itself alone, so
far from leading man to God, withdraws him from God, and puffs him
up, unless it is counterbalanced and informed by charity. Nor is this
remark my own ; it is made by St. Paul, who observes that God had to
oppose a doctrine that teaches and persuades to humility by means of
FAITH, which was accounted as folly, to that human SCIENCE which filled
men with pride only, and yet was believed to be wisdom : Nam quia in
Dei sapientia, non cognovit mundus per sapientiam (that is, by the
speculations of philosophers and doctors proud of their knowledge)
Deum ; placuit Deo per stultitiam prcedicationis salvos facere credentes.
I Cor. i. 21.
(i) Ecclus. xvi, 23. On this account St. Paul also says, that if the
350 On Divine Providence.
876. It must be added that since the wicked man
trusts in himself he is incapable of receiving, because
he refuses it, any special light from the fountain of
sanctity, while the just man who places his trust in
God is guided by Providence itself, by means of the
angels who raise in him opportune thoughts, and is
illuminated immediately by God Himself.
877. Hence the pains to which the wicked subject
themselves proceed from two sources : ist, from their
own fault, blinded as they are by themselves ; and
2ndly, from things and events not being disposed in
accordance with their way of acting.
878. And since every vice has for its real founda
tion the presumptuous confidence of the creature in its
own strength, therefore the Scripture says that " the
wicked shall be taken in their own pride/ (i) and
that " a snare shall entangle the wicked man when he
sinneth." (2)
879. Let us consider the state of domestic society
among the wicked, how full it is of evils ! " Injuries
and wrongs will waste riches : and the house that is
very rich shall be brought to nothing by pride ; so the
substance of the proud shall be rooted out. He that
buildeth his house at other men s charges is as he that
gathereth himself stones to build in the winter. The
congregation of sinners is like tow heaped together
and the end of them is a flame of fire. "(3)
Let us consider the evils which injustice and
princes of this world had known Christ, they would not have crucified Him
(i Cor. ii.). And wherefore did they not know Him ? Through the ignor
ance that is produced by sin, and the blindness that comes from the passions,
(i) Ps. Iviii. 13. (2) Prov. xxix. 6.
(3) Ecclus. xxi. 5, 9, 10.
Forces in the Conflict. 351
iniquity inflict on civil society. "As the judge of the
people is himself, so also are his ministers : and what
manner of man the ruler of a city is, such also are they
that dwell therein. An unwise king shall be the ruin
of his people : and cities shall be inhabited through
the prudence of the rulers. A kingdom is translated
from one people to another, because of injustices, and
wrongs, and injuries, and divers deceits. God hath
overturned the thrones of proud princes, and hath set
up the meek in their stead. God hath made the roots
of proud nations to wither, and hath planted the humble
among these nations. The Lord hath overthrown the
lands of the Gentiles, and hath destroyed them even
to the foundation. He hath made some of them to
wither away, and hath destroyed them, and hath made
the memory of them to cease from the earth/ (i)
88 1. If we consider individuals we see them ener
vated by vice; every vice brings after it infinite evils.
It would take very long to enumerate all the ills!pro-
duced by sin. Physicians have said a great deal about
them, but by no means all that might be said : for it
is to sin as to their universal cause, (2) that all diseases
may be finally traced. Every wicked man is unhappy
because he is profoundly disordered and a punish
ment to himself; the peace and consolation of the
just cannot be told, and surpass all thought of those
w r ho have not experienced them. For, if external goods
and pleasures are sometimes left to the wicked man,
nevertheless he is deprived of the enjoyment of them ; (3)
wherefore, says the Scripture, "He shall not take
(1) EccluS. X. 2-2O.
(2) Upon this subject see Roselly de Lorgue ; La mort avant rhomme.
(3) See Society and its Aim ("La Societa ed il suo Fine"), b. iv.
352 On Divine Providence.
pleasure in his goods," (i) and that eat as he will,
" the belly of the wicked is never to be filled." (2}
882. Besides this, there is granted to the just a
supernatural light and affection, and certainty, and
confidence, which is the germ of their future and com
plete triumph. Whence, as the apostle says, " What
things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For
he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap
corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the
spirit shall reap life everlasting." (3)
Hence it is that the constancy of the good never
fails them ; because in that interior happiness which
is neither obtained nor lost by violence, they have an
inexhaustible store of spiritual strength, which renders
them contented and invincible in their meekness, while
the wicked, toiling ever along laborious paths, and
tired out by the very violence of their efforts, find their
strength fail, and are reduced at last, as they them
selves often confess, to a state of utter languor and
prostration. (4)
883. Considering these things and others which
may here be observed, that law will assert itself which
we have mentioned as imposed on the wicked, that
THEY MAY BEGIN BUT THEY CANNOT END (319).
They may begin, because if God did not permit this,
there would be no combat, because the issue of the
undertaking is the whole, and this God has reserved
(i) Ecclus. xiv. 5. (2) Prov. xiii. 25.
(3) Gal. vi. 8 V. Essay on Hope (" Saggio sulla Speranza ") b. iii.
(4) " How often have we said this crisis will be the last, 1 and new ones
have arisen. The reason of this is, that we always go to sleep after the
victory: WE PASS SUDDENLY FROM THE EXTREME OF ENERGY TO THK
EXTREME OF WEAKNESS." Report of Louchet to the National Commission
the 26th Vendemiaire, ann. iv., on the situation of the republic.
Forces in the Conflict. 353
for Himself and His people, who, if they are for a
moment oppressed and beaten, yet this is not the issue,
but the way which precedes and leads to it. Hence :
" The desire of the wicked shall perish, "(i) and, " Every
work that is corruptible shall fail in the end ; and the
worker thereof shall go with it," (2) and, "With him
that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter
end." (3) "To fear God is the fulness of wisdom, "(4)
that is the science of happiness, and not to fear God is
the height of folly, because the wicked appear "as a
morning cloud (which gives no water), and as the early
dew that passes away ; as the dust that is driven by
the wind, and as the smoke out of the chimney." (5)
But it must be remembered that the deficiency of the
wicked, through which they infallibly succumb, is
owing to themselves alone ; for separating themselves
from God they refuse to enjoy the virtue and the
strength with which He would havs been ready to
supply them, and God does nothing more than permit
them to withdraw themselves from Him in the manner
which they have freely chosen, and He permits it,
moved by His Infinite Goodness, which draws from
their ill the greatest amount of good to the sum total of
His creatures. Hence God Himself says to the Israel
ites (6) " Destruction is thy own, O Israel ; thy help is
only in Ale. And Scripture is never tired of giving
us to understand in a thousand ways that God is the
fount of all good, and that evil happens only through
His ceasing to dispense good to them that refuse it.
"They have forsaken Ale, the fountain of living
(1) Ps. cxi. 10. (4) Ibid. i. 20.
(2) Ecclus. xiv. 20. (5) Os. xiii. 3.
(3) Ibid. i. 13. (6) Ibid. xiii. 9.
II. 2 A
354 On Divine Providence.
water, and have digged to themselves cisterns that
can hold no water." (i) "Thou hast forsaken the God
that begot thee, and hast forgotten the Lord that
created thee. (2) The Lord saw, and was moved to
wrath : because His own sons and daughters pro
voked Him. And He said, I will hide my face
from them, and will consider what their last end shall
be; "(3) which is exactly the failure in its issue
of all sinful undertakings. " You have despised
all my counsel and neglected my reprehensions.
I also will laugh at your destruction and will
mock when that shall come to you which you have
feared." (4) God acts only as a spectator ; He is
present at the discomfiture of the wicked ; they perish
of themselves, there is no need for Him to put forth
His strength to vanquish ; they require no help to
perish. "You have left Me" thus God speaks to
Roboam and the princes of Juda when the king of
Egypt advanced against Jerusalem " and I have left
you in the hand of Sesac." (5) God does no more than
retire, remain inactive, and His enemies are lost of
themselves. The Psalmist describes God Who works
and then ceases to work thus : " All things that live
expect of Thee that Thou give them meat in season.
What Thou givest them they shall gather up ; when
Thou openest Thy hand they shall all be filled with
good. But if Thou turnest away Thy face, they shall
be troubled; Thou shalt take away their breath, and
they shall fall and shall return to their dust." (6) Job
(i) Jer. ii. 13.
(2) The wicked man forgets God, that is to say, he does not make the
knowledge which he has of God, the rule of his actions ; he lacks practical
knowledge.
(3) Deut. xxxii. 18-20. (5) 11 Par. xii. 5.
(4) Prov. i. 26. (()) Ps. ciii. 27-29.
Forces in the Conflict. 355
describes the natural good things which God permits
the wicked to possess, then he instantly raises his mind
to Him Who orders the series of secondary causes,
saying: u Yet because their good things are not in
their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from
me," (i) and he goes on to describe how many are the
accidents by permitting which God despoils them of
the fleeting goods which, at first, He had left them.
In short, throughout Scripture good things come from
God as from a positive cause; evils depend upon God as
a negative cause; God does not produce, He permits;
this is all that is needed to prostrate the creature
under the burden of evil, because left to its own
strength in which it confided.
(i) Job. xxi. 1 6.
CHAPTER XXXI.
TENTH CONSEQUENCE. THE LAW OF CELERITY IX
ACTION.
Omnibus eniin mobilibus niobilior est sapientia,
\Vis. vii. 24.
884. The Law of the Least Means which presides
over the operations of Wisdom, prompted God in the
choice of the beings of which creation was to be com
posed, in order to be perfect, and also in the choice of
their actions. So that the intention of His creative
Goodness could not be obtained except with these two
instruments : ist, beings chosen lit for the proposed
end, and harmoniously connected with each other;
and 2nd, actions predisposed and combined with
marvellous harmony to the same end.
885. We have already seen that in the creation of
beings, God, in consequence of this great principle, is
governed by the laws of Economy, of Connexion, of
Continuity, of Variety and of Excluded Equality.
To determine therefore what should be the actions to
be pre-established, so that beings, as causes, might
attain the great end, essential to the divine operations,
of the realization of the greatest good in His creatures,
we considered the unity of action of the first cause
necessary to the divine design ; the different ways in
which the first cause by acting or not acting carries
it out by means of secondary causes ; the nature of
the end itself, called in Scripture tlie divine glory ; and
the necessity for antagonism and a final victory of the
Law of Celerity. 357
power of good over that of evil, of Infinite Goodness
over finite infirmity.
Having seen then, not only what beings, but what
actions of these beings it was requisite should be
determined and established by the first cause in order
that, through them, creation might attain its highest
perfection and be adorned with the greatest good, it
remains only to observe the mode in Avhich these
actions themselves were to play their part in the
great drama. Now, the nature of this mode is
determined by the three laws which it remains for us
to unfold : ist of Celerity, 2nd of Accumulation, 3rd of
Germ. Let us begin with the first.
886. .It is plain that from the Law of the Least
Means there follows as a consequence that of the
greatest Celerity of Action ; but in order that this
thought may be well defined and not misunderstood,
some explanation is called for.
887. It is not now a question of a single action of
an irrational being subject to necessity. We have seen
that if we were treating of this, the celerity of the
action would be always determined by the force which
produced it (434-446). Only that in this case the
force might be more or less impeded by external
obstacles, so that it would operate more rapidly and
fully in proportion as these were less ; hence the
principle which determines the greatest effect in such
a case is simply that of the greatest facility of action,
which becomes the greatest possible when force does
not meet with any obstacle in its way, or the least
possible that may be.
888. But if it is a question of many actions united
for one end, another element enters into the calcula-
35 8 On Divine Providence.
tion. The reciprocal position of many agents has its
sufficient reason not in their own individual nature,
but only in the mind that so disposed them (445).
Tt happens then that the effect that it is intended to
obtain does not depend upon the actions of each
one, but upon the disposition of all together. It is not
a mere physical end, but an intellectual one. Thus
geometrical figures would not have any natural reason
or design if there were not an intellect which could
make use of them in order to facilitate the connexion
of its own thoughts. Thus a machine has not merely
a physical design different from that of other physical
effects, but its value consists in its giving to the
intelligence that invented it that result which in
framing it it had proposed to obtain. A clock, for
example, does not sign the hours for itself, but to the
man who invented it to mark off accurately the
portions of time as they pass. And yet each of the
material agents connected skilfully together for a
purpose exerts its own force as far as obstacles permit
it, so that the power is a determinate quantity, the
effect of which is lessened or varied by reason of
obstacles.
889. If, moreover, intellective and moral agents
are considered, it will be seen that although they
possess a limited and determinate power, yet the
quantity which they may put in action is not determined,
since they have, so to speak, a certain deposit of force
of which they may take and render active more
or less at their will. Hence, the quantity of the effect
which an intellective moral being can produce, is not
determined in the same manner as the effect which can
be produced by an irrational being, but the quantity
Law of Celerity. 359
of the effect alters according 1 to the degree of develop
ment of the voluntary activity.
890. Hence it follows, in the first place, that
to determine the effect of any particular irrational
power, there is no need of any disposing wisdom,
its determination resulting from the very nature of
that immutable force that produces it. I say this
because I have not yet been able to understand the
thought of Leibnitz, who supposes that in the laws of
the movements of the body there is something arbit
rary. Perhaps my inability to grasp his thought may
arise from my not having reflected enough on the sub
ject. I confess that I should be very glad to be able
to comprehend it, if it be so, because it would imply
the acquisition of a beautiful and important truth.
But at present, I cannot admit it, because I have not
succeeded in understanding it. But even were the
judgment of Leibnitz correct, the Law of Celerity, of
which we are now treating, would be modified in its
application, though it would remain equally true in
itself.
891. It follows, in the second place, that the effect
which a mind desires to obtain from several inanimate
beings, or from several forces acting together may be
greater or less according to their connexion, and,
therefore, so to determine their connexion and co
operation, that the effect produced may be the greatest,
requires the intervention of wisdom.
892. It follows, in the third place, that to obtain
the greatest effect from several intellective-moral
beings acting together, whether they be alone or
mingled with inanimate beings, the intervention of
wisdom is doubly necessary, that is, both to hold them
360 On Divine Providence.
together in a suitable manner, and again to stimulate
them to a greater amount of action.
893. These observations premised, it will be easy
to understand that one of the conditions for obtaining
the greatest effect is the greatest celerity of action , and
thence, the greatest economy of time.
But to determine opportunely this greatest possible
celerity of action, we must have regard to the other
conditions of the question ; since if one part of a
machine accelerates its motion more than is due, either
the machine will break, or the effect will not be obtained
which was intended, or in a less degree.
The greatest celerity of action then of which I speak
must be a harmonious celerity, resulting from the
combination and adjustment of the movements, and
producing the greatest effect.
Now, it is evident that if, given certain beings and
certain powers of theirs, the same quantity of effect is
produced in a shorter time, the combination of these
beings and of these forces, has acted with greater
celerity, in the sense of which we speak. Now, such is
the law that Divine Wisdom of its own nature
constantly maintains in giving their measure of
movement to all things.
894. This law of the greatest celerity and the
greatest possible economy of time, is acknowledged
by mankind and is appreciated in things of the most
different kinds : in the fine arts and in mechanics, in
political undertakings and in the moral character, in
the works of man and in those of nature.
For, why do we experience satisfaction in the rapidity
with which an epic or a drama proceeds to the unravel
ling of its plot, or that with which a story is narrated,
Law of Celerity. 361
or with which a clever orator disposes a series of
stringent arguments ? Why is brevity of so great a
value to style r What gives its beauty to an epigram,
a witty remark or a piquant saying ? Whence do
almost all noble answers derive their marvellous
grandeur ? What gives rise to the ridiculous ? It is
always the readiness and celerity by which these
different ways of using language and thought attain
the end proposed that is appreciated ; they say a
great deal in few words ; they move the mind which
listens to them to new and rapid action.
895. Napoleon said that his superiority over other
men depended on naught else but the greater celerity
of his thought ; others arrived at the same conclusions,
but he did so before them. Not only celerity of
thought, but the celerity of the movements of his armies
contributed not a little to make him the victor in so
many battles.
896. Again, why do we esteem a nimble and active
person, why so highly value a good horse, why rail
roads and steam engines r These things would not be
worth so much but for the celerity with which the effect
desired is obtained.
If a mill, a loom, a spinning-wheel, composed of the
same quantity and quality of material, and employing
the same degree of force, produces in the same time
more cloth, more texture, more thread, is it not of more
value ? Now, the greater value it has depends solely
on its producing the same effect in less time.
It may be boldly asserted that all great men became
great by the celerity with which they acted ; they
were great because they did very many or very great
things in a short time, by the most decisive and expedi
tious means.
362 On Divine Providence.
897. This celerity may be seen by a diligent
observer to form the character also of those rising
nations which are destined by Providence to a great
mission in the world. Lucius Annaeus Florus observes
of the Romans : " The Roman people, from King
Romulus to Caesar Augustus, did so much in peace
and in war in seven hundred years, that when the
greatness of the empire is compared with this number
of years, it seems as if the time must have been much
longer." (i)
Of a character similar to that we have been
describing, but much greater than any other, is the
celerity of Providence in the government of the world.
God created such and such beings, placed them in
such an order, and gave them such impulses that this
stupendous machine of the universe should succeed in
producing the greatest result with the greatest possible
speed, that is, in the least possible space of time.
But better to determine this celerity, complex, and
relative to the amount produced, we must always recur
to the Law of the Least Means on which it depends.
Supposing the same amount of good might be obtained
by the world in two different series of ages, one twice
as long as the other, it would be contrary to the
Divine Wisdom to choose the longer series, because
in this case, one half of the movements and actions of
the world would have been useless.
899. But here there soon arises a most difficult
problem of maxima and minima, supposing the total
amount of good, and also the duration of the world to
be variable. The duration of the action of the means
is to be computed as loss, but what proportion has
(i) Epit. Rer. Rom. lib. i. Proem.
