The Divine Government
103. God's Governing of Things
1. We observe an unfailing order in the world. Order involves an orderer, a governor. In an earlier part of our study we saw that things in the world have existence and direction to their end or purpose by the divine goodness. Therefore, divine goodness governs the world.
2. The universe is not an end unto itself. It is contingent being, not necessary being; it has being or goodness by participation. Hence it comes from a cause other than itself, and is directed to an end other than itself. It is directed or governed by the necessary being, the necessary goodness, the divine goodness. That is, the universe is made to express and manifest the divine goodness.
3. Ultimately, the world has one governor, not many governors. The harmony of the universe manifests this fact. Besides, there is only one divine goodness.
4. The effects of government in the world may be variously considered. In so far as all creatures are to manifest the divine goodness, the effect of government is one. In so far as creatures are divinely governed so as to be good and to do good, the effect of government is twofold. In so far as the effects of government are discerned in a vast multitude of individual creatures, the effect of government is manifold.
5. All things are subject to the divine government, since this is the divine goodness of God himself. The divine goodness is both the first effecting cause and the ultimate final cause (or ultimate goal) of everything. No positive being can exist without the divine goodness, and therefore everything, in particular and in singular as well as in general, is governed by the same divine goodness.
6. God alone designs the government of the universe, and this is his providence. The design is carried into execution or actual governing operation through use of secondary causes (creatures) as media or means of governing.
7. Since God is the first and universal cause, nothing in the universe can lie outside the order of his government. When something seems to evade divine government, the very cause of the seeming evasion will be found in the divine government itself. As we saw in our study of divine providence, nothing whatever is outside the divine rule.
8. Nothing can resist the general order of divine government. Even a sinner in his act of sin aims at apparent good; it is good that the sinner is after, although he perversely seeks it in the wrong place. Sin is against God's law and will, but it cannot upset the general order of divine government. And, out of evil God draws good, "ordering all things pleasingly," as he "moves from end to end mightily."
104. Special Effects of Divine Government
1. God creates things out of nothing. He must also preserve things created or they would fall back into nothingness. Preservation or conservation as it is often called, is a fundamental effect of divine government. Now, things may be preserved indirectly by putting them out of the way of danger; thus a mother preserves a precious vase by setting it out of reach of her romping children. And things may be preserved directly by positive conserving action; thus one who catches a fragile vase as it is falling preserves it directly. God preserves all things directly. He also preserves some bodily things indirectly. Spirits need no indirect preserving, for nothing can threaten or destroy them. The same divine power which gives existence to creatures (their cause in fieri, their cause in becoming) is exercised to preserve creatures in existence (their cause in esse, their cause in being). Therefore it is justly said that "conservation is a continuous creation."
2. God preserves all creatures, as we have just seen, by positive sustaining power; that is, God conserves all creatures directly. But he does not conserve all things immediately, that is, without using any creatural means or medium. In some cases God uses creatures to preserve creatures; thus by air, light, warmth, and the fruits of the earth, God sustains and preserves living bodies. Yet God is himself present in and to these media.
3. God creates and preserves. The direct opposite of creation is annihilation. Conservation keeps creation from being followed by annihilation, that is, complete reduction to nothing. God has the power to annihilate creatures. For he who has power to produce by his free choice has ability to withdraw that power by free choice. And if God were to withdraw his creative power from creatures, they would simply not exist; they would be annihilated.
4. But, as a fact, God does not annihilate anything. In creating, God establishes an order of things which manifests the divine goodness; this order is maintained by preserving things, not by utterly destroying them. Divine wisdom would not be expressed in creating a thing merely to annihilate it.
105. God's Moving or Changing of Creatures
1. We speak first of bodily creatures. A body is made of matter and form. Matter is common to all bodies; it has no existence of its own apart from existing bodies. Form, joined substantially with matter, constitutes a body as an existing material substance of an essential kind. We speak here of matter and form, and we mean primal matter and substantial form. An existing body is not primal matter, but secondary matter. And the variable determinations of a body (size, shape, color, temperature, rest or motion, resemblance to other things, etc.) are accidental forms, not substantial forms. Now, God, in creating bodies, joins substantial form to primal matter in each case, and so produces actual bodily substances.
2. God can move or effect bodily substance in any way he wills, for he is the universal cause and is also infinite power. Nor is there anything unworthy in the notion of God moving matter. Though matter is the least of creatures, it is a creature, and not unworthy of the operation of the Creator.