Law of Celerity. 363
this loss with the produce ? That is, supposing by way
of example that it were a question of giving" to the
world the longer duration of one age, how much
ought the total produce to increase in order that that
increase of duration might be justified in the eyes of
wisdom ? It seems to me that the principle from which
the solution of so divine a problem must start ought to
be this : Granted that the effects resulting from every
being and action are not the result of the action of that
being alone, but of its operation in harmonious combi
nation with other beings and with the other acts which
constitute the world ; if a being or an act in the world
might be withdrawn and the world produce the same
or even more, that being or that act is superfluous or
hurtful ; it is not the part of wisdom to produce it. If
by the addition of that being or that act, the world,
all the consequences both good and evil being calcu
lated, would produce a larger net amount of good, and
this the greatest that could be obtained by all possible
combinations, in such a case, that being or that act
ought to form part of the world. This principle must
be applied to all the acts which the world would
produce in the additional age taken in their com
plexity.
900. The principle of celerity, then, being applied
to the development of the immense and divine drama
of the universe, it is not to be sought either in the
physical or the intellectual order of things, but in the
moral ; to which these two first serve as means.
But in the order of moral goods there must also
be distinguished what we may call the substance and
the accidents. The first principle of every wise
government is to tend towards the substantial good
364 On. Divine Providence.
and not to waste its power in collecting the accidents
and thus diminishing it. (0 Thus for example, a com
mander who should prefer collecting the spoils left
upon the battle-field, to pursuing the enemy and
completing his rout, would manifestly lose precious
time ; his tactics would be quite opposed to the princi
ple of the greatest celerity. This principle of the
substance and the accidents is, more than any other,
maintained in the government of the world. Provi
dence applies the principle of celerity to the substance
of the effect willed, and lets the accidents take their
course, regard being had to the limitations of the crea
ture. That those advantages which may be considered
accidental are only slowly obtained or are lost, is of
no moment if at the same time the substantial good
multiplies and accumulates rapidly.
go i. The wonderful celerity of the moral develop
ment is evident to all who consider these great and
supremely important events which find their place in
the history of mankind and which contain in truth
the sum total of all good. These events succeed each
other rapidly; before one is completed another begins
and closely follows it; and each one hastens without
a moment s delay to arrange itself symmetrically and
to attain that condition of finality which the regular
order of things requires. This is an accidental and
minute perfection which is often sacrificed by the
supreme provider to some other substantial good that
is to be produced in the world.
(i) This principle was laid down at the beginning of The Philosophy of
Politics (" Filosofia della politica") as the most general political criterion.
See the book entitled: On the Ktain Cause, &c. ("Della sommaria
cagione," &c. )
7*(iw of Celerity. 365
902. Consider then carefully the principal events of
the moral order, and what I say will be understood ;
not one of them has perhaps that termination and
that regularity in the accidents which the narrow cind
limited human mind would have wished to find; I
will point out a few.
The diffusion of the (fospel is a substantial event.
Now, what surprising- celerity there is in its diffusion,
as had been predicted, even to the ends of the earth ! (i)
Even from the very time of the Apostles it would seem
that almost all nations had heard the good news. And
precisely for this celerity do the holy scriptures give
glory to God. " His word runneth swiftly," (2) saith
the psalmist; and of the preachers of the gospel and
of the saints they say : " They are like arrows from
the hand of a strong man ; " which strong man is the
God-man. (3;
903. When there was question of tearing up the
deep roots of idolatry, the shortest method was to call
the barbarians of the north, and by their hands to
overthrow the Roman empire, of whose political
constitution this abomination was a part, as it was
also of the customs of the people. The evils which
arose from this were as disregarded accidents in the
great design, compared with the great good obtained.
The sword of Mahomet was itself a rapid instrument
to the same end.
904. When there was question of cementing
together the Christian world, a collection, we may say,
of individuals, and forming of them Christendom, the
speedy means to which Providence had recourse was
(I) Is. v. 26. (2) Ps. cxlvii. 15.
(3) Ps. cxxvi. 4.
366 On Divine Providence.
to raise up a Charlmagne and then a Gregory VII.,
according to the custom of the Eternal, of Whom it is
written, /// UMJIIL Dei potestas terrw, ct ntilcin rector em
suscitabit ix TEMPUS super cam,(i] and then a Peter
the Hermit, and other preachers of the crusades.
Many inconveniences were mixed with the employ
ment of such great instruments, but they were acci
dents. Wisdom heeded them not, and held on her
way.
905. Signal punishments are terrible means which
God sometimes adopts to break down the greater ob
stacles which oppose Him, suddenly changing the
face of the earth for the better. Holy Scripture,
therefore, always unites the attribute of velocity with
the Divine chastisements. "I will quickly visit you," (2)
says God to the Hebrews in Leviticus. "Beware," He
says elsewhere, " lest perhaps your heart be deceived,
and you perish quickly from the excellent land which
the Lord will give you, "(3) and this is several times
repeated. (4)
906. Is it a question of renewing civil society which
has grown old and corrupt ? Divine Providence
does not dissolve and unloose link by link as it were
the bonds that hold it together that Avould be a loss
of time; but Lie breaks them violently, that is, He
permits that they should be so broken. "The French
revolution," says the Count de Maistre, "swallowed
up many centuries."
907. The rapidity of His punishments is moreover
(i) Ecclus. x. 4. (2) Lev. xxvi. 16. (3) Deut. xi. 17.
(4) Ibid, xxviii. 20. Jos. xxiii. 16. Ps. xxxvi. 2. Joel iii. 4; and in
Deut. vii. 10, we read that God is One who repays "forthwith them that
hate Him, so as to destroy them, without further delay immediately render
ing to them what they deserve."
Law of Celerity. 367
a mark of the mercy of the Lord. At the same time
that they strike most heavily, and inspire men with
the greatest terror, they spare many victims by the
quickness with which they pass. The persecution of
the man of sin, says the Scripture, shall be shortened
because of the elect.
908. And why was the life of our Lord upon earth
so short ? In accordance with the law of celerity it
behoved the Man-God to fulfil His celestial mission in
the shortest time possible. Not one day of so precious
a life was to be spent more than was necessary, not
a single instant ; every moment of it was numbered.
909. For a similar reason, God shortens the life of
great men. Their mission completed, it is enough.
Sometimes He does not even permit them to complete
the work that they have begun, provided that it has so
far advanced that its success is certain, and they are
no longer needed. Thomas Aquinas left his Summa
imperfect ; the perfection which was wanting was an
accident ; all the substance of that great system in
which the doctrine of Christianity developed in twelve
centuries, received wonderful order and unity, had
already been given to the world by his pen. Thus St.
Louis died in Africa, St. Gregory VII. in exile. St.
Augustine in Hippo, besieged by the Vandals. St.
Francis Xavier at the gates of China. Some sow and
others reap.
910. If we consider the undertakings, the labours,
the works of individual men, eminent for sanctity, they
are so many, that they seem to exceed the power of a
mortal. Why overwhelm one man with so much
work r Why is the harvest so great, the labourers so
few ? The Law of the Least Means required this, and
368 On Divine Providence.
especially that of Celerity of action. To produce
many great men by means of secondary causes would
have been loss of time ; time that flies rapidly makes
those it can, and unmakes them again ; they themselves
are swift to do good, fulfilling the counsel of God : in
omnibus ope fibus tnis csto vclox.(i] Whence also the
angels are called in Isaias swift ministers of God, and
for this reason they are rightly represented with
wings. (2)
911. This celerity, however, I repeat does not regard
single events, but their combination; it is a harmonious
celerity. Besides, instinct is rapid in its action, but the
rapidity of instinct is blind; (3) that of wisdom is en
lightened ; it is a rapidity adapted to its end.
Let us give an example of the harmonious celerity
of the works of Providence. God promised the
Hebrews that He would exterminate the Chanaanite
nations from before them quickly. (4) How then was it
that He had said previously that He would destroy these
nations u by little and little and by degrees ?"(5) Both
things were true ; the destroying them a few at a time
fulfilled more quickly the purpose of God to establish
the Hebrew people in the promised land, because,
had all its original inhabitants been driven from this
country, which was too large for the small number of
Hebrews to occupy, it would have been ravaged by
(l) Kcclus. xxxi. 27. (2) Is. xviii. 2.
(3) On the celerity of operation peculiar to the senses and to instinct, see
La Socicta cd il suo Fine (" Society and its Aim "), Bk. III., ch. 5.
(4) "Thou shalt know therefore this day that the Lord thy God Him
self will pass over before thee, a devouring and consuming fire, to destroy
and extirpate and bring them to nothing before thy face quickly. 1 Deut.
ix. 3.
(5) Deut. vii. 22.
jLaiv of Celerity. 369
wild beasts (i and overgrown with forests ; and there
fore the Hebrews, having- multiplied, would then have
been obliged to spend a great deal of time in culti
vating it, and rendering it productive. Some of these
accursed peoples were therefore retained as serfs of
the chosen people. Besides this, the goodness of God
was also in this manner extended to these nations
although so completely idolatrous and degraded, that
their amendment by means of secondary causes would
have been the work of a long time and an expenditure
not compensated by the result. The law of celerity,
therefore, with which God produces good from mankind,
required that they should be destroyed ; and yet He
suffered them for a while as an additional good, that they
might have no excuse. At the same time, however, He
foresaw that they would harden their hearts, still more
abusing His patience, and thus would merit the exter
mination which was required for the good of the whole
earth and of His own people. But some of them hav
ing known the truth through contact with the Hebrew
people, were collected, as good and ripened ears of
corn, into the granary of the supreme Master. (2)
912. We will give one more example to show the
wise celerity which God makes use of in contrast with
the blind celerity of sense. The quickness and celerity
of human sensuality and ignorance wants to attain
(i) Deut. vii. 22.
(2) "For it was the sentence of the Lord that their hearts should be
hardened, and that they should fight against Israel, and fall, and should
not deserve any clemency, and should be destroyed, as the Lord had
commanded Moses." Jos. xi. 20. That is to say, God had known that it
would be more for the advantage of the general good of mankind that these
perverse nations should continue to fight against the Hebrews, and thus be
exterminated.
II. 2 B
370 On Divine Providence.
the desired effect at once ; it has a certain impatience
of delay as perceiving nothing beyond the present
moment. Thus when the Jews saw JESUS on the
cross, they said to Him mockingly : " Come down now
from the cross." But Christ did not come down for
them. For He had not their haste. And is not long-
suffering a great virtue of the wise ? And is not the
patience of God highly extolled in the Scriptures, and
does it not shine forth most gloriously in the works of
His mercy towards mankind r Now, this great patience
is in fullest harmony and agreement with the utmost
celerity of a supremely wise mode of acting.
913. The moral universe, then, does not advance
merely, but rather hastens to its final development, and
seizes upon and carries with it, in its rapid vortex, the
intellectual and the physical universe also. If so much
celerity of movement were not a most brilliant attri
bute of the work of the Omnipotent, the saints would
not ask for it so pressingly in their prayers, nor would
Christ have placed upon their lips the petition to which
all in every age are ever giving utterance : Thy King
dom come. For the rest, the wonderful celerity
with which the eternal purpose of God is nearing its
fulfilment is indicated in those passages of Holy Writ
in which it is said : the day of the last judgment will
come quickly, and it is described as imminent. " The
great day of the Lord is near," says Sophonias, " near
and exceeding swift." (i) In the Apocalypse it is said
of the things revealed to St. John by JESUS, that they
" must shortly come to pass," (2) and at last JESUS
says : " Surely I come quickly," to whom the Church
replies, " Amen, come, Lord Jesus." (3) The end of the
universe then will come as soon as possible.
(i) Soph. i. 14. (2) Apoc. i. i. (3) Ibid. xxil. 20.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE TWELFTH CONSEQUENCE LAW OF THE ACCUMU
LATION OF GOODS.
914. Let us pass to the second of the three laws
which determine the mode in which Divine Providence
carries out those operations of the universe whereby it
obtains its end. This we call the Law of the Accumu
lation of Goods.
915. Since I consider my various writings as parts
of a whole, I do not here repeat what I have already
said on the general maxims which ought to guide a
perfect ruler, seeing that this belongs to the Philosophy
of Politics.
I will call to mind only some points which will be
found set forth at length in that work, and supported
by arguments of no inconsiderable weight.
i st. He rules a people best who, without doing
wrong to anyone, secures, all things considered, the
greatest and most comprehensive good of the governed.
2nd. It belongs to the perfection of good govern
ment to give a preference to the production of a greater
amount of good, rather than to an equal distribution
of good (for here there is question of such good as
cannot be claimed as of right by any individual);
37- On Divine Providence.
and therefore if, as a necessary consequence of the
production of an equal distribution of good, the sum
total of good were to be diminished, it would belong
to perfect excellence in a ruler to promote this accumu
lation rather than the equal distribution of good. Let
us soe if this is verified in the Divine government, and
we shall understand at once whether it appertains to
Infinite Goodness to permit the accumulation of goods
in the hands of certain individuals rather than to dis
pose of them by way of equal distribution to all.
916. In the first place, it is certain that Divine
Providence follows most exactly the rules of justice
and of supreme equity, which are the first elements of
goodness, and the foundation on which it builds.
This follows evidently from what I have said, viz., ist,
that Divine Providence establishes universal laws in
order to produce its effects in the universe so that all
beings are benefited if only they conform to them. 2ndly,
It employs universal means of which all alike may profit.
For example, the preaching of the Gospel is a universal
and public means, which is compared to "a net cast into
into the sea and gathering together of all kind of
fishes ;"(i; and to seed which is scattered broad-cast
even upon stony ground ; (2) the communication of grace
to those who have certain predispositions is also a
universal means, ^rdly, It makes use of secondary causes,
amongst which we may number those who, according
to their different attitude towards those universal laws
and means, draw from them evil or good. For example,
God uses great patience with all, according to certain
universal laws ; but as some sinners owe their salva
tion to this patience, so others are hardened by
(i) Matth. xiii. 47-49. (2) Ibid. 3-23.
Law of the Accumulation of Goods. 373
it ; according to the words of St. Augustine : " The
evil hearts of men are hardened by an evil use of the
patience of God/ (i ]
But I shall speak at length later on concerning
the justice and the equity observed by God in regard
to all men equally.
Therefore holding it as a most firmly established prin
ciple that the rights of justice and of equity must be
respected before all things, I return to the question
concerning" goodness, and I ask : Does it most accord
with goodness to accumulate good in the hands of
some men, or to procure equal distribution to all ? If
by means of accumulation the sum total of the good of
human nature is augmented, we must, as we have said
already, give it the preference ; but do we find this
borne out by facts in God s Providential government r
917. It is so. For, we must consider how the good,
which is intended by God s Providence, is produced.
How, then, is moral good, how is that final good
which God has in view, and to which the good of
happiness is attached, produced ? How, and according
to what ratio does it increase r
Moral good, especially that of the supernatural
order, increases in the same way as capital in busi
ness, namely, by trafficking with it; this Christ has
told us by comparing God in the dispensation of His
treasures to a rich man who distributes his capital to
his different servants in order that they may traffic
with it, (2) the capital producing more or less fruit in
proportion to the ability of those who traded with it;
so that one pound produced ten pounds in the hands
(i) j^fala conla hominuin, patientia Dei male iitendo, diirescunt. QQ. in
Ev., Lib. ii., q. xxxvii. (2) Luke xix. 12-24.
374 O* 1 Divine Providence.
of one, at the same time that it produced only five in
those of another. Is it not clear that in order that
the greatest amount of fruit may be produced by the
capital, more must be given to those who have the
greatest ability for business ?
But what, according to the Gospel, is this ability
in putting capital to profit ? By it is signified the
greater or less goodness of men s dispositions, and,
moreover, the use which Almighty God foresees they
will make of their free-will. It is congruous, there
fore, speaking generally, and supposing other things
to be equal, that God should give more goods and
graces to those who are better disposed, naturally no
less than supernaturally, to use them, and who God
foresees will make a better use of them.
But again, are not these very dispositions as well
natural as supernatural of some individuals, and the
good use which they will make of the capital entrusted
to them, gifts of God Himself? Why then does not
God distribute these dispositions, and the good use, in
equal measure to all ?
The same great Law of the Least Means which we
are expounding always comes in. We have already
seen that the gifts, whatever they may be, which
God bestows on created beings, are necessarily
limited in quantity (430-435). Hence, we must once
more inquire whether it is more congruous to Infinite
Goodness to accumulate or to distribute these disposi
tions and their good use. Let us see this by an ex
ample. Supposing that a hundred degrees of good
dispositions and of good use of gifts had to be
distributed, each of which is capable of doubling
itself. Let the capital, that is to say, the degrees
Law of the Accumulation of Goods. 375
of grace or of moral good at the original dis
tribution, also equal a hundred. Let us suppose, in
the first place, that these were distributed to each of a
hundred men, one degree of good disposition and of
the good use of gifts, and one degree of moral good,
which is the capital to trade with. Let us next
suppose that there were accumulated on one individual
both a hundred degrees of good disposition and of the
good use of gifts, and also a hundred degrees of moral
good and of grace. Which of these two methods of
distribution will secure the greatest profits ? It is
easy to make the calculation. In the first supposition,
each degree of good disposition and of the good use
of gifts, will return a profit of one degree of moral
good besides that which had been originally received ;
thus the total profit of the hundred traders will be also
a hundred. In the second supposition, a single man
had a hundred degrees of good disposition, each one
of which doubles the capital, so that having a capital
equal to a hundred, it will return a profit of a hundred
times a hundred, or ten thousand. The accumulation,
therefore, of gifts in such a case has given more than
the equal distribution by the sum of nine thousand
nine hundred degrees of moral good. If, then, the
highest goodness in a liberal ruler necessarily aims
at obtaining the most abundant fruit possible, he
ought to accumulate the goods he has to distribute,
instead of dividing and scattering them.
918. This most important truth, which explains so
many apparent irregularities in the government of
Divine Providence, will be more clearly seen if we
consider that in the moral life of man the progression
of good, advances with ever increasing rapidity.
376 On Divine Providence.
i st. Because as often as a man succeeds in gaining
some new moral good, he increases the capital with
which he trades ; so that the traffic is always renewed
in proportion to the increase of his capital, and is
made to yield what is called in trade compound interest.
2ndly. Because up to a certain amount the fitness
and the ability for business and the will to make
a good use of gifts are themselves increased ; so that
the increased capital must be multiplied by the
increased ability, if we wish to arrive at the accurate
computation of the sum total of the profit, (i) But
how many times is the traffic renewed, and, to use a
common expression, the capital turned over r This is
known to God alone : it is enough for us to know in
some degree how rapid are the steps of the Saints in
the paths of holiness.
919. Wherefore, as in the parable of the talents,
each talent is said to produce another, the five pro
duce five, the two two, to indicate the increase of a
single business transaction ; (2) so in the talent of the
pounds, each pound is said to produce five pounds,
and ten pounds, (3) to indicate the increase which
accrues from repeated business transactions.
920. The same conclusion may be drawn from
another consideration, namely, from the g ood which
is diffused around them by those very persons on
whom good has been accumulated. For, it is certain
that if I enrich a person who has a heart full of affec-
(i) I think that any who have followed me so far, will not he displeased
to read the 3rd Chapter of the Divoto di J far/a, by Fr. Segneri, where he
uses a similar calculation in order to show the immense sum of sanctity
accumulated by the end of her life in the Blessed Virgin.
(2) Matt. xxv. 14, 23. (3) Luke xix. 12-20.
Law of the Accumulation of Goods. 377
tion towards his fellow-men, and naturally beneficent,
I shall have done a greater good than if I were to
give the same quantity of riches to many persons of
a hard and nig-gardly disposition.
From this truth, Leibnitz, who clearly understood
it, drew an excellent principle for the regulation of
benevolence. " If there are many persons," he writes
to Arnald, "who are seeking for our aid and assist
ance, and we cannot relieve them all, we ought to
give the preference to him by relieving whom a
greater good on the whole would result.
" Hence it follows that when we have to make a
selection, all other things being equal, we ought to
prefer the person who is morally better than the
others, that is to say, him who manifestly loves most,
because the good we do to such an one will be multi
plied by being reflected on many, and consequently,
by assisting him only, many others are assisted ; and
even speaking generally, all other things being-
equal, we ought to prefer him whom we find in a
better moral state ; because we shall demonstrate that
the assistance we can bestow on our neighbour
follows the rule of multiplication, and not that of
addition, (i)
(I) Prior to Leibnit/, something similar to this had been observed by Aris
totle, when he wrote : commutative justice follows the arithmetical, and dis
tributive justice the geometrical ratio " (Nicom. lib. vi. c. vi. ). This admirable
principle was afterwards admitted by St. Thomas (S. p. ii. iioe., q. Ixi., art. 2).
And in fact it is a dictate of common sense that the reward should be given in
proportion to merit, office in proportion to fitness, benefits in proportion to
goodness, and the aptitude of the person to make good use of them, &c.
Grotius was wrong (De Jure Belli et Pacis, Bk. I., c. I, . viii. ) when he main
tained that this rule is not universal in application, because it might happen
that only one fitting person could be found, and in such case the office would
be given to him without any comparison with others; for it always
378 On- Divine Providence.
" In fact, if two numbers, one greater than the other,
are multiplied by a third, the multiplication adds
more to the greater number than would have been
added by addition. Thus 5 multiplied by 2 gives 10,
and 10 multiplied by 2 gives 20, 6 multiplied by 2
gives 12, and 12 multiplied by 2 gives 24. Now, it is
evident that the 5 is augmented by 15, and the 6 by
1 8. Therefore, in the whole sum, we gain more by
multiplying the greater number by the same multi
plier.
"This difference between addition and multipli
cation is of great use also when there is question
of justice, because to assist is to multiply, as to
injure is to divide. The reason is, that he who assists
or is assisted, is an intelligent being, and an intelli
gent being who makes use of what is given him may
apply the whole to all, which is to multiply, or, as it is
expressed in Latin, in se ipsiun duccre.
"Let us suppose that one man had wisdom equal to
three, and power as four ; his whole value will be
twelve, and not seven ; because his wisdom can set in
action every degree of his power.
"And even in things which are homogeneous the
same is verified, because he who possesses a hundred
thousand gold crowns is richer than a hundred per
sons, each of whom possesses a thousand crowns ;
because the union of all these crowns makes their
outlay more profitable. The first will gain without
exertion, whereas the others will lose while they
labour. When, therefore, there is question of reliev
ing persons in distress, and their poverty is equal, it
remains true in general, even if there be only one fitting person, that if
another more fitting could be found, he would obtain the preference.
Law of the Accumulation of Goods. 379
will be well to give the preference to the wisest ; if
the wisdom of the persons is equal, he is to be pre
ferred who is best disposed to wisdom, as being most
favoured by God, for to be born with the aptitude or
disposition to wisdom is a gift of fortune, that is to
say, of God.
" He who possesses (always supposing all other
things equal) ought to obtain the preference, as being
more favoured by fortune.
" On the contrary, if the question is between two
persons, which shall be exempted from loss, or when
ever loss or injury is to be incurred ; we ought to pre
fer the one who has committed a simple fault to one
who has combined deceit with dishonesty, or one who
is unhappy or unfortunate to the other two." (i)
921. And here let it be noted that the condition
required by Leibnitz, that in applicants for charity,
" the poverty should be equal," is verified in respect
of Divine Providence in the utmost completeness. For,
before men receive the gifts of God, they have no being
whatever; they are, all alike, nothing, which is that
greatest of poverty which ceases even to be poverty,
because not only is the subject in want of every
thing, but the subject itself is wanting. Wherefore,
since God, before creating man, had not even the
subjects to whom He could communicate His blessings,
He could not be directed in their distribution by any
right which the subjects might possess, nor by any
reasons of congruity pre-existing in them. God was
therefore perfectly free in the distribution of His gifts,
and His Infinite Goodness, moreover, found no obstacles
in the way of His dispensing them, so as to produce
(i) Ep. ad Arnaldum.
380 On Divine Providence.
most fruit ; and thus it happens that they are found
accumulated in some individuals, because this accumu
lation is the best way of making them produce the
greatest amount of fruit.
922. This consideration throws light on the sen
tence of the Gospel, " To everyone that hath, shall
be given, and he shall abound ; and from him that
hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken
from him."(i) By this is meant that (rod gives
new graces and new gifts to him who has already
good dispositions to make good use of them ; but
from him in whom those good dispositions are
wanting, those graces and gifts which he has, but
which he abuses, will be taken away. How, then, is it
said that the goods and graces taken from the unworthy
and slothful servant are given to another who is
deserving and diligent ? By this is indicated the sum
total of the predetermined quantity of grace and of
gifts for distribution, because, as I have said, this quan
tity cannot be infinite ; but is limited and measured
out by the Eternal Wisdom (477-492) ; hence it is
only a question of distributing it to mankind in this
way and that, as shall be most profitable ; nor is one
single particle, however minute, ever lost or barren
and unprofitable to its Lord and Master. (2) The
good of sanctity therefore increases in the one and
falls short in others without affecting the predestinated
sum total. Not that God cannot continually increase
the virtue and sanctity of a man, so long as he remains
upon earth, but all this increase had been already
(l) Omni habenti dabitur ct dbunddbit : ab co autein gni non habef, et
gnod Jiabct aufcrctur ab co, Luke xix. 20.
(2) Is. lv. II.
Law of the Accumulation of Goods. 381
computed from the beginning by the great Arithmeti
cian who made the world. Now, if any, by rejecting
or burying their talent, tend to diminish it, an increase
must accrue to others, because the sum total of good
cannot be lessened. And all this happens through
the operation of secondary causes, the powers of which
are neither hampered nor hindered by that predestina
tion of the sum total of good : on the contrary, this
sum is calculated in harmony with those powers and
with the use which the intelligent creatures to w r hom
they are given are bound to make of them. But why,
it may be asked, bestow the talent on him who buries
it in the ground ? and why intrust the pound to him
who wraps it up in a napkin ? It is Divine Mercy
that so wills it, since but for the experiment, men, \vho
are taught by experience, would not be fully convinced
of the bad dispositions and worthlessness of him to
whom no capital had been given to trade with.
But when his slothfulness and folly have been demon
strated by the fact, when human nature has thus been
instructed, and the Divine equity and benignity
justified, then is the ill-bestowed talent of the useless
servant taken from him, and added to the store of him
who had given good proof of his diligence.
923. Here let me observe that the experiment
was tried with the least possible sum, with a single
talent, with one pound only, so that the smallest amount
of capital might be wasted : and for the shortest
period of time nay, in reality, it is not wasted, for
this good at least is got from it, as we have said, that
he who had not aptitude for managing a small matter,
is shown plainly to be unfitted to administer affairs of
greater importance.
382 On Divine Providence.
924. There are some who are scandalized at the
apparent obscurity of the Holy Scriptures, since it
seems to them that certain truths might be set forth
with greater clearness and more expressly. But Christ
would have us consider how in this, too, there shines
forth the supreme goodness and wisdom with which
God dispenses His gifts to men. For when Christ our
Lord had to announce the truths of salvation to men
of very various dispositions, some narrow and hard
of heart, others well disposed to receive it, He chose
rather, generally speaking, to declare it under the
veil of parable, in order that, in this way, those who
were of good will might meditate thereon, and, by ask
ing the light from Himself, might come to understand
those things which remained, as it were, hidden from
others who were negligent, and without love for and
even averse to the truth. This was to give five
talents to him who had ability to gain other five, and
one only to him who had it not ; and this by an act of
perfect equity, because it treated all alike. Without
doubt, truth, even under the veil of parable, sends forth
some rays of light into the mind ; but to draw out all
the light there hidden, requires some diligence. Hence,
Christ being asked by His disciples why He spake in
parables, replied : " Because to you it is given to know
the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven : but to them
it is not given. For he that hath, to him shall be
given, and he shall abound ; but he that hath not,
from him shall be taken away that also which he
hath. Therefore do I speak to them in parables
because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand;" (i) which is as much
(i) Matt. xiii. 10-13.
Law of the Accumulation of Goods. 383
as to say : " You have good dispositions to draw profit
from the truth, and therefore if a parable is given to you,
you inquire the meaning of it, and this also is granted
to you ; but to those who have not good dispositions,
the parables are given as to you, but the explanation
is not given, because they do not seek for it ; for to
give it to such would be a waste of light, and nothing,
according to the Law of Wisdom, should be wasted."
Hence Christ has added: "The prophecy of Isaias is
fulfilled in them who saith : By hearing you shall
hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall
see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this
people is grown gross, and with their ears they have
been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut,
lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
and be converted, and I should heal them." (i)
Wherefore the veil which is over the Scripture to
those and to so many others who are ill-disposed, and
the covert sense of Scripture language proceeds from
Wisdom which wills not an unprofitable waste of
light ; and it is the effect of mercy towards the ill-
disposed in order not to increase their sin, so that,
although guilty, their ignorance may be some excuse for
them, that excuse which Christ on the Cross presented
(i) Isai. vi. 9 Matt. xiii. 14, 15. Whoever wishes to see this argu
ment concerning the economy of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness in
speaking to men in obscure language, should read what has been said by
Huteville Bk. ii. ch. i. From its being according to the intent of God
that the prophecies should be dictated in a somewhat enigmatical and
parabolic style, this writer deduces the origin of the double sense of Scrip
ture, the // /mz/and the moral. "But God, "he adds, "Who acts always by
the ordinary ways, had disposed that this enigmatic style should belong to
the genius of the nation," or rather, we should say, of that age of humanity.
384 On Divine Providence.
to His Eternal Father: "Father, forgive them, they
know not what they do." (i ,
We often find this same economy of Divine Provi
dence declared in Holy Scripture, for the work of
Wisdom is at all times consistent with itself. Thus, in
the Book of Exodus, God speaks to the people of
Israel that had prevaricated : " I will send an angel
before thee. For I will not go up with thee, because
thou art a stiff-necked people : lest I destroy thee on
the way." (2) Because it would be a greater crime and
deserving greater chastisement to abuse the greater
and more excellent gifts of God.
925. The same principle of accumulation is set forth
by Christ in another allegory. "No man lighting a
candle covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a
bed ; but setteth it upon a candlestick, that they who
come in may see the light." (3) Now, the candlestick
represents those who have fitting dispositions for
receiving with profit the light of grace ; profitably
not only to themselves, but for others, "that they who
come in may see the light." And since the light
given to the Apostles and the Saints, besides showing
to the good the way in which they should walk,
illuminates also, that is to say brings into open day
the iniquity of the wicked, thus justifying the Justice
of God ; " for," He adds, " there is not any thing secret
that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden that shall
not be known and come abroad." (4) But because the
gifts bestowed by our Lord require, in order that they
may shine before the good and the wicked, the co-
(i) Luke xxiii. 34. See 7 rattal>> della Coscienza ("Treatise on
Conscience") 1^.355,356.
(2) Ex. xxxiii. 2, 3. (3) Luke viii. 16. (4) Hid. 17.
Law of the Accumulation of Goods. 385
operation of those who receive them, and those who
receive them become thereby true candlesticks, there
fore Christ continues His discourse to His disciples,
saying : " Take heed, therefore, how you hear." That
is, take heed that you hear my words, so that they
may produce fruit ; and He encourages them to this
with the good which will then accrue to them. " For,"
he says, "whosoever hath, to him shall be given : and
whosoever hath not, that also which he thinketh he
hath, shall be taken away from him." (i) That
is to say, the illusion of pride shall be taken
away which persuades him that he knows whilst he
is ignorant, and at last he will become enlightened to
know his own ignorance, in virtue precisely of that
light which makes all things manifest.
926. Christ expresses also the same sentiment,
where He says : " In what measure you shall mete, it
shall be measured to you again, and more shall be
given to you." (2) What is the measure with which
man measures, not only persons, but all things in like
manner ? It is His own affection which is either a
right or a wrong measure. If man measures things
and persons with an affection in conformity with
truth, then his measure is just; but if he measures
every thing with an affection contrary to truth, and
blindly following the passions, then his measure is
unjust. Hence this sentence of Christ is the same as
that expressed by St. Paul : " What things a man
shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that
soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corrup
tion. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit
shall reap life everlasting." (3) He that soweth in his
(i) Luke viii. 18. (2) Mark iv. 24. (3) Gal. vi. 8.
II. 2 C
386 On Divine Providence.
flesh is the man that hath not, and who loses even
that which he thinketh he hath, his flesh destined to
corruption ; and he that soweth in the spirit, is the
man that hath, and who gains life eternal. Hence
Christ concludes once more : " To him that hath shall
be given;" the good things of this life and of that
which is to come shall be accumulated upon him ;
44 and from him that hath not, shall be taken away
even that which he hath;" he shall become poorer
and poorer in this world and in the world to come.
927. When, therefore, it is commonly said that
" gold makes gold," that " one misfortune brings
another," in this is expressed a fact of daily experi
ence, a true law of Divine Providence, and whenever
men complain of or malign Providence, it is because
they do not understand, and are unable to lift them
selves up to the contemplation of the sublime reasons
of what it disposes.
What, then, is the conclusion we arrive at r This,
that, beyond all doubt, the irregularities and inequali
ties observed in the distribution of the goods of nature
and of grace, far from detracting any thing from
Divine Providence, display, on the contrary, its ex
quisite wisdom and goodness.
928. But besides this, if the accumulation of
goods is required by the Law of Wisdom, it must,
therefore, necessarily reach the very highest degree,
if it be granted that the universe is governed by
Infinite Wisdom. Hence it w r as requisite that all
those good things, all gifts and graces which God has
designed to communicate to men, should be united
and accumulated in one man only, (since this is the
greatest accumulation which can be conceived,) and
Law of the Accumulation of Goods. 387
from Him alone he communicated to other men in
their extremity of poverty and misery. Now, this
has been the case. And that one man is Jesus
Christ. On Him, as on its one supremely simple
central point, the entire universe depends; all true
goods are found in Him alone : in Him alone they
who have goods possess them. Because " He is the
image of the invisible God, (i) the first-born of every
creature. For in Him were all things created in
heaven, and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominations, or principalities or powers :
all things were created by Him and in Him ; and He
is before all, and by Him all things consist. And He
is the head of the body, the Church, who is the
beginning, the first born from the dead : that in all
things He may hold the primacy : because in Him, it
hath well-pleased the Father, that all fulness should
dwell : and through Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself, making peace through the blood of His
Cross, both as to the things on earth, and the things
that are in heaven." (2)
929. But if in Christ the Law of Accumulation is
completely carried into effect, the same law is carried
out as far as is possible in respect also to other men
to whom Christ communicates of His fulness.
Hence it is that in the sight of God, one man, or a
few men, may contain, and do often actually contain,
more good and are of more value than an innumerable
(i) God is here called the Invisible God, which excludes the error of the
Platonists, who pretended that by natural intuition we can perceive the
Divine Reality ; which is not known to us positively by nature, but only
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(2) Col. i. 15-20.
388 On Divine Providence.
multitude; so that Infinite Goodness, which always
secures the greatest amount of good, when both can
not be saved, prefers to save that treasure which is
contained in the one or the few, rather than that which
is contained in an immense number; and therefore if
a society which is corrupt and deserving of destruction,
as respects the multitude, was nevertheless an instru
ment fitted to produce a very few saints, this produce
may be of such value that it is fitting for Divine
Goodness to preserve the entire society which produces
a fruit so precious and exquisite, although in appear
ance so restricted. From this we may understand why
it was that a few just men would have sufficed to save
the Pentapolis from destruction, (i) and why it is
that a few just men often preserve entire peoples from
extermination.
(i) Gen. xviii.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE THIRTEENTH CONSEQUENCE THE LAW OF GERM.
930. The Law of Celerity , therefore, and that of the
Accumulation of Good, demonstrate the mode in which
the Divine Wisdom brings into operation in the world
the other universal law of the Least Means, and the
special laws which are derived from it. But if we
wish now to inquire how Almighty God obtains that
celerity and that accumulation we have spoken of,
another law presents itself, which we have named the
Law of Germ. And this will form the subject of
the present chapter.
931. By the Law of Germ I mean, "that decree of
the Creator whereby He has ordained that all goods
should be in the first instance in an incipient state, a
state of involution and of potentiality, and should
afterwards be evolved, and obtain their distinctive
characteristics through their own intrinsic movement.