3. Speaking now of God's moving of nonbodily creatures, we say that God moves the intellect of men and angels by giving them power to understand, and by impressing and preserving in them (directly, or through connatural operation designed by God) the intelligible species by which they understand.
4. God alone is the supreme and universal good which is the necessary object of the will of intellectual creatures. God moves the will by giving it power to act, by making it tend to the good in universal, and, without destroying its liberty, moving it in its individual choices.
5. God works in all things in such a way as suits the operation natural to each thing. For it is God who gives creatures existence and nature, and works in them to preserve both.
6. God can do things that are not in the established course of nature so long as such action would not mean a contradiction in God himself. For God as First Cause gives things their determinate essence, and to be such things they must have that essence. God cannot give an essence and not give it. Since, for example, God has chosen to make man a rational animal, he cannot make a man who is not a rational animal. Thus in the immediate reference of things to their First Cause, there can be no divinely imparted movement or change outside the divinely determined order. But God can act outside the ordinary course in which divine government is exercised through secondary causes. God can produce the effects of secondary causes even when such causes are absent, and he can have them produce effects which are altogether beyond their natural powers, or even in conflict with their natural action. Our Lord used clay, spittle, and the waters of a certain pool to cure blindness; he used the flames of the fiery furnace rather to preserve than to destroy the three young men.
7. An effect produced by God in the bodily universe, outside the order of created nature, is called a miracle.
8. Miracles differ in greatness, not with reference to God's power which is infinite and therefore has no greater or less, but with reference to the extent by which miracles surpass the powers of creatures. There are three grades or orders of miracles: (a) The first and greatest order of miracles is that of miracles in the very substance of the deed or fact. A miracle of this type is altogether outside the reach of any created power. Such would be the miracle of glorifying a human body, or the miracle of two bodies simultaneously occupying one place. (b) The second order of miracles is that of miracles in the subject in which they occur. Such, for example, would be the miracle of raising a dead person to life. Now, nature actually can give life; hence, in raising the dead, there is no miracle of substance of the fact. But nature cannot give life to a corpse. It is utterly beyond the powers of creatures to give life to such a subject. (c) The third order of miracles is that of miracles of manner or mode. Such a miracle, for example, would be the instantaneous healing of a grievous wound or sore. Nature can heal; nature can heal in such a subject (that is, the person afflicted); but nature cannot heal in this way, that is, instantaneously. Nature heals in a gradual and successive manner which requires much time.
106. How One Creature Moves Another: Angels
1. One angel can enlighten another, the superior angel manifesting truths which it grasps perfectly to inferior angels whose grasp is less perfect. It agrees with the nature of intellectual creatures to move or effect others of their kind in this fashion of one teaching and others being taught.
2. Thus, by affording enlightenment, one angel may move another angel's intellect. But one angel cannot change another's will. Only God can effect such a change.
3. An inferior angel cannot enlighten a superior angel any more than a candle can bring illumination to the sun. Among human beings, who learn by degrees, because their knowing is bound up with material things, it can happen that one who knows much may be enlightened by one who knows little. This cannot be so among pure spirits who do not achieve knowledge ploddingly and piecemeal as human beings do.
4. The higher an angel is, the more it participates the divine goodness; consequently, the more it tends to impart its gifts to lesser angels. The superior angel tends to give all that it knows to inferior angels, but these cannot perfectly receive all that is given. Hence the superior angels remain superior even though they impart all their knowledge. Somewhat similarly, the human teacher who does all he can to impart his own complete knowledge to his young pupils, remains superior in knowledge even after he has taught the lesson; for the pupils take in by a lesser capacity than that of the giver.
107. The Speech of Angels
1. Angels manifest knowledge to one another, and to this extent they "speak" to one another. But the speech of angels is not a matter of sounds or of uttered words. The speech of angels is a direct communication of knowledge from spirit to spirit.
2. An inferior angel can speak to a superior angel, even though, as we have seen, it cannot enlighten the superior angel; a candle cannot enlighten the sun, but it can burn visibly in the sunlight. An angel speaks by directing its thought in such wise that it is made known to another angel, superior or inferior. Such directing is done according to the free will of the angel speaking.
3. Certainly the angels "speak" to God by consulting his divine will and by contemplating with admiration his infinite excellence.
4. Neither time nor place has any influence on angelic speech or its effect. Local distance cannot impede the communication of angels.