932. Thus conceived, we see this law to be a
legitimate consequence of the principle I have laid
down, that " God willed to draw from His creatures
all the good that they themselves, according to their
own nature, were able to produce without the inter
vention of another cause, which would be superfluous
whenever the sufficient cause existed already in them
selves." (511-513)
933. From this principle therefore we deduced, in the
next place, the necessity of secondary causes (514-521);
because this principle supposes them, for, it only says
390 On Divine Providence.
that " secondary causes are to be left to do all that they
can effect ; " which expresses the parsimony of the
divine intervention; and therefore besides the existence
of secondary causes, that freedom of action also, and
the occasion shall be given them for doing all the good
they are capable of.
934. The Law of Germ, therefore, adds nothing
beyond the declaration of the mode by which Almighty
God draws the greatest amount of good that is possible
from secondary causes, and it is divided into three
parts.
The first part of the Law of Germ is, that all beings
have been created by God in a state of involution.
Philo (i) is of opinion that God in the beginning
created the fertilized germs of plants and of animals
(with the exception of man whom He formed immedi
ately), and that these germs afterwards developed into
plants and animals, as the Book of Genesis seems to
give us clearly to understand ; (2) with which agrees the
common opinion, that the season when the world was
created, or at least when the germs began to move, was
that of Spring. (3)
And according to the same economy, God, in the
beginning, planted the seeds, or, as St. Augustine
expresses it, the seminal reasons of all things, in order
that, by self-evolution from their state of greater involu-
(1) See the three discourses of Philo on Providence, published in
Armenian f. viii.-ix. St. Augustine is of the same opinion. De Tn /t.
P>k. iii., c. xiii.
(2) See the Author s Catechesi ("Catechetical Discourses") no. xxxii.
(3) quando Pamor divino
Mosse da prima quelle cose belle. Dante. Inf. i. 39, 40.
The poet, in imitation of Scripture, calls the stars " things of beauty,"
par excellence.
Law of Germ. 391
tion and concealment, they might become the causes
to themselves of their own development and perfection.
935. Second part of the Law of Germ , that the first
germs produce by evolution other germs, and so ad
infinitum.
The evolution which takes place by means of seeds
or germs continually renewed, is more speedy in its
results than any other, since it goes on by way of con
tinual multiplication ; for every germ is productive,
and what it produces is again itself productive.
Mathematicians understand well the marvellous
rapidity with which the product is thus multiplied,
so as in brief space to exceed all calculation.
As to this law we must attribute the exuberant
lavishness of nature in the production of vegetable
and animal life : so, in the moral order also, is there a
like celerity of production.
936. Third part of the Law of Germ, that the number
of germs should be at first the least possible sufficient
for the purpose. And how few were necessary at the
beginning may be seen from this that, as has been said,
they have all been so constituted as to produce or
bring into existence other germs like to themselves, so
that a single germ in the beginning would seem to
have been sufficient for each species, and it is probable
that this parsimony was observed by God in creation. (i)
Concerning the Law of Germ, these few words may
perhaps suffice.
(i) I have in this chapter used the word germ rather than seed, in order
to avoid the question concerning what St. Augustine terms seminum semina^
the number of which cannot be so limited, for the reasons which I shall
have occasion elsewhere to explain.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
ON THE ABSOLUTE MEASURE OF GOOD AND OF EVIL.
937- We have, then, arrived at the term of our
undertaking", which was to unfold the Law of the Least
Cleans,, and to exhibit its admirable fecundity, by
causing it to bring forth, as it were, from its
own womb, so many other special laws which it
virtually contained, and applying it in justification
of the government of Divine Providence. The result
has been that, in my intimate conviction, Divine
Providence has been completely justified, or rather,
glorified in an eminent degree. For, the evidence
which these arguments convey to the mind, is such
that he whom they failed to convince would give
the most certain indication of having failed to grasp
the argument. Here, then, I might consider my work
at an end ; because, after what has been said, no
further objection can possibly be raised against the
Providence of our Creator; all objections have been
absolutely annihilated. And let it be observed that
the justification set forth of the Divine government of
the world, is independent of the consequences flowing
from it. God is bound to follow that eternal Law of
the Least Means, whatever may be its subsequent
effect, whatever may be the absolute measure of good
which may be obtained thereby, whether it be very
great or very small. It is true that, if the sum total of
good should happen to be less than that of evil, there
would not have been a sufficient reason for creation,
Absolute Measure of Good and Evil. 393
and it would therefore never have taken place. But
if the sum total of good exceeded, however little, that
of evil, more good not being obtainable by the Law of
the Least Means, creation then would not have been
useless, and it would have a sufficient reason. And
since that excess of good would be nevertheless the
greatest that was possible, we could not therefore ask
for more from Infinite AVisdom and Goodness, because
Infinite Wisdom and Goodness is not obliged to do
what is absurd, and cannot do it, or will it ; and it
would be to will that which is absurd to desire a
greater good than is possible.
Nevertheless, I cannot lay aside my pen until
I have satisfied the reasonable desire of knowing
the results of the best mode of governing creation in
accordance with the Law of the Least Means, that is to
say, whether the quantity of good that will ultimately
accrue be much or but little greater than the evil
necessarily permitted in order to obtain it.
938. This result is consoling beyond measure. Not
only does the sum total of good exceed in quantity the
sum total of evil, it is a quantity which is infinite in
comparison with the latter; so that if we chose to apply
to it the principles of mathematics, the quantity of evil
would appear so evanescent that we might suffer it to
drop out of the calculation. And this most happy
result furnishes us with another and unexpected way
of justifying Divine Providence from every censure.
For, if evil, though it seems so great in the narrow
measure of our minds, is yet in itself so little as com
pared to the infinite amount of good, that when from
this amount we have subtracted both the evil itself and
a quantity of good equal to it and necessary to counter-
394 On Divine Providence.
act it, the residuum of good remains no less infinite
than it was from the first, it is plain that this universe
gives a net result which is infinite in quantity.
Such is the conclusion which we draw from the
reasoning which follows.
939. We have seen, first of all, that evil is only a
privation of good ; this does not express an annihilation
but only a diminution of good. Hence it follows that
there can not be such a thing as pure evil, namely, an
evil such as to be nothing else but evil, since there is
always required a good in which the evil resides, and
of which it is a diminution, (i) Good, on the contrary,
which is a positive thing, may be pure good without
admixture of any evil. This accrues to the advan
tage of the sum total of good, because we must add to
the sum total of pure good, all that quantity of good
which is found mixed up with evil.
This has been observed by the greatest masters
of thought. St. Thomas writes : " Evil pure and
simple, without any admixture of good, cannot exist;
whereas the supreme good is absolutely without any
admixture of evil." (2)
The master of St. Thomas had said the same, eight
(1) Evil is appositely called by St. Augustine, bonum dim inutuin ; but
not all diminution of good is evil, for the nature of evil requires that dimi
nution which breaks the order of good, not that which only lessens its
quantity.
(2) Malum 11011 potest esse punun absque commixtione bo/ii ; sicut bonum
summuni est absque commixtione mali. S. Suppl. q. Ixix., art. vii., ad. 9.
To those philosophers who pretend to argue from the existence of evil to the
non-existence of God, St. Thomas gives a triumphant answer. " If there is
such a thing as evil, there is a God. For evil there could not be, without
a violation of the order of good, the violation of which constitutes evil.
Now the order of good could not exist if there were no God." Con!. Gen.
Bk. iii., c. 80, 7.
Absolute Measure of Good and Evil. 395
ages earlier. " There is a nature in which no evil
whatever is found or could possibly exist ; but a
nature there cannot be in which there is no good.
Hence, not even the nature of the devil himself, in so
far as it is a nature, can be said to be evil, but what
makes it evil is its perversion." (ij
Pure evil, therefore, has no existence ; but good,
either pure or mixed, is found in all things that exist,
940. Moreover, a certain quantity of good is always
present wherever there is evil, not only because of the
existence of an entity, a nature in which the evil re
sides, every entity or nature being itself a good, but in
the very act of perversity on the part of the creature,
there is always something that is good ; because no
intelligent nature can desire anything as its end un
less it finds in it something that is good. Hence St.
Thomas says that every one who does evil, intendit
aliquid bonum, (2] has for his object some good, and
that no intelligent being can desire evil as evil, so
that evil is always prce-ter intentionem agentis. (3)
Therefore that good which is found in the act of
malice must be added to the sum total of good.
941. Whenever evil is found in any being, and
still more when it is moral evil, which is the greatest
of all evils, since it is grafted so to speak upon good,
it does not simply lie side by side with the good, but
there springs up a contention between the good and
the evil that is mingled with it ; in which combat
the good resists and fights against the evil ; and thus
sorrow and pain are originated. Now, this activity,
which is naturally excited in good by its contest with
(i) St. Aug. De Ciritate Dei, Bk. xix., c. 13.
(2) Cont. Gent. Bk. iii., c. 71. (3) Ibid. Bk. iii., c. 4.
396 On Divine Providence.
evil, although it does not succeed in freeing itself from
evil, is nevertheless a good in itself, and a new acces
sion of good which is due to the presence of evil.
Hence, evil cannot exist without giving occasion to
good, -i.e., without affording the nature in which it
exists and which is in itself good, an opportunity for
exerting its natural activity. This ontological law
obtains also in regard to the evil of which animal
nature is susceptible, in which pain is but the struggle
of that nature to rid itself of evil, no less than as
regards the evil of which the intellectual nature is
susceptible, where the evil of pain is a necessary con
sequence of moral evil. Since it is only the last
with which we are concerned in treating of the Pro
vidence of God with regard to moral-intellective
beings (which are alone worthy of being proposed as
ends to the eternal Wisdom and Goodness), therefore
it suffices to consider in this place how the pain which
inseparably accompanies moral evil, repairs in another
way the infraction of the moral order, restores it
even in spite of the evil-doer, which is an undoubted
good. When I say that moral evil occasions in him
who commits it an evil of pain, I do not mean that
this is always bodily evil, although there is often this in
addition, but an interior and spiritual torment ; since it is
a most certain fact of human nature that, as St. Augus
tine says, " every inordinate soul is a pain to itself."
For, if such be the necessary and truly ontological
effect of evil, considered in each individual, much more
is it the effect of that order which the Divine Wisdom
has established amongst many individuals so disposed
that their conflicts shall terminate to the greater pain
of the guilty and to the greater satisfaction of the good.
Absolute Measure of Good and Evil. 397
" Wherefore the miserable," says St. Augustine, who
wrote more clearly and triumphantly than all others
in justification of Providence, " if inasmuch as they are
miserable they are not at peace, since they are deprived
of the tranquillity of that order wherein there is no
perturbation ; nevertheless, since they are deservedly
and justly unhappy, in their very misery cannot
exclude themselves from the order established by
God, not because they are united to the blessed,
but rather because they are separated from them by
the law of order. Because he who sins is worse if he
rejoices in the violation of justice. But he who
suffers (on account of sin) though he may draw no
amendment therefrom, suffers at least for the loss of
salvation. And since justice and salvation are both
good, and it is reasonable to grieve rather than rejoice
over the loss of good therefore it is undeniably more
fitting that the unrighteous man should be afflicted
with punishment than that he should have joy and
pleasure in his crime. Hence, as to rejoice in having
cast away good by sin, is a proof of an evil will; so to
grieve under punishment for the good lost, is proof of
a good nature. For, he that grieves on account of the
lost peace of nature, does so because he has still in
himself some remains of peace which make his nature
a friend to itself." (i)
Wherefore there is more of good in the wicked who
suffer, than in the wicked who rejoice. And since all
the wicked suffer more or less, it therefore follows that
there is no evil which does not draw after it this good
of penal or punitive justice, wherein is exhibited the
essential goodness of being, which, even when it
(i) St. Aug. De Civ. Dei, Bk. xix., c. 13.
398 On Divine Providence.
renounces its own proper and individual order, is unable
to break with the universal order, but rather makes it
to shine forth in another way, and this must be added
to the sum total of good.
942. But we have seen throughout the whole
of this book how many other goods, and how
great and precious, Almighty God draws from the
permission of moral evil. We have seen how much
greater is the good which He draws from sinners if
they are converted, and how much good He draws
from them even if they remain in their obstinacy.
"These/ says St. Augustine, " are called vessels of
wrath, because even these God employs to the service
of good, to make known the riches of His glory in the
vessels of mercy." (i) Nor is this the case in the present
life only, but in the other as well. For, those who suf
fer the penalty of their injustice in eternity, are so
many living, and I had almost said, smoking monu
ments from which the blessed gain a more vivid
knowledge of the gratuitous mercy which has been
used towards them, and the greatness of their happi
ness ; and hence they love and praise God the more,
that God Who has delivered them from the punish
ment which of themselves they had no w r ay to escape,
and they rejoice in God all the more for that they
know what they might have had to suffer; for, this is
the law of knowledge in intelligent beings, that they
have need of experience and of contrast in order that
their knowledge may make a vivid impression on
them. For this reason it was that the Greeks, as
Xenophon tells us, on the approach of the Persian
armies, when they were about to engage the enemy,
(i) Op. Imp. contr. Jul. I. cxxvii.
Absolute Measure of Good and Evil. 399
made a vow never to rebuild those temples which
should be destroyed or burnt by the barbarians, that
so their ruins might remain before the eyes of their
posterity as eternal and most certain monuments of
barbarian impiety : not indeed that this knowledge
could not otherwise be transmitted to posterity, but
because it would thus speak more eloquently, and with
greater effect, if the facts remained so that they could
behold them with their own eyes. All the good, there
fore, that in a thousand ways God knows how to draw
from moral and penal evil, even from that which
endures for ever, must be added to the sum total of
good.
943. Let us come now to the eudemonological evils.
These happen either to the wicked or to the good. To
the wicked they are true evils, because they deprive
them of that corruptible good for which they are
seeking. Montaigne has appositely remarked that
" other sorrows receive their alleviation from reason;
that of vice has not this comfort." (i)
Let us distinguish therefore between pleasures and
contentment: and consider how this latter is worth
more than the former. It is contentment which is
wanting to the wicked, and which can never be want
ing to the good, whatever may be their sorrows in
this world. Therefore the evils affecting the happi
ness of the good are not, properly speaking, evils, since
that is not evil which does not disturb contentment of
soul, and which we would not wish to have otherwise.
But if the good did not heartily accept of these afflic
tions, that would be owing to their not being entirely
good, and therefore from their having some moral
(i) Bk. iii., ch. 2.
400 On Divine Providence.
defect in their will for the purging away of which
these evils may be most useful. But if they heartily
accept them, by this very fact they have already gained
moral improvement, and acquired a good immeasur
ably greater than the evil which they suffer. If, then,
in respect of the good, the evils which affect their
happiness are not evils, if they are evils in respect of
the wicked, but evils such as effect the restoration
and revindication of justice from the violence it has
suffered : it is evident that all alike contribute to the
sum total of good.
944. Moreover, all evil is limited, so that there
cannot be such a thing as supreme evil, precisely
because, as we have seen, there can be no pure or un
mixed evil, and because evil being only a diminution
of that order which is in a finite nature, and which is
proper to it, the loss of it can be only that of an order
and degree which is finite. On the contrary, there
can be, and there is a supreme good, which is God,
and this can be possessed by the intelligent creature.
It is true that the intelligent creature can rebel
against God, and, in some sort, even hate God Himself;
and this disorder contains a something of the infinite,
that is to say, it is infinite on the part of one of the
two terms of the relation, which is Infmite.(i) But in
the first place, it is not, properly speaking, God, as
such, Who is the object of the hatred of the reprobate,
for God, as God, can not be hated by any creature ;
that object is therefore God as punitive justice, inas
much as He is an impediment to that corruptible good
on which the reprobate have set their affections.
Hence, the precise object of their hatred is not,
(i) La Societa ed il suo fine. ("Society and its Aim.") Bk. iv.
A bsolute Measure of Good and Rvil. 40 1
properly speaking, infinite, as the object of the love of
the Saints is infinite.
945. In the second place, the wicked do not know
God in the same way in which the just do, who have
been raised to the supernatural order ; for these know
Him in an infinitely more excellent way. Since,
therefore, love and hatred are in proportion to their
objects, and the degree in which they are known,
hence the hatred of God, and, therefore the moral
evil of the wicked, can never be as great as is the love
of God, and therefore the moral good of the Saints ;
but this last must always be, beyond all comparison,
the greater.
The sum total, therefore, of moral good is, beyond
all measure, greater than the sum total of moral
evil, and the good affecting happiness, exactly corres
ponds to moral good, since the order of Divine Justice
wills that the first shall be always united to the
second.
946. It must be added that the simple absence of
the supernatural order in the soul, that is, of the grace
by which man is made to partake of the Divine
nature, supposing human nature to remain uncorrupted
and the will undepraved, has not, properly speaking,
the nature of evil for man, because the supernatural
order is not an element that constitutes or that is in
any way due to his nature. Moral evil, therefore, begins
and finishes with nature : it keeps within the sphere
limited by this. Whatever is supernatural and infinite
is not subject to corruption. It is true that if, after
having been elevated to the supernatural order, our
nature should fall into sin, it acts injuriously towards
the supernatural order, and therefore this sin is
II. 2D
402 On Divine Providence.
infinitely greater than it would have been if human
nature had never been raised to the supernatural
order. But it remains true all the same that the
supernatural order, since it ceases with sin, escapes
that corruption of sin of which it is not susceptible,
and therefore the corruption remains within the sphere
of the order of nature, although it has relation to the
infinite. But the holy man, on the contrary, being
united to God, and a partaker of the Divine Nature,
enjoys the possession of the supernatural order; thus
is human nature elevated above itself even to the
infinite, and the infinite becomes one thing as it were
with our humanity. It is therefore evident that the
least degree of supernatural good exceeds, beyond all
measure, all possible evils, since there is no proportion
between supernatural good and evil which stands
below nature. Hence there is more of good in one
person who is in the grace of God, and who enjoys
the possession of God Himself, than there is of evil
in all the wicked and all the devils taken together.
The sum total, therefore, of good is infinitely greater
than the sum total of evil.
947. The same may be said of eudemonologi-
cal good. Because the least of the S^lints enjoys
more happiness than all the damned and the devils
together suffer, because he enjoys the infinite and in
an order which is infinite. And this excess of the
eudemonological good we may gather from the very
expressions of Holy Scripture in which we read that
"eye hath not seen, or ear heard, nor hath it entered
into the heart of man to conceive the things which
God has prepared for those who love Him;"(i)
(i) I Cor. ii. 9.
Absolute Measure of Good and Evil.
403
expressions which are nowhere used to describe the
torments, how severe soever, of the reprobate. Again,
it is written, that u grace and peace is to His elect,
but the wicked shall be punished according to
their own devices ; " (i) because malice begins in
thought, namely, with the practical esteem of things,
and the punishment is in proportion to their thought,
because it comes to the reprobate as a consequence
of and in proportion to the perversity of their
mind. So also is it taught in other places of
Scripture, that the torments of the reprobate shall
be in proportion to their indulgence in the plea
sures of sin ; (2) but not that the happiness of the
Saints shall be measured by what they have suffered,
but that it shall surpass all the sufferings of this
present life, and that their reward shall be beyond
all measure and worthy of the Omnipotence of God,
Who says, " I am thy reward exceeding great." (3)
948. Moreover, the just shall enjoy all things, and
St. Paul says of them expressly: "All things are yours,
. . . whether it be the world, or life or death, or things
present, or things to come : for all things are yours :
and you are Christ s : and Christ is God s. "(4) Thus
the rich patrimony of the elect is formed of all things
besides the possession of God. The wicked, on the
contrary, will not be tormented by all things ; but by
those only which are destined for their punishment.
Nor shall the just enjoy only the dominion of the
universe, all things co-operating to their happiness
and enjoyment; they shall also be, and already
(1) Wisd. iii. 9, 10. (3) Gen. xv. i.
(2) Apoc. xviii. 7. (4) i Cor. iii. 22, 23.
404 On Divine Providence.
are, judges of all things, (i) and fellow- workers with
God Himself, in His Providential government.
949. Moreover, the reprobate stand alone in their
sufferings, each suffers from himself, and from that
punishment caused by his accomplices in wickedness.
But the just form one single, most intimately united
body, and each enjoys and shall for ever enjoy the
beatitude of all in common, so that the happiness of all
is reflected and multiplied a thousandfold in each.
Hence God is called in the Scriptures the Most High,
principally because of the excess of goodness with
which He defends and exalts the just above the
wicked; (2) and speaking of the lot reserved for His
faithful, it is written: "Thou hast multiplied Thy
wonderful works, O Lord my God : and in Thy thoughts
(i) "The spiritual man judgeth all things" (i Cor. ii. 15). The faculty
of judging is in proportion to merit, because it is a consequence of the
more or less perfect fulfilment of the law. Hence Nineveh itself, Tyre and
Sidon, although reprobate, shall condemn the generation that was deaf to
the words of Christ, because they were less guilty. For this reason those
who are more perfect will judge the less perfect ; thus in the hierarchy
itself of the Saints, each order shall judge the inferior orders, and shall be
judged by the orders that are above it. Only Christ will be judged by no
one, but shall be judge of all. As He is the source of merit, so is He
the Judge who will communicate the power of judging in exact proportion
to the merits of each. Hence the Holy Fathers give to the followers of
the Evangelical Counsels special prerogatives in the Last Judgment. Let
us hear the Venerable Bede. " There shall be two orders of the Elect at
the Last Judgment : one consisting of those who shall judge together with
our Lord, of whom Matthew makes mention in this place (Ch. xix. ) who
left all things and followed Him : the other consisting of those who shall
be judged by our Lord, Who did not indeed leave all things, yet took
care daily to give alms of what they had to the poor of Christ, for which
cause they shall hear in the judgment these words addressed to them :
Come ye blessed of My Father. " (Horn, in natali S. Bened.}
(2) Ps. Ixxxi. 19.
Absolute Measure of Good and Evil. 405
there is no one like to Thee," (i) which is the same as
saying that no one can conceive that happiness which
God hath prepared for the just. (2)
950. Wherefore, if the least degree of super
natural good, as well moral as eudemonological, in one
single creature, exceeds all moral and eudemonological
evil that can be found in all creatures, human and
angelic, how great beyond compare must be the
excess of the sum total of good over the evil, when we
consider that in the elect the supernatural good is
accumulated beyond all measure, and that whatever
opinion we may follow as to the number of those who
shall be saved, we know that there must at any rate
be many, because Christ has said, that in " His
Father s house there are many mansions. "(3) Moreover,
in order to fill the supper chamber, besides those who
came after the second invitation to fill up the vacant
places (which are the types of which we have
spoken), it was necessary to compel a crowd of all
sorts of people to enter: the blind and the lame, the
(i) Ps. xxxix. 5, 6. (2) i Cor. ii. 9.
(3) John xiv. 2. St. Augustine, who holds that the number of those
who shall be saved is less than of those who shall be lost, nevertheless
applies to the first the promise made to Abraham : "I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea-shore "
(Gen. xxii. 17). The faithful, holy, and good, in comparison of the multi
tude of the wicked, are few, indeed ; yet, considered in themselves, they are
many : because " many are the children of the desolate more than of her
who hath a husband" (Galat. iv. 27) ; and "many shall come from the
East and from the West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven " (Matt. viii. n) ; and because God will
cleanse for Himself a numerous people, "a pursuer of good works" (Tit. ii.
14). And in the Apocalypse we behold a multitude that no man could
number, from all tribes, and peoples, and tongues, in white robes and with
palms of victory in their hands (Apoc vii.) S. Aug. Ep. xciii. ad Vincen.
Rogat.n. 150.
406 On Divine Providence.
poor and the maimed, just as they happened to be
found along the roads, (i) The dimensions of the
city of God are exceedingly vast, for it contains
1,628,000 cubic furlongs ; (2) and it is built all of living
stones. Finally, it is written that God shall reign
over all the nations, and that they shall all rejoice in
Him, (3j and that He shall save both "men and
beasts," (4) that is to say, sinners, who are likened unto
beasts.
951. But how overwhelming is the sum total of
good, if we add to the account that which is contained
in Jesus Christ Himself ! What balance is there that
can sustain so great a weight in which are hidden "all
the treasures of the wisdom and of the knowledge of
God," (5) " all fulness " of grace ; (6) Here we see
realized the architype of humanity, exalted to the
highest summit of perfection ; all the other saints are
the realization of particular types and species, and have
divided amongst them that which Christ has in pleni
tude, and which He communicates to them while He
takes nothing from Himself, according to that which is
written, "of His fulness we have all received, "(7) in such
sort that the full species, which is imperfect, draws
from the full species complete, and yet takes nothing
from its perfection. Let us sum up, therefore, thus:
In the first place : Christ is God, and in comparison
with God, the whole world is nothing. Next : the
Humanity of Christ has the grace of the hypostatic
union, which is infinite, and nothing bears any propor-
(1) Luc. xiv. 21, 23. (4) Ps. xxxv. 7.
(2) Apoc. xxi. 16. (5) Col. ii. 3.
(3) Ps. xlvi. (6) Ibid. i. 19.
(7) John i. 1 6.
Absolute Measure of Good and Evil. 407
tion to the infinite. In the third place : the Humanity
of Christ possesses God, in virtue of this union, and
therefore its riches are infinite, in comparison with
which the world is nothing. From these riches, that
is to say, from God Who is possessed by that Sacred
Humanity (a possession which consists in being
possessed, which is the only way in which the finite
can possess the infinite), it can draw whatsoever it will,
not merely the beatific vision, but the highest degree
of comprehensive vision that is possible to human
nature. All moral good whatsoever is therefore
realized in Christ alone. To so unlimited a quantity
of moral good, corresponds an equal quantity of
eudemonological good : " All My things are Thine and
Thine are Mine," He says to the Heavenly Father; and
" glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the
glory which I had before the world was, with Thee/ (i)
952. Nor is this all; there is still more to our
purpose. Whatever Christ possesses, He shares with
His elect in all its plenitude, with the sole exception of
the hypostatic union, and what appertains to it as a
property of that union and is therefore incommuni
cable. For to Christ, says St. Thomas, was given
grace " as to a certain universal principle in the class
of beings possessing grace." (2) Hence the Humanity
of Christ not only derives from the Divinity to which
it is united all grace for itself, but all that immense
treasure destined by Him to be shared amongst all men ;
wherefore He says : " for them do I sanctify myself,
that they also may be sanctified in truth," (3) as if
He would say : " From the fountain head of My
(i) John xvii. (2) S. p. III., q. vii., art. 9.
(3) John xvii. 19.
408 On Divine Providence.
Divinity I draw first into My own humanity that
grace which I intend to pour forth from the plenitude
of my humanity into the humanity of other men/
Thus the habitual grace of Christ is broken up, so
to speak, and renews itself in the saints in every
possible way ; so that in all the saints, taken as a
whole, we behold, as it were, a reproduction of the
realization of the archetype humanity, only that in
Christ, the union of all graces and the inexhaustible
source of the divinity which is His Person itself,
renders His grace beyond all measure greater, and so
makes it His own, that He is the Master of all His
graces, and herein the specific eminence of Christ
consists.
953. Yet we must reflect, moreover, that to every
saint He gives a certain power of communicating to
others the graces received, similar to that communica
tive power which He possesses as Master of His own
graces. So that the conversation, and the words and
the acts of every holy man communicate somewhat of
benediction and of grace to all those with whom he is
brought into contact and who are disposed to receive
it ; but this diffusion of grace, which by diffusion is
again divided, is in proportion to the measure of
sanctity in him from whom it proceeds, and thus
in a certain way grace becomes threefold in the
whole body of those to whom the saints communi
cate various parts of their abundance. But those
saints who have received grace from saints pre
ceding them, are not on that account in any way
hindered from obtaining yet more grace immedi
ately from the fountain head, which is Christ, Who
dwells in the just for everlasting ages. Thus is
Absolute Measure of Good and Evil. 409
verified that which is written in the Psalms in the
Person of Christ : " I will show forth Thy truth with
my mouth to generation and generation. For Thou
hast said : Mercy shall be built up for ever in the
heavens (i.e., in the souls of the just) : Thy truth shall
be prepared in them. I have made a covenant with
My elect. I have sworn to David My servant (i.e.,
to the father of the Messiah), Thy seed (the Messiah)
will I establish for ever. And I will build up
thy throne (in the saints) unto generation and genera
tion/ (i)
954. Once more, to the sanctity of Christ and of
the saints there corresponds an equal proportion of
eudemonological good in Christ, and from Christ com
municated to the whole multitude of His saints : " I
will make Him as My first-born, high above all
the kings of the earth. I will keep My mercy for
Him for ever, and His throne as the days of heaven.
But if His children forsake My law, if they profane
My justices, and shall not keep My commandments,
I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their
sins with scourging; but My mercy I will not take
away from Him, nor will I suffer My truth to fail.
Neither will I profane My covenant, and the words
that proceed from My mouth I will not make void." (2)
These words demonstrate the certainty of the predes
tination of the elect, and the immovable security of
that good which God from eternity has decreed to draw
from His creatures throughout an eternity yet to come.
955. And precisely because the good that God has
decreed will endure for all eternity, I would remind
my reader that he must multiply the whole amount
(i) Ps. Ixxxviii. 2, 3, 4, 5. (2) Ibid. 28-35.
410 On Divine Providence.
of good which I have described by the whole duration
of eternity.
956. Therefore the absolute quantity of good that
God draws from His creatures, exceeds the quantity
of evil by a measure which is beyond all measure, and
is inconceivable to the human understanding. How
consoling is this result for us poor and suffering
mortals ! How perfectly does it avail for the justifica
tion of Divine Providence in the permission of evil!
or rather, how efficaciously does it invite every
thinking and right-minded man to celebrate without
end God s praises !
957. But it may be that even after we have thus
exceedingly magnified God, because He has taken
His Infinite Wisdom into the service of His Goodness
which exults therefore with everlasting joy, I say,
even after this, our mind may still recur to the thought
of those miserable beings that shall be lost, and
may lament over them as victims immolated for the
sake of an universal good, and may reason thus and
inquire : " Is it then true that God has abandoned
these individual souls ? Has He by an inevitable fate
devoted them to eternal evil ? What fault, then, is it
of theirs if they are lost in the execution of a decree
so terrible?" Although by raising these questions we
show that we have all but forgotten many things that
have been said above, and which answer them most
fully, nevertheless it is not unlikely, the objection may
be raised anew in the weak will and vacillating mind,
even after it has been beaten down.
Men often turn, whether through distraction of mind
or an irresistible instinct, to this supreme question,
although it has often been answered, met and solved
A bsolnte Measure of Good and Evil. 4 1 1
by irresistible reasons ; they return to it, not under the
guidance of tranquil contemplation, but in perturba
tion of mind, which always seems to behold in these
lost souls an immense object of sorrowful compassion.
Therefore in going counter to such human weakness
in which the persuasion is shaken even when the
reason does not doubt, we will treat in the following
chapter ex profcsso of that Providence which God uses
towards each in particular of those intelligent beings
which He has created.
CHAPTER XXXV.
OF PROVIDENCE IN REGARD TO THE GOOD OF
PARTICULAR INDIVIDUALS.
Cum enim scriptum sit : " Universes vies Domini misericordia et veritas,"
nee injusta ejus gratia, nee crudelis esse potest justitia.
(St. Aug., De Civ. Dei, Bk. VII., c. 27.)
958. The question regarding universal good, which
comprehends all intelligent creatures, and that which
regards the good of particular beings ^ are two questions
between which there is an immense difference ; and
the objection about the salvation of individuals is apt
to arise from our confounding the two questions
together, and so being led to suppose that the solu
tion of the first clashes with the solution of the second.
The argument takes this form : " If in order to obtain
the greatest sum total of good, some intelligent crea
tures must necessarily be lost, they are lost in virtue
of that decree which establishes the maximum of good;
therefore their perdition is necessary, and therefore
they are lost without any fault of their own." But no
reasoning could be more lame and false from every
point of view ; no reasoning could show greater
ignorance of the Divine mode of operation.
Let us begin by distinguishing the two questions ;
and show, in the next place, that principles wholly
different, though not repugnant to one another, are
required for the solution of each ; and that the special
solutions, far from being contradictory, are found
Providence in regard to Individuals. 4 1 3
marvellously to agree, and aid us to prove the
infinite perfection of God, Who is the first and
supreme cause of all things.
959. The question of the sum total of good regards
the end of the government of the universe.
The question of the good of individuals regards the
means, because particular good is the means for the
obtaining of the general good, since this is precisely
the result and sum total of the particular good of all
the individuals composing the universe.
960. The sum total of good is the object of Divine
Goodness. That is to say, it is the law of highest
goodness in a ruler that he desire to obtain, and
actually do obtain, the greatest possible good of his
subjects.
The particular good of individuals is not only the
object of the goodness of a ruler, but it is also the
object of }\\s justice and equity and of his sense of what
is fitting, because particular goods must be ordered
to the universal good, in such wise that the rights of
individuals may not be injured, and that that which
is fitting, may in no case be interfered with, nay,
rather that the greatest goodness and courtesy
possible may be used towards all and each.
961. The Law of the Least Means presides, as we
have seen, over the general good of all ; because this
good is nothing else but "the greatest possible good
obtained by the least possible means." Other laws
preside over the particular good oi individuals arising
from the relations of the particular individual with the
ruler, which may be summed up shortly in this formula:
" The ruler shall cause no evil to any individual, shall
give to all what is their due, and even more than is
due to them in the largest measure possible."
414 On Divine Providence.
962. The question, therefore, of the general good
is solved by the decree to obtain " the greatest
amount of good by the least means possible ; " whereas
the question of the good of individuals is solved by
establishing such a mode of treating individuals as,
without doing them any injury, but on the contrary
benefiting them, may make them all contribute
directly or indirectly to the realization of the greatest
general good.
963. We have therefore to reconcile the solutions
of these two questions, so that we may be certain of
obtaining, on the one hand, the end of the maximum
of good with the minimum of means, and on the
other, that each individual be treated with respect,
and with all possible goodness and generosity. It
is precisely this conciliation, this most perfect agree
ment, which is exhibited in the divine government
of the world, and which deserves the everlasting
praises offered up to God by all the blessed. Let
us see, therefore, with what admirable goodness
God has treated and continues to treat all men
individually, without thereby in any way hindering
that grand end which He has proposed to Himself,
nay, by these very means, promoting its attain
ment.
964. God s way of acting would not be such as is
befitting the Supreme Being, did it not at the same
time correspond with all His Divine attributes. That
this may be the case, three special classes of conditions
must be complied with :
i st. The first is that which corresponds to the
intrinsic order of being, which order is found originally
in God alone ; and this class of conditions is anterior
Providence in regard to Individuals. 415
to every creature, is wholly objective, presides over
creation, has an ontological necessity.
2nd. The second class is that which arises from
the moral exigence of creatures, supposes their exist
ence, is founded upon their existence (viz., on their
relation with ideal being) as its title, and has a moral
necessity.
3rd. The third kind is founded solely on the
plenitude of the goodness of God, without any title in the
creature or in its type ; it is, on the contrary, a thing
altogether free, or if we try to find a necessary reason
for it in the divine liberty itself, which tends to that
which is best, it may be said to have a teletic necessity.
965. The first species of conditions is reduced to
the impossibility of God s creating a being, lacking
this intrinsic order, which essentially belongs to
being itself. Opposed to this condition would be :
i st. A creation unable to attain its end, or the
end of which was not moral, because the moral good
alone has by its essence the nature of end. Hence, to
imagine a universe in which intelligent creatures were
happy without being moral, would be to imagine
nothing but an absurdity ; for happiness essentially
demands moral good, which is the highest and
ultimate good in which any intelligent being can
rejoice.
2ndly. A creation in which the intelligent beings
destined for ultimate and final good, which is moral
good, were not subject to the eternal law of justice,
which wills that happiness should be united to virtue
and unhappiness to vice. Hence to imagine a crea
tion in which vice should meet with no punishment, is
to imagine an absurdity. In creating such a world,
416 On Divine Providence.
God would destroy Himself, because He would destroy
the intrinsic order of being in its most excellent
part, which is that whereby it rejoices in an end.