5. Angelic speech is the ordering of angelic mind to angelic mind by the will of the angel speaking. Now, it belongs to the perfection of intellectual communication that it can be private; even a human being can speak to another person alone. Therefore, the angels who are superior to human beings, must be capable of communicating thoughts, angel to angel, without making their communication known to all the other angels. The scope of angelic communication depends on the will of the angel speaking; this will determines the communication for one other angel, or for several, or for all.
108. The Hierarchies and Orders of Angels
1. A hierarchy is a sacred principality. And a principality means ruler and subjects. If we speak of the hierarchy of God and creatures, there is only one hierarchy. But if we consider only creatures who are dowered with God's gifts, there are many hierarchies. There is, for example, a human hierarchy; there is an angelic hierarchy. Indeed, among the angels themselves, there are three hierarchies according to three grades of angelic knowledge. But in God himself, that is, in the Blessed Trinity, there is no hierarchy. For there is no greater or lesser among the three Persons in God. All three Persons are one and the same God. The trinity is an order of distinct Persons, but it is not a hierarchical order.
2. The nature of a hierarchy requires a classifying of orders within it; these may be loosely described as upper, middle, and lower orders. In human social and political groups we have such a classification: the nobility or aristocracy; the middle classes; the common people.Among angels there are three orders in each hierarchy (upper, middle, and lower orders), and, since there are three angelic hierarchies, there are, in all, nine orders of angels.
3. As we have noticed, our human knowledge of angels is not direct and perfect; we cannot know angels as they are in themselves. In our imperfect way, we assign many angels to each order, even while we realize that, since each angel is a complete species, it has its own specific office, and, to that extent, its own order. We cannot discern what these specific offices and orders are. If star differ from star in glory, much more does angel differ from angel. Our classification of angelic orders is, therefore, a kind of general classification.
4. Among human beings, who are all of one species and nature, a hierarchy, in the true sense of sacred principality, is a hierarchy of holiness, that is, of God's grace. But, as we have just recalled, angels are distinguished from one another, not only by the gifts of grace, but by their very nature; for each angel is the only being of its specific kind. Each angel is essentially different from every other angel, whereas each human being is essentially the same as every other human being. Moreover, the gifts of grace are given to angels to the full of their natural capacity to receive them; this is not the case with human beings.
5. There are three angelic hierarchies. Each hierarchy has three orders. All the heavenly spirits of all hierarchies and orders are called angels. Thus the term angel is common and generic. The same name, usually with a capital letter, is the proper and collective name for the lowest order of the lowest hierarchy of heavenly spirits. We must therefore distinguish angel, which means any heavenly spirit from highest to lowest, from Angel which means a member of the lowest order of all.
6. The following hierarchies and orders exist among the angels: (a) The highest hierarchy includes the orders of (in descending order of rank) Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones. (b) The middle hierarchy includes (in descending order of rank) the orders of Dominations, Virtues, Powers. (c) The lowest hierarchy includes (in descending order of rank) Principalities, Archangels, Angels. This classification is commonly, but not unanimously, accepted by learned doctors.
7. After the end of this bodily world, the angelic orders will continue to exist, but their offices will not be altogether the same as they now are, for they will then no longer need to help human beings to save their souls.
8. By the gifts of grace, human beings can merit glory in a degree that makes them equal to the angels in each of the orders. Therefore, human beings who get to heaven are taken into the angelic orders. But these human beings remain human beings; they are not turned into angels.
109. Orders Among the Fallen Angels
1. The angels that rebelled and became demons did not lose their nature or their connatural gifts. They cast away, by their sin, the grace in which they were created. They did not cast away the beatific vision, for they never had it. Now, if we think of angelic orders as orders of angels in glory, then, of course, there are no orders of bad angels. But if we consider angelic orders as orders of angelic nature simply, there are orders among the demons.
2. Certainly, there is a precedence among bad angels; there is a subjection of some to others.
3. Demons of superior nature do not enlighten inferior demons; enlightenment here could only mean the manifestation of truth with reference to God, and the fallen angels have perversely and permanently turned away from God. But demons can speak to one another, that is, they can make known their thoughts to one another, for this ability belongs to the angelic nature which the demons retain.
4. The nearer creatures are to God the greater is their rule over other creatures. Therefore, the good angels rule and control the demons.
110. The Action of Angels on Bodies
1. Superior rules inferior; hence angels rule the bodily world. St. Gregory says that in this visible world nothing occurs without the agency of invisible creatures.
2. Angels, however, have not power to produce or transform bodies at will. God alone gives first existence to things; after first creation, bodies come from bodies. But angels can stir bodily agencies to produce change in bodies.