Compassion for the wicked, who undergo just punish
ment, arises in man only from the limitation of his
mind, which is not deep enough to understand how
intimate, necessary, immutable, is the connexion
between guilt and punishment. Perfect intelligence
and perfect goodness is therefore necessitated to
prefer the union of punishment with vice to the hap
piness of the vicious, because happiness of this kind
is not a good but an objective evil ; (i) and when we
say objective evil, we speak of evil which touches God
Himself, Who is object by essence, and to Whom no
evil can have access in other words, we say what is
an absurdity.
966. These objective, absolute, ontological condi
tions, therefore, which prescribe what ought to be the
intrinsic order of being, that it may be a fit object
for creation, are anterior to all others, immutable,
dependent upon naught in creation itself, but on
eternal truth alone. The Divine Goodness can do
nothing for the advantage of man, except under these
conditions, which become, on the other hand, con
ditions of man s happiness itself, because like every
other intelligent being, he can only enjoy happiness
through justice, and on condition that all the laws of
justice have free course. They are, therefore, the con
ditions which were verified before all creation, which
determine and qualify it, and on which depend alike
(i) The same is said by St. Augustine in this noble passage : Nihil est
infelicius felicitate peccantium qua pcenalis nutritur impunitas et mala
voluntas velut hostis interior roboratur. Ep. cxxxviii. 14.
Providence in regard to Individuals. 417
the Providence of the universe as a whole, all creatures
in general, and the Providence of each individual crea
ture that forms part of it.
967. The third species of conditions which have
their foundations in Infinite Goodness, cannot re
gard the providence of individuals, because Infinite
Goodness imports nothing but a tendency to produce
the greatest good of the whole body obtained by the
least possible means. They are fulfilled accordingly
by that Providence which rules the universe as a
whole, of which individual beings are but parts ; and
of this we have already treated at length.
968. The second species of the conditions of the
divine mode of action remains. These are such as
spring from the titles which the creature might have
to require something from the Creator, titles founded
in the ideal types of the creature itself, and these are
the only conditions which regard the providence of
individuals.
969. But on these titles, what is it the creature can
pretend to claim from its Creator ?
We must prescind here from what the creature
might claim from his Creator on the title of a promise
freely made to him, which promise belongs to the
order of the Divine Bounty, and not to that of justice
and equity, although the promise having been given,
there arises a title of justice. What, then, can the
creature pretend to by any title which he has in
himself?
970. First of all, I may answer by the simple word
nothing, because all that the creature has, even to its
existence, and therefore also any titles that it may
have, are gifts of its Creator. The question, therefore,
2 E
418 On Divine Providence.
is reduced to this, has the Creator, in drawing it out
of nothing, endowed the nature of the creature with
any titles upon which it can demand aught from Him ?
971. We must distinguish two kinds of things to
which the exigence of the creature might extend : ist,
that which appertains to real being; 2nd, that which
appertains to the order of being.
972. As regards real being, no creature has any
right to demand it, as we have said, or to require more
or less, and to assert the contrary is absurd ; because
this would be to suppose that the creature could have
rights of some kind before it came into existence.
973. As regards the order of being, this is physical,
intellectual, and moral. Now, physical and intellectual
being can have no rights, because right is a moral
thing. That God should create beings with a perfect
physical order and a perfect intellectual order, belongs
to His own perfections, and is one of the first species
of conditions which we have called ontological ; but
this cannot be the object of juridical claims on the
part of the creature, because the creature, in the intel
lectual and physical order, is not as yet a moral being,
and has therefore no rights. In regard, however, to
the moral order, the creature may in some sort demand :
i st. That the law of justice shall be observed
towards him, namely, that eudemonological good shall
be conjoined to ethical good, and eudemonological evil
to ethical evil ; (i)
(i) The ethical order therefore draws with it also the intellectual and
physical order, because the good order of the physical and intellectual
nature is what constitutes in great part eudemonological good. It must
nevertheless he observed that the equilibrium between moral and eudemono
logical good may be obtained in many ways, and if it is obtained in any of
these ways, the law of justice is observed. For example, God may permit
Providence in regard to Individuals. 419
2ndly. That he shall not be created morally and
personally defective : because personal moral evil is an
evil so great as not to be compensated by the good of the
physical and intellectual existence which belongs to
nature, and therefore in this case he would have received
from his Creator more evil than good, and the Creator
would thus seem to be a malevolent and not a bene
ficent being ;
3rdly. That, for the same reason, the Creator, after
having created him, shall not by any act of omnipotence
despoil him of moral good, and produce in him the
disorder of personal moral evil;
4thly. Nor create him so disordered, that, though
a physical evil to befal a just man, he giving his consent thereto, as He
permitted that Christ should be crucified ; and afterwards He may restore
the equilibrium with such a weight of eudemonological good as shall com
pensate for the ill suffered and equal the merit of Him who suffers the evil,
as is the case in the glory of Jesus Christ ; because it suffices that the
equilibrium between the moral and eudemonological good be verified in the
sum total of the whole series of good and evil, of which that man is the subject.
To restore this equilibrium between moral and eudemonological good, not
withstanding the momentary irregularity, is the work of Omnipotence ; and
therefore Job exalts the greatness of God for this very reason, that He can
so order that the just man should suffer for a time without any injustice on
the part of God, which appears absurd, yet is not so but only marvellous.
" And if He should hear me when I call, I should not believe that He had
heard my voice. For He shall crush me in a whirl-wind and multiply my
wounds even without cause." (Job ix. 16, 17.) As if he had said: "he strikes
me without cause, that is, without any fault on my part, and it seems as
if He had not heard my voice, yet nevertheless He heareth me, because He
holds in preparation for me an abundant compensation for all my ills, and
therefore, is He always just but in a way that is sublime, and, as it were,
incomprehensible to men who judge by appearances." Hence " if strength
be demanded, he is most strong : if equity of judgment, no man dare bear
witness for me " (Ibid. 19). All comes to what Christ said to His disciples :
"Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a king
dom" (Luke xii. 32.).
420 On Divine Providence.
personally good, he be obliged necessarily to fall into
moral evil through the impotence of his nature, because
such moral evil must once more be imputed to his
Creator, as its true author.
974. We may call these, in some sense, four rights,
which the intelligent-moral creature has in relation
to his Creator. Yet, properly speaking, they are not
rights, but rather ontological conditions, which even
before the created nature inasmuch as it partakes of
the order of being demands them, are already willed
and cemanded by the very order of being which
exists in God. They cannot, therefore, be in any way
violated by the Creator ; because their violation would
involve the destruction of being itself, that is to say,
of God.
975. A fifth exigence may be added to the preced
ing, not indeed as having the title of right, but as
equitable and fitting ; and it is that the intelligent
creature constituted by God in a state of moral recti
tude should be capable of preserving it, and not
be subject to the necessity of sinning through any
seduction or invincible temptation on the part of other
malevolent creatures. It is true that even should this
happen, the evil produced by the tempter, or, through
the natural weakness of the creature tempted, could
not be imputed to God. But this is repugnant to the
honour of God Himself, Who is the natural guardian
and defender of His innocent creatures, and there
fore it is a condition which forms part of or is very
nearly allied to the first.
976. Now, all these five conditions are completely
fulfilled by God in regard to each individual man.
Therefore no individual can complain of Him : on
Providence in regard to Individuals. 421
the contrary, each ought to have the greatest grati
tude for that nature which was potentially given him
in the first father of the human race, who came forth
from the hands of God in the state of innocence, and
raised to the supernatual order by that infinite and
gratuitous gift which was not included in the nature of
man or in the intrinsic order of man s nature. For, if
our first parent sinned, this sin did not come from God,
from Whom came only liberty and the power not to sin,
and also the warning of the evil that he would incur
by sinning ; which warning was, moreover, a free gift
not due to him, but conferred on him by the mere
Goodness of God. Nor have we yet come to the end
of the praises due to the Divine Bounty from each
individual of the human race ; on the contrary, how
many are the other beneficent and gratuitous acts of
Providence which God has wrought and still works
in regard to each individual of the human race ! It
would be impossible to enumerate them all ; enough
for our purpose to mention only a few. Reverting
again to the first, let us consider in addition the others
that follow, each of which would suffice by itself alone
to demonstrate that truth of faith that God " wills all
men to be saved ; " (i) and wills this not as a mere idle
wish, but with a most sincere desire which makes Him
provide most truly the means which would suffice if
only mankind had used and would make use of them,
for the sanctification and beatitude of the whole race.
977. First Providence, by which God made it pos
sible for each individual man to be saved. God
having created and constituted in a state of original
justice the heads of the human race, this, as I have
(i) I Tim. ii. 4.
422 On Divine Providence.
pointed out, ought to have passed as an inheritance
to all their posterity, had it not been lost by the free
will of our first parents ; and thus in this first institu
tion was given to all and each of their descendants,
the secure and easy means of being always good and
happy.
978. Second Providence, by which God made it pos
sible for every single man to be saved. It is certain
also, that after the fall of Adam, God, Who had been
offended, far from abandoning human nature to
itself, promised gratuitously to disobedient man a
Redeemer, to which promise was annexed the grace
of salvation by the way i faith. This promise might
and should have passed to his posterity ; and thus
was given once more to each individual man a means
which was perfectly gratuitous of escaping from the
universal deluge of eternal perdition. But men of
their own free-will neglected His second mercy as
well, and the fathers took but little care to instruct
their children therein, for which cause God had, by
the exemplary chastisement of the universal deluge,
to destroy the corrupt generations who would have
handed down to their posterity their inheritance of
vice and corruption, not the saving gift received from
God. Nevertheless, up to the deluge, the revelation
of the future Messiah consigned to patriarchs, w^hose
lives were so prolonged, could not have perished,
since Noe must have been for many years a contem
porary of men who had, for many years, conversed
with Adam himself.
979. Third Providence, by which God made it pos
sible for each individual man to be saved. God then
made Noe the new head of the human race, and con-
Providence in regard to Individuals. 423
signed to him the precious deposit of that promise
which contained THE FAITH, which was the predestined
means of salvation given once more to each and all of
his descendants. All men, therefore, without excep
tion, who lived before the coming of the Messias,
would, according to the design of the Divine Goodness
and Mercy, have been saved, if they had chosen to
make use of that gift. But many, of their own
free-will, for the third time rejected the proffered
salvation, offering fresh outrage to that Infinite
Goodness, which nevertheless willed all men to be
saved ; the result was that, having abandoned God,
they fell into the worship of idols, losing sight of the
pure light of revelation and of faith, and the grace
annexed to it, and as St. Paul says: "They became
vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was
darkened." (i)
980. From these facts we learn that God, on His
part, three separate times provided for the eternal
salvation of each individual member of the human
race. First, He created Adam, innocent and upright
in all his faculties, and this was a moral-ontological
necessity, or, if we will, a necessity of justice. Next,
He gave the promise of a Redeemer, and this was an
act of pure mercy; since the evil which befell the
human race came from man himself, not from God,
and God was not bound to heap on human nature
other gifts which it could not in any way deserve, or
to pardon the offender, or to come to the succour of
one who was His enemy ; man and his whole race
would have peiished justly, because by his own fault.
How much greater, then, was the third act of mercy,
(i) Rom. i. 21.
424 On Divine Providence.
when God restored the human race once more in the
family of Noe ! But after this, the human race again,
of its own free-will, became perverted. What did God
do then f
981. He discovered and made use of new Provi
dences, by which He made it possible for each and
every man to be saved. The first and second perver
sions were each the work of man ; God, far from
impelling him thereto, had given him every means
to avoid them. God could refrain from placing any
impediment in the way of what man, of his own free
will, elected to do, without doing any wrong to his
creature. What was He to do r After He had re
spected all the moral exigences of His creatures ; after
having observed towards them all the congruities of
justice and equity, after having provided for them
superabundantly, perfect freedom of action was now
left to God, and a boundless field was open to His
Goodness; He was at liberty now to select what His
own Infinite Goodness demanded, and it was due to
Himself that He should so act ; what was congruous in
respect of individuals could no longer set limits to it:
Goodness could tend directly to its own essential object,
which is that of obtaining the maximum of good by the
minimum of means ; the lot of individuals became
from that moment subordinated to the destiny of all,
because even though some should be lost in the uni
versal good, this would be owing to their own corruption
which made them undeserving of all special provision.
In this we may find the reason of the permission of
sin ; it was the Goodness of God itself that decreed
the permission, that is to say, sin was permitted
because only thus was Goodness left free to obtain
Providence in regard to Individuals. 425
that most excellent end which the considerations of
justice and equity towards individuals might have
been an obstacle to, by hindering it from diffusing
itself as widely as it would have wished. It is
this which is said in the Book of Wisdom : " For if
we sin, we are Thine," that is, we are become things
of Thine which Thou mayest dispose of according to
Thy pleasure, and " we come thus to know Thy great
ness," that is, to experience the dominion which Thou
hast acquired over us. (i)
982. But what does this mean r Is it perhaps that
He has abandoned some individuals to total and ir
reparable perdition r Certainly not ; only that He
has divided amongst them His gifts according to the
law of His Goodness. Undoubtedly, He uses His
Goodness not to destroy but to benefit them, for as we
read in Ecclesiasticus : " The mercy of man is towards
his neighbour, but the mercy of God is over all flesh." (2)
But He does this in different degrees, because He no
longer owes anything to any man, having become the
absolute master of His gifts. He therefore distributes
them with that high wisdom which belongs to Him, in
order that the sinful human race may come in the end
to be disposed in all that beautiful gradation calculated
(1) Etenim si pecciwerimus tui sumus, sciences magnitudinem tuain.
Wisd. xv. 2.
(2) The whole of this passage of Ecclesiasticus deserves profound con
sideration. It says that God is merciful to all precisely because He sees that
all are corrupt and sinful : " He hath seen the presumption of their heart
that it is wicked, and hath known their end for it is evil." What should we
expect to be the sequel of these words ? Perhaps that God will destroy all ?
Not so ; hear on the contrary what follows in the Sacred Text : " There
fore hath He filled up His mercy in their favour, and hath shown them the
way of justice." (Ecclesiasticus xviii. 10, n.)
426 On Divine Providence.
to produce the greatest possible amount of moral and
eudemonological good, which is so much desired by
His unlimited Goodness.
983. This perfect liberty in distributing his gifts
acquired by God in consequence of sin, whereby
all have equally become undeserving of every gift,
produces another consequence which is in the highest
degree congruous Avith the Divine government, and
this is, that God is able to allow secondary causes to
act freely according to the order imposed on them by
Jiis Wisdom ; because even though through the action
of these causes it should happen that some should die
in sin, or remain deprived of some of His gifts, there
would have been no. injustice, they would have received
all that was their due, and the Universal Goodness
would have fully obtained its end, to which even these
accidents would, as we have already seen, be made to
tend, and all this without the intervention of any
extraordinary and immediate action of God as the Law
of the Least Means requires.
Let us see, then, the economy which God made use
of in the distribution of His gifts, and how by skilfully
directing the action of secondary causes He draws
from human nature with most just and beneficent
judgment all varieties of good that are possible.
984. He determined, as I have said, to send His
Divine Word into the world, that becoming incarnate
He might merit in very truth the title of the Saviour
of the world,(i] or, as St. Paul says: "the Saviour of
all men/ (2) This is equivalent to saying that every
(i) I John iv. 14.
(2) i Tim. i. I. In the Book of Wisdom, God is called omnium Salvator,
" the Saviour of all" (xvi. 7).
Providence in regard to Individuals. 427
individual of the human race who does not refuse His
help is able to escape eternal punishment.
985. But the law of secondary causes, which it
behoves universal Providence, as we have said, to
maintain, might hinder the knowledge of the Saviour
and the benefits of redemption from reaching some
individuals, (i) On this point St. Alphonsus says:
" God by His antecedent will desires that all men
should be saved, and He has therefore given the univer
sal means of salvation to all ; these means, however, do
not in some cases produce their effect, either by reason
of the self-will of some who do not choose to avail
themselves of them, or because others cannot make
use of them owing to the action of secondary causes
(such as the natural death of infants), the course of
which causes God is not bound to hinder, since He has
disposed the whole of events according to the just
judgments of His general Providence." (2) What
then did God do, to whom all and each of His crea
tures are most dear ?
986. Amongst those whom the order of secondary
causes prevents from gaining the universal benefit
of redemption offered to all, such as those who, through
the negligence of their parents, have never attained
the knowledge of the Redeemer, or have died as
infants without baptism, He distinguished with
supreme justice and mercy two classes : one of those
who are infected with sin only, such as original sin and
(l) Verum, etsi ille pro omnibus mortiius est, non onmes tamen mortis
ejus beneficium recipiunt, sed ii dumtaxat, quibus merit urn passionis ejus
communicatur. " But although he died for all, yet not all receive the benefit
of His death, but those only to whom the merit of His passion is communi
cated." Council of Trent. Ses. vi. De just. iii.
(2) Del gran mezzo della preghiera (p. n. c. i).
428 On Divine Providence.
its consequences ; (i) and the other of those who are
laden with guilt y namely, with grievous sin by them
freely committed.
987. These last who have personally and freely
committed sin, whereas they had the power of avoid
ing it, and who have died in this sin, remain most
justly in the hands of Supreme Justice, and are those
who are lost without obtaining the reparation of
redemption, because they chose not to receive it.
This appears to be one of the conditions which we
have termed ontological, which God cannot decline
without going against the order of being and des
troying Himself. The first, although not justified,
God causes to experience many effects of His gratui
tous and generous mercy.
988. The culpable sin of the second class of persons
has its origin in their own soul, in their free-will ; the
sin of the first class, properly speaking, does not
originate from the soul, but from the body, which they
received contaminated in its very origin, and which
inclines the soul to incur the guilt of voluntary trans
gression. (2)
The Redeemer willed to save the whole man, soul
(1) Let it be observed that these consequences do not of necessity drive
man to hatred of God, or of truth, but only to a certain disorder in the love
of creatures.
(2) St. Augustine writes thus against the Pelagians: Unde igitur ira
Dei super innocentiam parvuli nisi originaiis SORTE et SORDK peccati ?
" Whence then the wrath of God upon the innocent infant except through
the lot and blot of original sin?" (Epist. cxciii. 4.) The words sorte et
sorde peccati are used with great propriety ; because the word sorte expresses
the relation of the infant with Adam from whom it has fallen to its lot, as it
were, to have to descend, and the word sorde expresses the intrinsic taint
and the moral corruption of the soul, which constitute original sin, denied
by those heretics.
Providence in regard to Individuals. 429
and body ; he had therefore to effect a double regenera
tion, that of the soul and that of the body.
And since simple sin, which draws its origin from the
corruption of the body, was universal as regards the
whole human race and inevitable, so that no act of
free-will entered into it ; God ordained that all men,
since their sin was not an act of free-will, should be
regenerated as to their body by means of the resur
rection.
But since culpable sin comes from an act of the soul s
free-will, He ordained that this sin should not be
taken away, except by an act of the soul itself, equally
free, by which it believed in the Redeemer and obeyed
Him, and under the new law received, when this was
possible, the laver of Baptism.
Thus, to those who have only the sin which comes
from the body, this having been condemned to death,
they receive through the merits and virtue of Christ
a better body in the final resurrection : by which the
soul is no longer harassed and inclined to evil.
Hence, although they are not justified, but always
under a debt by reason of the sin contracted in their
past life, they are nevertheless exempted from sensible
torments, and acquire an existence which brings
contentment (i) by the pure gift of the Redeemer.
What equity, what marvellous benignity of our God !
989. There is, therefore, for certain, one only means
of justification for man, that which arises from the
faith and from the baptism of the Redeemer. But
the Divine Mercy extends so far, that they who, owing
to the course of secondary causes, cannot have this
means of justification, will nevertheless be saved
(r) See Appendix B.
430 On Divine Providence.
from sensible torments, and have the enjoyment of
natural good, provided they die free from all personal
guilt ; not because they have deserved this, but by
reason of the human and compassionate affection
entertained towards them by the God-Man, Who has
received power over all others, His brethren according
to the flesh.
990. How then is it that Divine Providence has
disposed these same secondary causes, by which the
knowledge of the Saviour is conveyed to many persons,
and some die before it has reached them r How does He
select those who shall receive it and those whom it does
not reach : This we have already seen : it is always
according to this law of His essential Goodness, which
seeks the greater good, which greater good depends also
in part on the innate dispositions of men, and espe
cially on their being naturally conscious of their own
insufficiency, and therefore ready to accept the help
which comes to them from above.
991. Hence we must say with many Fathers and
Doctors, that one who, though not a believer should
lead a life in entire conformity with natural justice,
would be aided by God. This appears to me all
the more probable, inasmuch as it is manifest that
in order to lead a life thus guiltless, man must
certainly have been assisted by some actual and provi
dential graces, disposing him to receive habitual and
sanctifying grace, (i) Supposing this to be the case,
(i) St. Thomas having expressly taught that man cannot without the grace
of God, avoid all mortal sins (S. p. I. Use., q. CIX., art. 8) ; and having, on the
other hand, also admitted the hypothesis of a man who had no knowledge
of the Redeemer, living in accordance with the precepts of natural justice,
and to whom the gift of salvation would not be refused, perhaps even by
Providence in regard to Individuals. 431
it appears certain that a man so favoured and
assisted by God, could not be afterwards abandoned
except through his own fault, since God never begins
a work to leave it afterwards incomplete, neither does
He repent of any of His gifts. This is especially the
case if man performs works of mercy towards his
neighbour, and if, under an impulse from on high, he
gives himself to prayer; as we read in the case of
the Centurion Cornelius, (i)
992. If, then, God does no injustice, but, on the
contrary, shows mercy towards those individuals, who,
owing to the limitation of secondary causes, however
wisely ordered, do not attain to the knowledge of a
Redeemer, or to whom it is not sufficiently promul
gated, how much more does God do then in regard of
those to whom He benignantly disposes that the good
tidings of salvation shall be announced !
It seems indubitable that all those who were before
Christ, to whom the promise of a future Redeemer
was communicated, or even those who were able to
conceive in their own minds the notion, the need, and
means of a miracle, it is clear that the Saint meant that to such a man
would be given some internal extra-natural help, or some external providen
tial disposition which would remove from him grievous occasions of sin ; for
it is only thus that the two apparently opposite doctrines can be reconciled.
As regards the Hebrews, however, and the proselytes to their religion, they
possessed a true faith and a grace in proportion, and the same may be said of
those Gentiles who had preserved the faith in a future Messias, which would
be in them a germ of special grace.
(i ) Acts x. St. Augustine distinguishes the graces which prepare man
for justification, from the grace of justification itself and from those which
follow it, in many places in his works, amongst others, when he says : Spiritus
ubi vult spiral : sed quod fatenditm est, aliter adjuvat nondum inhabitant,
aliter inhabitans. Nam nondum inhabitant adju. vat ut sint fideles^ tn-
hdbitans, adjuvat jam fideles (Epis. cxciv. 18).
432 On Divine Providence.
the hope thereof, already possessed a principle of
salvation, by co-operating with which they were able
to arrive at justification. Thus the Redeemer was
called the " Expectation of the nations ; " and although
the more explicit revelation and the Divine Word
were entrusted to the Hebrew race, nevertheless, God
had careful solicitude for other nations also, since all
had been created in order that they might know Him
and by giving glory to Him might attain salvation ; (i)
and then when in the course of time the primitive
tradition of a Redeemer came to be obscured amongst
the Gentile nations, God provided that the sacred
Scriptures should be translated into the Greek lan
guage, and thus communicated to the Gentiles ; since
the Hebrew people, being enslaved to the Gentiles,
shed amongst them the light of the true God ; He
ordained other means also in great number, by which
it came to pass that the knowledge of the promised
Redeemer was never even among the Gentiles entirely
obliterated ; and at the time when the Saviour ac
tually appeared, we read that a rumour was current
that at that particular period some great personage
was to be expected who was to come from heaven for
the salvation of the earth.
993. Still more must we believe that to all those to
whom under the law of grace the Gospel is sufficiently
announced, is also given grace sufficient for believ-
(i) God spake to His p eople thus : Et Dominus elegit te hodie, ut sis ei
populus peculiaris, sicut locutus est tibi, et custodias omnia pr&cepta illius
et facia t tf excelsiorem cunctis gentibus quas creavit in laud em, et nomen
et gloriam suam. Deut. xxvi. 13-19. "And the Lord hath chosen thee
this day, to be His peculiar people, as He hath spoken to thee, and to keep
all His commandments : and to make thee higher than all nations which He
hath created to His own praise and name and glory."
Providence in regard to Individuals. 433
ing, since the words of Christ " He that believeth not
shall be condemned," (i) manifestly express a judicial
sentence which implies guilt ; but this would not be
incurred unless together with the external word of the
Gospel, grace was also given to enable men to receive
it with faith. Hence to all hearers of the Gospel is
" given power to be made the sons of God," (2) by which
grace they may all attain to baptism, or at least to an
efficacious desire of receiving it.
994. Since, therefore, by sin all the conditions of the
second kind are abolished, namely, the rights or
exigencies of the mere fitness of things, which the
creature might have in regard of the Creator, so God,
from the moment when He began to give of His free
act to His sinful creatures some actual graces in order
to dispose them for justification, gave back as it were
to His creature a title upon which he has grounds
to expect that, provided he does what lies in his
power, the plenitude of mercy, the gift of justifying
grace will be given to him. But this is no more than
a title based upon the divine congruities which must
belong to the action of God.
995. It is justification itself which afterwards places
in the hands of the intelligent creature, so to speak,
a juridical title. And so indubitable in fact is this,
that those \vho by faith and baptism have received
the grace of justification, can never more want the
aids necessary for eternal salvation except it be
through their own fault, since these are secured to
them by the merits and by the prayer of Christ 5(3)
for, as St. Thomas observes, (4) the smallest particle of
(1) Mark xvi. 16. (3) John xvii. 9, 29.
(2) John i. 12. (4) S. p. iii., q. Ixx. art. 4.
II. 2 F
434 On Divine Providence.
grace is sufficient to overcome all temptations ; and as
St. John says : " Whoever is born of God doth not
commit sin," that is to say, is no longer subject to the
necessity of sinning. Wherefore, it is never impos
sible for them that are justified to fulfil the commands
of God, provided they pray, according to that which
the Council of Trent has expressly defined, (i) and
they have always the grace of prayer.
996. But what are we to say of the man who, even
after he has received the gift of justification through
faith and baptism, falls nevertheless into mortal guilt?
Such a one, no doubt, has stripped himself once more
of all the claims he had acquired on the Divine mercy,
and has therefore entered again into the condition of
those who are left to the mercy of God s Goodness, and
of whom He disposes with supreme wisdom for the
universal good by either abandoning them to justice or
restoring them once more to the state of salvation. And
this He does in great part by means of secondary causes,
by the action of which it comes to pass that some are
lost, through being struck by death while in a state of
sin. If they are spared by death, space for repentance
is granted to them because a perennial fountain of
justice is open for them in the Sacrament of Penance,
and they are able to obtain the grace which they require
(i) Si quis dixerit Dei prsecepta homini etiam justificato et sub gratia
constitute esse ad observandum impossibilia, anathema sit ; Deus enini im-
possibilia non jubet, sed jubendo movet et facere quod possis, et petere quod
non possis, et adjuvat ut possis. (Sess. vi. De justif. , can. xviii. c. ix.)
Jf any one shall say that the commandments of God are impossible of
observance even by one who is justified and constituted under grace, let him
be anathema. For God does not command what is impossible, but in com
manding, He moves us both to do what we can, and to ask for what we can
not, and aids us that we may be able.
Providence in regard to Individuals. 435
through means of prayer, although they are unable to
merit it. fi) Neither does it exceed the natural forces
of man that he should have a natural displeasure at
his sins ; moreover, the Christian who sins, since he
does not thereby lose the gift of faith and the character
of baptism, can always, if he will, repent, moved by
those truths of faith which he believes, and this may be
called in some sense a repentance ex uwtivo fidei.
Hence, also, he is able to conceive a desire of the grace
of justification which brings him to the feet of the con
fessor. It seems also that on beginning his confession,
God would confer upon him, if he had it not before, that
grace of supernatural attrition, which is requisite as
a preparation for the grace of the Sacrament, because
to the confession of sins, there appears to be annexed,
as to an integral part of the Sacrament, some grace
disposing the penitent to justification. This is certain,
however, in the case of those who come to the feet of
the confessor under the supernatural impulse of actual
grace. In like manner, the prayer of the sinful Chris
tian has this advantage over that of the heathen, that
since, the Christian has not by losing grace thereby
also lost the gift of faith, he can pray by the light of
faith, in which case, as it seems to me, the assistance
of actual grace perfecting his prayer will follow, if it
did not precede it.
997. Whence we may conclude that all the indivi
duals who compose the human race, but principally all
Christians, if only they will it and live in hope, are in
(i) St. Augustine and St. Thomas agree in teaching that orationem
peccatoris EX BOKO NATURE DESIDERIO procedentem Deus audit, ex pura
misericordia. S. Aug. In. Jo. Tract. Ixxiii. S. Thorn. S. p. II. iiae.,
q. Ixxxiii., art. xvi., and q. clxxviii., art. 2.
436 On Divine Providence.
a condition in which their salvation is possible : since
obduracy of heart is found in those only who no longer
will to be saved or who despair, so that no one can say
with truth: "I desire to be saved, but it is impossible."
"That salvation which is the only true salvation,"
writes St. Augustine, " and which is promised with
truth by this the only true religion, no one who was
worthy ever missed, and whoever missed it was not
worthy to obtain it;" (i) words which were never
retracted by St. Augustine, but explained only, in the
sense that no one is deserving of salvation through
his own merits, but only by a grace from God. (2)
(1) Sal us religion is Jut jus, per quain so/am verani sains reni veraciter-
que promittitur, int/li ii/iqitain defnit, qiii dignns /)///, et cui defnit,
dignus uon fiiit. Ep. cii. Quest, ii.
(2) Retract, ii. xxxi ; and again in the book De Proudest. SS. c. x. Si
discutiatur et qiiceratnr imde quisque sit dignus, non desunt qni d leant vol-
untate. ninnana : nos antein did mus gratia vel prcedestinatione divina.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CONCLUSION.
Qua tainen iiiisericordia et verilas ita sibi occurrunt,
i] iiia scriptum est : li Miser icordia et vet Has obviaverunt
sibi" (Ps. Ixxxiv. ii); ut nee misericord ia inipediat
ve> itatern, qua plectitur dignus, nee vcritas iniserieor-
diain, qua liberatnr indignus.
(S. Aug. ad Sixtum. ep. cxciv.)
998. From all these things we must conclude that
there exists a twofold Providence y the universal and the
particular ; and that each of these follows a law of its
own.
Universal Providence follows the law of supreme
goodness, which, if considered as to its mode of opera
tion, receives the denomination of u the Law of the
Least Means/ treated of at length in this book.
The law, however, which is followed by tt& particular
Providence is that of supreme justice, equity, congruity,
and conformity with the other divine attributes, of
which we have just spoken.
999. The conciliating and harmonizing of these two
Providences and of their two laws, is what constitutes
the perfection of the government of the world.
These two Providences and the two laws by which
they are governed appear sometimes in opposition to
one another ; it seems as if the particular good were in
conflict with the universal. The perfection of the divine
government of the world consists, therefore, in main
taining all that justice, congruity and the divine
438 On Divine Providence.
attributes demand in providing" for each individual
creature in particular, and at the same time, in dis
posing all things with such due measure and propor
tion and correspondence, that the good of individuals
and the regard with which they are treated, far from
impeding shall prove in effect most useful means and
necessary elements for attaining the maximum of
universal good. The universal good remains, there
fore, the supreme object of all the divine government,
and all things serve to this end.
1000. Now, admitting the two Providences, and the
two different laws which guide them, we may affirm
of Divine Providence, by which the Supreme Being
disposes of men, propositions that seem contradictory,
whereas in truth they are in marvellous agreement ;
so that the divine government, which in its operations
brings the two laws into harmony one with the other,
verifies in an unexpected and wonderful manner, each
of the two series of propositions.
Of the Universal Providence it is written : " Shall
the thing formed say to Him that formed it, why hast
Thou made me thus r Hath not the potter power over
the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honour, and another to dishonour?" (i) To it
we may apply all those other innumerable passages
in which the Scripture speaks of the supreme predes
tination of men, which is nothing else but the grand
decree of the maximum of universal good.
But of the Particular Providence it is written :
" Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man
that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the
Greek ; but glory and honour and peace to every one
(I) Rom. i\. 20, 21.
Conclusion . 439
that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For there is no respect of persons with
God," (i) and again, " Behold, all souls are mine: as
the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is
mine ; the soul that sinneth, the same shall die," (2)
and we may apply to it all those passages in which
God describes Himself as a just and equitable judge,
nay, even as one that treats with reverence all and
each of His creatures.
i oo i. The means adopted for bringing the two
orders of Providence into fullest harmony and agree
ment was, as has been said, the permission of wilful
sin. By thus sinning, men deliberately renounce the
benefit of God s particular Providence over them,
and so leave His Infinite Goodness the fullest freedom
to dispose of individuals whether in mercy or in jus
tice, in such a way as shall best conduce to the
greatest general good. St. Paul seems to say this in
these words : " For God hath concluded all in unbe
lief, that He may have mercy on all. O the depth
of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of
God ! How incomprehensible are His judgments,
and how unsearchable His ways ! For who hath known
the mind of the Lord r Or who hath been His coun
sellor r Or who hath first given to Him, and recom
pense shall be made him ? For of Him and by Him
and in Him are all things : to Him be glory for ever.
Amen." (3)
With these words I am fain to conclude my work.
Far from having been so bold as to venture to search
into the deep secrets of God, it has rather been my
(i) Rom. ii. 9-1 T. (2) Ezech. xviii. 4.
(3) Rom. xi. 32-36.
440 On Divine Providence.
purpose to show that they are unsearchable. With this
object I have called attention to those sublime laws
which He observes most faithfully in the government
of the universe, laws of which He alone comprehends
the infinite breadth and vastness, and which He alone
is able to apply. It has been my desire in doing so
and my hope that I might thus aid men to refrain
from all censure and complaint against the supremely
good and wise Providence of God, and rather hushed
in silent contemplation before it, to render every day
new love and praise and blessing to
" The Providence, that governeth the world,
In depth of counsel by created ken
Unfathomable/ (i)
(i) Dante Par. xi. 28-30 (Gary s translation).
APPENDIX A.
APPENDIX A.
(Wliat is here given as an Appendix on the Resurrection appeared origin
ally as a note to no. 827.^
Let the reader take note that it would be an error to
believe :
i st. That the just after the resurrection will
enjoy corporeal pleasures. To maintain this would be
to fall into the heresy of the Millenarians, vigorously
combated by St. Jerome and condemned by the Church.
JESUS Christ has expressly declared : " When they
shall rise again from the dead, they shall neither
marry nor give in marriage, but ARE AS THE ANGELS
OF HEAVEN." (Mark xii. 25.)
2ndly. That the just after the resurrection will live
an animal life, a supposition excluded by the words of
Christ just quoted, and by the state of the glorified
body, which St. Paul calls spiritual, (i Cor. xv. 44.)
3rdly. That earthly and material things will con
stitute the treasure of the just in glory, and that the
abundance of these will be the reward of their virtue ;
for a spiritualized body has no longer need of such
things, nor would they befit it, as St. Paul says : "The
kingdom of God is not meat and drink." (Rom. xiv.
i?-)
4thly. That the just, rising at first to an animal
life, will, after some time, pass to the life of glory ;
this being contrary to the most explicit declarations
of Holy Writ (Jo. v. i Cor. xv. Matth. xxiv., xxv.
444 On Divine Providence.
Dan. xii.), which affirm that the just will rise in a
glorious state.