3. Angels can directly control the local movement of bodies, for this is an accidental change in bodies, not a substantial production of bodies nor a substantial change.
4. Angels cannot, of themselves, work miracles. A miracle, by definition, is a work proper to God alone. Of course, angels can serve, even as holy men may serve, as ministers or instruments in the performing of miracles. Angels, good or bad, can do wonderful things, but only such as lie within the power of angelic nature, and a miracle surpasses the powers of all created natures.
111. The Actions of Angels on Men
1. Since angels are superior to man, they can enlighten man. They can strengthen the understanding of human beings and make men aware, in some sensible manner, of the truths to be imparted. Thus angels can act upon the human intellect.
2. But angels cannot act directly upon the human will; God alone can do this.
3. Nevertheless, angels, good or bad, can exercise an indirect influence on human wills by stirring up images in the human imagination. And angels, good or bad, can, by their natural power, arouse sentient appetites and passions in the same way, that is, by producing images in the human imagination.
4. Equally, an angel can work upon the human senses, either outwardly, as, for example, by assuming some visible form, or inwardly, by disturbing the sense-functions themselves, as, for example, making a man see what is not really there.
112. The Mission or Ministry of Angels
1. God sends angels to minister to his purposes among bodily creatures. This sending or mission is not the dispatching of angels upon a journey. To be sent means to be present in a new place in which one was not present before, or to be present where one was but in a new way. An angel is present where it exercises or applies its powers, and not elsewhere. When God has an angel apply its powers to a creature, the angel is sent to that creature. God is the sender and the first principle of the effect produced by the angel sent; God is also the ultimate goal or final cause of the work so produced. The angel is God's minister or intelligent instrument; by its being sent it renders ministry to God.
2. It seems that, of the nine orders of angels, only five orders are sent for the external ministry, and that the superior angels are never sent.
3. Angels are said to assist before the throne of God. All angels assist inasmuch as all permanently possess the beatific vision. But, in a special sense, only the superior angels assist before God's throne. These superior angels, beholding mysteries in God, communicate what they behold to the inferior angels. All good angels see God in the beatific vision, but the superior angels behold deeper and wider mysteries in God than do the lesser angels. By their deeper and wider knowledge of divine mysteries, the superior angels are said to assist.
4. Angels sent in the external ministry are those whose names indicate some kind of administrative or executive office. These are, in descending rank, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, Angels.
113. Angel Guardians
1. It is fitting that changeable and fallible human beings should be guarded by angels, and thus steadily moved and regulated to good.
2. St. Jerome, in his commentary on Matthew 8:10, says, "The dignity of human souls is great, for each has an angel appointed to guard it." God's providence extends, not only to mankind as a whole, but to individual human beings. Each human being has, by God's loving providence, his own guardian angel.
3. It seems that the office of being guardians to men belongs to the lowest order of heavenly spirits, that is, the ninth order, the order of Angels.
4. Each human being, without exception, has a guardian angel as long as he is a wayfarer, that is, during his whole earthly life. In heaven a man will have an angel companion to reign with him, but not a guardian; no guardian is needed when the guarded journey has been successfully completed. In hell, each man will have a fallen angel to punish him.
5. Each human being has his guardian angel from the moment of his birth, and not, as some have taught, only from the moment of baptism.
6. The guardian angel is a gift of divine providence. He never fails or forsakes his charge. Sometimes, in the workings of providence, a man must suffer trouble; this is not prevented by the guardian angel.
7. Guardian angels do not grieve over the ills that befall their wards. For all angels uninterruptedly enjoy the beatific vision and are forever filled with joy and happiness. Guardian angels do not will the sin which their wards commit, nor do they directly will the punishment of this sin; they do will the fulfillment of divine justice which requires that a man be allowed to have his way, to commit sin if he so choose, to endure trials and troubles, and to suffer punishment.
8. All angels are in perfect agreement with the divine will in so far as it is revealed to them. But it may happen that not all angels have the same revelations of the divine will for their several ministries, and thus, among angels, there may arise a conflict, discord, or strife. This explains what is said in Daniel 10:13 about the guardian angel of the Persians resisting "for one and twenty days" the prayer of Daniel offered by the Archangel Gabriel.