5thly. That the universal and solemn judgment of
the good and the wicked will not be simultaneous,
this also being clearly stated in the Inspired Writ
ings (Dan. xii. Matth. xxiv., xxv. Jo. v.)
6thly. That the bodies will take a considerable
space of time to rise ; for they (at least the bodies of
the just) will rise in the twinkling of an eye, as is
taught by St. Paul : " In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible,
and we shall be changed." (i Cor. xv. 52.)
7thly. Finally, it would also be an error to suppose
that in the millennium, the ceremonial law of Moses
will again come into force, as some have falsely
opined ; for that law 7 , being merely figurative, has
already been fulfilled and made void by the truth of
the Law of Grace.
But putting aside these errors, the question about
the time of the resurrection of the just and the repro
bate has not been defined by the Church ; and St.
Jerome himself, who did not follow the opinion of
those who maintained that the just will rise a thou
sand years and more before the wicked, writes thus :
" Although we do not follow, we dare not condemn ;
because many men of authority in the Church, and
many martyrs have affirmed this ; let every one, then,
abound in his own sense, and let all things be reserved
to the judgment of the Lord/ (Comm. on Jerem. xix.)
Some theologians think this opinion very difficult to
reconcile with those scriptural passages in which we
are clearly told that the just shall rise "in the last day."
Appendix A. 445
(Job. xix. Jo. vi., xi.) But who does not know that
the word day is often used in the Holy Scriptures as
synonymous with time? "It is needless for me to
mention," St. Augustine writes, "that it is customary
in the Scriptures to say day or hour, meaning a period
of time." (Epist. cxcvii. 2.) Hence we often read "in
that day" (Ezech. xxxviii. 10, 18, 19; xxxix., n), for
"in that time," as the context indubitably shows.
This is owing to the use so frequent in Scripture of
determinate expressions of time for indeterminate.
Accordingly, in other places of the Inspired Writings,
facts are related, of which it is said that they will take
place "in the last of days," and which, nevertheless,
are manifestly such as could not belong to the last
twenty-four hours of the world. Thus Jeremias, fore
telling the return of the Jewish people from captivity,
and still more properly, their conversion to the Gospel,
of which that return was the symbol, says: "In the
last of days (in novissimo dicrnui) you shall understand
these things " (xxx. 24) ; and he immediately subjoins:
"At that time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of all
the families of Israel, and they shall be My people"
(xxxi. i). Where by saying: "At that time," Pie
evidently expresses in other words what He had
signified immediately before by the phrase " in the
last of days." The prophet Osee announces likewise
that the Jews will be converted in " the last of days."
" And they shall fear the Lord and His goodness in
the last of days," (in novissimo dierum) (Os. iii. 5). Yet
it is certain that the time when the Jews will enter
the Church and revive the charity which has grown
cold upon earth, will not be strictly the last day of the
world.
446 On Divine Providence.
Micheas employs the same phrase to indicate the
time of the coming of the Messiah, and of the propa
gation of the Gospel: "And it will come to pass in
the last of days (in novissimo dierum), that the moun
tain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the
top of mountains, and high above the hills; and people
shall flow to it," (Mich. iv. i) ; where it is evident that
by " the last of days," the Prophet understands the
last age of the world, which is that of the Messiah,
and embraces the whole period from His coming to
the universal judgment. Hence the fathers divide the
duration of the world into seven epochs, which seem
to be symbolized in the six days of the creation, while
the seventh day might not inappropriately be taken as
signifying the time of the Law of Grace, in which
Christ has given His peace to men, all who receive
that peace being made by Him to enjoy, even on this
earth, a certain repose which is a presage of the
heavenly rest. As to this last, it seems fitly signified
by the eighth day, namely, the Lord s own ; for which
reason the fathers have taken the number eight to
signify consummate perfection. St. Ambrose says:
" Many of the psalms are inscribed for the octave,"-
for, as the octave is the perfection of our hope, even
so is the octave the consummation of all virtues (Com.
on St. Luke, Lib. v., c. vi.) ; on which account St. John
calls the time of grace, not only the last day but the
last hour : "Little children, it is the last hour; and as
you have heard that Antichrist cometh ; even now
there are become many Antichrists : whereby we
know that it is the last hour" (i Jo. ii. 18) ; here also
making use of the word hour to signify a longer and
indeterminate time. Wherefore St. Augustine, writ-
Appendix A. 447
ing to Hesychius, speaks quite to our purpose, as
follows: "But the period of a thousand years, sup
posing that the world must end with it, might all be
designated as the last time/ or even the last day,
because it is written : A thousand years in Thy
sight are as yesterday (Ps. Ixxxix. 4) ; so that
every thing which happens within those thousand
years might be said to happen in the last time, or at
the last day. For, as I have before observed, it is well,
in order to understand this and many like expressions
aright, to remember how the blessed evangelist John,
said : * This is the last hour/ What a long time has
now passed since these words were spoken ! Had we
then been living, should we have imagined that the
world would last so many years after, or rather should
we not have believed that the Lord would come even
while St. John was yet in the flesh ? For He did not
say, it is the last time, or tJic last year, or month, or day,
but it is the last hour. Behold, how long this hour is,
and yet He hath not lied, but must be understood to
have used the word hour instead of epoch." (Ep. cxcix.,
I?-)
I cannot here unfold in detail the many weighty
reasons which have induced me to prefer before all
others, the interpretation I have given of this difficult
passage of the Apocalypse. I shall therefore only add
a few observations. St. Paul names the last trumpet,
and says that at its first sound the dead shall rise incor
ruptible, namely, the just, for of the others he does not
here speak, nay, he had said : "Every one in his own
order : the first fruits Christ " (our Lord was the first
to rise), " then they that are of Christ, who have be
lieved in His coming." (i Cor. xv. 23.) And later
44^ On Divine Providence.
on: "We shall all indeed rise again" (good and bad- ;
"but we shall not all be changed," (the good only
shall be changed into a glorious state) ; then continu
ing to speak of these last, he says : " In a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet : for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again
incorruptible; and we shall be changed." (i Cor. xv.
51, 52.) Now, the last trumpet is the seventh, as we
gather from St. John (Didymus ap. Hier. Epist. ad
Minerium et Alex. CEcumen. Theophylact.j. But St.
John says clearly that this trumpet of the seventh
Ang-el continues its sound, not for one but for many
days : " In the days of the voice of the seventh Angel "
(Apoc. x. 7) ; and yet St. Paul says that the elect shall
rise again at the first sound of the trumpet : " For the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again,"
the voice of the trumpet being prolonged for many
days, that is, for a long time ; whence we may con
clude that the just shall rise long before the final
judgment. Now, this regeneration of the just is also
called by St. John the consummation of the mystery of
God ; and hence, wholly in accordance with St. Paul,
he subjoins that the consummation of this mystery
must take place at the beginning of the sound : " But
in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when
he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of
God shall be finished, as He hath declared by His
servants, the prophets." (Apoc. x. 7.) And to indi
cate that glorified bodies will no longer be subject
to the law of time, he says : " Time shall be no longer."
(Ibid, b.) It is true that the words of St. Paul, the
dead shall rise again incorruptible y are applied by some
interpreters to all the dead, the reprobate included ;
Appendix A. 449
but this seems to me wholly at variance with the
context of the discourse. Estius writes : "To this we
must add, that the word incorruption is always taken
by the Scriptures in a favourable sense, nor do they
ever attribute it to the reprobate, but only to the
elect ; hence the interpretation of those who apply
this passage to all the dead indiscriminately, and say
that the reprobate also will rise incorruptible, inas
much as they will not be subject to death, seems to
me undeserving of approbation. (Comment, on this
passage of St. Paul.) Nor do the words which follow,
and we shall be changed, present any difficulty, for St.
Paul distinguishes between those elect who shall have
died before the coming of Christ, and those who will
at that time be living (i Thess. iv.) ; and he says that
in both cases they will be glorified: "We who are
alive, who remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall
not prevent them who have slept." (Ibid. 14.) From
these words, some, especially the Greeks, have opined
that the just living on this earth at the time of Christ s
coming, will not die, but pass straight from the pre
sent life to a life of glory, grounding their opinion
upon those many codices which read : " We do not,
indeed, all die, but we shall all be changed." Where
fore, St. Thomas, not altogether discarding this
reading, says: "We might also, according to those
who read, We do not, indeed, all die, but we shall all be
changed, interpret thus : The dead shall rise incorrupt
ible, that is to say, unto a state of incorruption ; and
we who are alive, although we shall not rise again,
because we do not die, shall nevertheless be changed
from a corruptible to an incorruptible state. And
this seems to agree with the words of i Thess. ix. : we
II. 2 G
450 On Divine Providence.
who are alive, who remain, shall be taken np together with
tJicjii, etc. ; so that in either case the Apostle places
himself among the living." (Com. on i Thess. iv.)
But in order to explain St. Paul, there is no necessity
of exempting anyone from death. Thus St. Augus
tine, in his treatise DC Baptismo Parvulorum, " To
some (of the just), our Lord will in the end vouchsafe
that, being changed on a sudden, they feel not death
like other men." (See also Retract., Bk. II., ch.
xxxiii. Ep. cxciii., 9-11.) Some Greek interpreters
also have observed, that according to the reading just
referred to, St. Paul does not say that those who are
living at the time of the coming of Christ " shall not
die," but says that "they shall not sleep," a phrase
which signifies that they shall not remain dead for any
length of time. For example, CEcumenicus writes :
"Others, on the contrary, maintain the Apostle s
meaning to be, ours will not be a long death, as though
there were need of corruption a/id dissolution," and
shortly after : " The expression we shall not all sleep,
must be taken to mean that we shall not continue long
in death, nor be subject to burial and the dissolution
of corruption. But they who are found living at that
time will only experience a short death." (In i Cor.
XV.)
The seventh angel of the Apocalypse would seem
to represent Christ Himself. By the six that preceded
were symbolized Pontiffs and Bishops ; but this is no
reason why an Archangel might not represent Christ,
and act as His ambassador and the herald of His will, as
we may gather from the words of St. Paul (i Thess. iv.
15), where the trumpet is called " the trumpet of God,"
as implying something more than the six that preceded.
Appendix A. 451
The same may be inferred also from that passage of
St. John s Gospel where Christ says " that the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God." Moreover,
in that same place, our Blessed Lord speaks distinctly
of the resurrection of the just, which begins spiritually
in this life, i.e., when they rise from the death of sin
by receiving grace, which is the seed of the future
resurrection of their bodies. Hence the resurrection
of the just the mystery of God considered in general,
began with the preaching of Christ, which gave life to
their souls, and will be consummated in the raising up
of their bodies: "Amen, amen, I say unto you, that the
hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear shall live/
(Jo. v. 25.) Christ says : " They that hear shall live;"
because here He speaks only of the good, who receive
and keep His word. He says also, "the hour cometh,"
to indicate the future resurrection of their bodies; and
He adds, "and now is," to indicate the resurrection of
their souls which is the seed and title of that future
resurrection, and which began with His first coming.
Then, concerning the resurrection of all, both good and
bad, He says: "Wonder not at this; for the hour
cometh" (and this time He says not, "and now is"),
" wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice
of the Son of God. And they that have done good things,
shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment"
(Jo. v. 28, 29) ; from which, however, it does not neces
sarily follow that the two resurrections (viz., that of
the good and that of the reprobate) will be simultane
ous, but only that both will equally take place by
virtue of the voice of the Son of God signified by the
452 On Divine Providence.
seventh trumpet which sounds for a long time,
according to St. John.
Let us also consider those passages in which Christ
foretells the last things to come (Matth. xxiv. Mark,
xiii. Luke xxi.). In these the Son of Man is clearly
represented as coming some time before the last judg
ment. For it is said, that after the Gospel shall have
been preached to all nations, which event St. Luke
expresses by the words : " till the time of the nations
be fulfilled " (Luke xxi. 24), and St. Matthew by the
words : " and this Gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all
nations" (Matth. xxiv. 14) the signs in the heavens
will appear : u And then they shall see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with great power and majesty "
(Luke xxi. 27. Matth. xxiv. 30. Mark xiii. 26.) This
coming in a cloud corresponds with that which St.
John describes in the Apocalypse (xiv. 14): "And I
saw, and behold a white cloud : and upon the cloud
One sitting like the Son of Alan." Now, the Gospel
says that after this coming of the Son of Alan in the
cloud, the redemption of the just viz., their final
resurrection is near at hand : " But when these things
begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads;
because your redemption is at hand" (Luke xxi. 28);
whence it is clear that some time must pass still before
the world comes to an end. This resurrection is more
clearly expressed by St. Matthew and St. Mark. The
first says : u And lie shall send His angels with a
trumpet and a great voice : and they shall gather
together Llis elect from the four winds, from the farthest
parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them"
(Matth. xxiv. 31). The second says : " And then shall
Appendix A. 453
He send His angels, and shall gather together His
elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of
the earth to the uttermost part of heaven/ 3 (Mark xiii.
27.) Here both the Evangelists speak only of the
just, without any allusion to the resurrection of the
wicked ; and it would seem that those just will in
their glorified state occupy the region of the air, filling
the space between heaven and earth, all which is in
perfect conformity \vith what we read in the Apoc
alypse : " And they lived, and reigned with Christ a
thousand years " (Apoc. xx. 4) which is the consum
mation of the mystery of God foretold as happening " In
thedaysof the voice of the seventh angel" (Ibid.^. 7). In
St. Luke s Gospel, Christ, after describing the coming
of the Son of Man, admonishes us that then the king
dom of God ts at hand (Luke xxi. 31) ; and the same is
also expressed by the two other Evangelists (Mark
xiii. 29). (Matth. xxiv. 33). Hence this coming of the
Saviour is like the leaves of the fig-tree, which portend
the near ripening of the fruit (Matth. Ibid. 32. Mark
xiii. 28. Luke xxi. 29, 30), and is not as yet therefore
the end of things. St. Augustine admits it as certain
that these places of the Gospel refer to a coming of the
Son of Man anterior by some time to the judgment
(Epist. cxcix. 41-45). P or, after having quoted St.
Luke xxi., 27-31, he reasons thus: "When He says,
therefore, When ye shall see these things come to pass, what
things can we understand, except those which He has
mentioned before r But among these we also find :
and then they shall sec the Son of Man coming in a cloud
with great power and majesty. Therefore, even when
this shall be seen, the kingdom of God will not have
arrived, but will be near at hand " (n. 42). After this
454 On Divine Providence.
he observes that St. Mark and St. Matthew keep the
same order in their narrative, and both assign to the
coming of the Son of Man the same place in the
order of events, that is, some time previous to the end
of the world: "We find," he says, "that this order is
maintained also by the two other Evangelists;" and
then after quoting their words in full, he repeats the
former observation by saying : when ye shall sec these
things come to pass, what does our Lord mean but the
things of which He had already spoken r Amongst
which there is also this: and then they shall see the Son of
Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty: and
then He will send forth His angels, and will gather together
His elect. Therefore that w r ill not be the end, but the
near approaching of the end (n. 43]. And here, by
way of objection, he asks whether the words when ye
shall see these things come to pass may be understood
as referring, not to all the things that had been said
before, but only to some of them, so as to exclude the
coming of the wSon of Man : and he answers that this
cannot be, because St. Matthew says expressly all
these things, and consequently the coming of Christ
also : "Are we perhaps to assert that where our Lord
says, when ye shall see these tilings come to pass, He does
not mean all the things He had said previously, but
only some of them, that is to say, excepting what He had
affirmed in reference to the coining of the Son of Man,
etc., so that then the end will be, not near at hand,
but actually arrived r But Matthew speaks in such a
way as to leave no doubt that the expression when ye
shall see these things come to pass includes without
exception every thing which had been mentioned
before. In fact, this Evangelist after having written
Appendix A. 455
and the powers of heaven shall be moved, adds immediate
ly : and I hen shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in
heaven, and then shall all tribes of t he earth mourn : and
they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of
heaven with -much power and majesty : and He shall send
His angels with a trumpet and a great voice, and they
shall gather His elect from the four winds, from the far
thest parts of tJie heavens to the utmost bounds of them.
And from the fig-tree learn a parable. \Vhenthc branch
thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know
that the summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see
ALL THESE THINGS, know ye, that it is nigh even at the
doors (n. 44).
Moved by these considerations, St. Augustine says
that the coming- of Christ described in these places
may be understood in two ways, that is to say, either
in a mystical sense in which He continually comes
in His Church or in a literal sense in which He
will come visibly in that glorified body with which
He sits at the right hand of the Father (n. 41). But
the Doctor of Hippo adds : " which of these interpre
tations should be preferred it is difficult to pronounce ; "
acknowledging, however, that the second is more
natural. " But the more obvious sense is, that when
we hear or read : and then they shall see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds with great power and majesty,
we take the w r ords to signify His coming, not by
means of the Church, but in His own person, when
He shall come to judge the living and the dead" (n.
42). vSuch, indeed, is the common opinion of com
mentators ; and the words then they shall see, and the
whole context of the discourse seem clearly to favour it.
I shall, therefore, conclude with the sage admonition
456 On Divine Providence.
of this great Father : " But these things " (namely,
whether the Gospel refers to the mystical and daily
coming of Christ, except in some few sentences which
speak evidently of His manifest coming in the body)
" must not be rashly affirmed, lest we should chance
to meet other passages plainly contradictory ; especi
ally as in these obscurities of the inspired words,
whereby it has pleased God to exercise our under
standings, it happens not only that among those
qualified to undertake the interpretation of the Holy
Scriptures, some are gifted with greater penetration
than others, but also that the same interpreter at one
time understands better than at another" (n. 45).
With this spirit of moderation I also wish the reader
to receive the opinion I have expressed. For, I am
well aware that there are other interpretations of the
texts which I have quoted ; and if the one I have pre
ferred seems to me the best, all things considered, I
am, nevertheless, very willing to submit it to the
judgment of the wise.
Printed at the Catholic Reformatory School, Market Weighton.
B 3643 .T46 E5 1912 v.2
SMC
Rosmini, Antonio,
1797-1855.
Theodicy : essays on
divine providence /
ALU-6081 (awsk)