114. The Assaults of Bad Angels on Men
1. To tempt means one of two things: (a) to make a test or trial; thus "God tempted Abraham" (Gen. 22:1); (b) to invite, incite, or allure someone to sin. It is in the second sense of the word that the fallen angels tempt human beings. God permits this assault of the demons upon men, and turns it into a human opportunity and benefit; God gives to men all requisite aid to repulse the assaults of demons, and to advance in grace and merit by resisting temptation.
2. To the devil (who is the fallen Lucifer, now Satan) belong exclusively the plan and campaign of the demons' assaults upon mankind.
3. In one way the devil is the cause of every human sin; he tempted Adam and thus contributed to the fall which renders men prone to sin. But, in a strict sense, diabolical influence does not enter into every sin of man. Some sins come of the weakness of human nature and from inordinateness of appetites which the sinner freely allows to prevail.
4. Angels cannot perform miracles; therefore demons cannot. But demons can do astonishing things, and can occasion real havoc.
5. When the assault of demons is repulsed, the devil is not rendered incapable of further attack. But it seems that he cannot return immediately to the assault, but only after the lapse of a definite time. God's mercy as well as the shrewdness of the tempter, seems to promise so much.
115. How One Creature Moves Another: Bodies
1. Bodies act upon other bodies. Fire burns wood; food supports living substance; a horse pulls a wagon; wind erodes a mountain; water moistens earth. Every bodily substance, by its being what it is, by its actuality, has an activity by which it affects other bodies, and is in potentiality to be affected by other bodies.
2. Living bodies bear the germs or seeds of offspring which they tend to move into existence. Nonliving bodies have aptitude to be moved or affected by other bodies. In a word, all bodies exhibit a basic fitness or aptitude for the movement of body by body.
3. The heavenly bodies, and notably the sun, produce effects in inferior bodies. Each inferior body receives, according to its nature, the action of a superior body. The movement of earthly bodies is referred to movements of the heavenly bodies.
4. The heavenly bodies cannot directly affect the higher powers of man, that is, the intellect and the will. They may, however, exercise an indirect influence on the intellective powers through the senses of the human body. It is impossible that the heavenly bodies should be the direct cause of human actions.
5. The heavenly bodies can have no effect at all upon the demons or bad angels; these angels are spirits, and no influence of extraneous bodies on spirits is possible.
6. Nor is the direct influence of heavenly bodies on matter always and necessarily effective.
116. Fate
1. Fate in the sense of a rigid controlling power over human actions, with its focus or seat in the stars, is not only nonexistent, but impossible.
2. But sometimes the word fate is used for divine providence.
3. Fate as divine providence is a changeless rule, but this does not mean fixity and mechanical necessity of events. As we have noted elsewhere, providence does not interfere with free will itself, nor does it render meaningless the notion of contingent happenings.
4. Fate as providence has reference to creatures and creatural effects; it has no reference to the divine operations in themselves.
117. Man's Action Upon Things
1. Man acts upon his fellow man. In special, man can enlighten or teach others.
2. Man cannot teach or enlighten angels, but by his speech or prayer he can make known to angels what they could not otherwise know, that is, his own secret thoughts and intentions.
3. Man cannot move or affect bodies directly by acts of free will. Indirectly his will can move or change bodies by its decision which makes a man take hold on bodies and change them. And indirectly, by holding the mind and imagination to a certain train of thought or fancy, the will can work a change in a man's own body. Thus may a man move himself to resolution, to calmness in trial, to anger; and concomitant changes result in the body itself. Of course, by natural action, man's will commands the normal movements of the body exercised in such acts as stretching out the hands, or walking.
4. When the human soul is separated from its body by death, it has no further control over the members of that body, or of any other body, unless God, by a miracle, should give it that power.
118. The Production of Man's Soul
1. Plant-souls and animal-souls, after first creation, come into existence by generation; they are propagated with the living bodies they animate.
2. The human soul, being rational, is a spirit; it cannot be generated; it cannot come from matter, which is a thing inferior to itself. It cannot originate except by the direct creative act of God in each instance.
3. The human soul does not exist before its body. By one single act of creation God produces the soul and joins it with matter, and the soul constitutes this matter as a living human being. The human body is generated by parents, but it is made a living human being by the soul which God creates, and, by an act indivisible from creation, joins to matter within the body of the human mother.
119. The Production of Man's Body
1. Man preserves life and grows to maturity by taking nutriment or food. By the process called nutrition, man changes food into his own living substance.
2. Nutriment or food, assimilated by the body and made one with its living essence and nature, enables man to continue life and to exercise his connatural operations. It thus enables man to propagate his kind.