The Divine Operation of Governance and Providence

Providence is a term derived from the Latin pro “for; before,” and videns “seeing.” Thus it means “a looking before,” “a looking out for.” It means seeing beforehand what is required and planning to meet the requirement. We call a man provident if he carefully manages his affairs, looking to the future, estimating his income and computing necessary expenditures; we call a man improvident if he lives for the moment, without plan or policy for the future. It thus appears that the term providence is aptly used to designate a plan of action, a way (that has been worked out before being put into execution) of directing things to a goal or end. Now, Divine Providence is God’s Understanding and Will (that is, the Divine Reason) inasmuch as It eternally and infallibly directs things towards their last end or purpose, meeting with boundless wisdom every situation in its every detail. The result of Divine Providence in the world is the fact that creatures are governed, each in accordance with its nature, towards their ultimate end, which is God Himself, that is, the manifestation of God’s glory. Thus goverance and providence go together. The one operation of God is Divine Providence when we consider it in God, and it is the Divine Governance of creatures when we consider it in its application and workings in the world of finite things. St. Thomas Aquinas puts the point thus: “Two things belong to the domain of providence: the knowing how to direct and arrange things, and this is providence properly speaking; and, secondly, the actual directing and arranging of things in accordance with this knowledge, and this is called government. The first is eternal; the second, temporal.” In a word, providence in God becomes government in creatures.

b) THE FACT OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE We assert that there is a Divine Providence which effectively extends its governing influence to everything in the world, not only in a general way, but in particular, so that it touches all reality in its minutest details. That this must be so is evident from the following arguments: i. In God there is a Providence. Providence, as we have seen, is the understanding of how to manage and direct things to their due ends. Now, as we have elsewhere proved, God is Infinite Understanding; in God there is the most perfect knowledge of how to manage and direct things to their ends. Therefore, it is manifest that in God there is a Providence, or, more exactly, that God is Infinite Providence.

2. In God there is all First Causality and Infinite Wisdom. Creatures are wholly dependent or contingent upon God for their existence and for their operations; hence, they are dependent upon God for the achievement of their goal or end, for this is to be attained by the exercise of their operations. Now, it would not be wise for God to create without a purpose, nor to create beings in themselves helpless to achieve their purpose and leave them so. It follows that, since God is the sole Creator infinite in Wisdom, He has made creatures for a purpose and directs them in its achievement. Therefore God is Provider and Governor; there is Providence in God and providential Divine Government in creatures.

3. Things different in nature are not drawn into one harmonious force except under the direction of one master-director and master-plan. Now, the universe is made up of a staggering multitude and variety of objects that not only differ in nature but are frequently contrary, one to the other. Yet it is very manifest that there is here a world-order, a great and magnificent harmony. Therefore there must exist an Orderer and Governor; there must be a provident and governing God. In other words, in God there must be Providence, and in creatures providential Governance.

4. This Providence must extend its influence to everything in the world not only in general, but in particular. For the ’First Causality of God reaches all reality, and individual things, in their smallest parts and movements, are realities. Therefore God’s providence is no general plan, but a most detailed plan which leaves nothing out. It follows that all creatures, down to the last and least, come under the application of Divine Providence and are divinely governed.

C) Certain Difficulties

Those who deny the existence of God as Providence (and among these we count the Fatalists who contend that everything is subject to the inevitable action of a blind drive or force; and the Deists who declare that God, having made the world, has abandoned it now to get on as best it may) are deceived by the apparent difficulties which lie in the way of the true doctrine. These difficulties are reducible to two: the fact that so many things appear to happen by chance, and, secondly, the fact that there is evil in the world. We must pause upon these difficulties for a brief space.

1. The Question of Chance. If things in the world happen by chance and not by plan; even if only a few events, or even one, were to occur by sheer chance, then, certainly, our whole doctrine of Divine Providence and Governance is done for. But let us be clear on what we mean by the phrase by chance. We do not mean without cause. Chance cannot be conceivably the cause of anything, nor does it mean the absence of cause. Chance merely means some unexpectedness or “unforeseenness” in an effect. And, however unforeseen by finite minds, however unexpected, the effect which we call chance-effect has its adequate accounting cause in every case. Nor can the fact that an effect is unexpected or unforeseen by finite minds carry unexpectedness or “unforeseenness” to the Infinite Mind. In a word, what happens by chance in our view, does not happen by chance in God’s view. What is no part of our plan, is certainly a part of God’s plan, and this must be so even when God’s plan is not wholly, or even partially, revealed to us, but is wrapped in mystery. Every normal adult has had enough experience of life and its happenings to understand that apparent evils often turn out to be blessings. Everyone knows that his little mind can take in but a small part of the universe of possibilities, and that the complexities of detail in this vast cosmos, complexities of events, of movements, of effects, must, in the main, be mysterious to him and full of unexpectedness and so-called chance. But a man does wrong to attribute his own limitations to the Infinite Being. He is guilty of gross “anthropomorphism” in putting upon God the limitations of understanding and of will, and those of time and space, which characterize human existence. God’s plan is an eternal plan, eternally viewed in its entirety and in full detail; it is not something that unfolds to God as it unfolds to creatures. Therefore, the notion that things happen by chance, as though they happened in a manner surprising and even baffling to the Almighty, is a false and unreasonable notion. And to allege the fact that we do not always understand the design of God in His government of events as a reason for denying the existence of that design, is a proud and stupid thing to do. Now, reason compels us to the acknowledgment of an existing Infinite First Cause upon Whom all things utterly depend. Reason, following up that first fact, compels us to recognize the Infinite Being as boundlessly capable, so to speak; as perfectly able and willing to take full charge of the universe and to manage it most thoroughly in its every fact and movement and event. Further still, reason compels us to acknowledge that this Infinite Adequacy is infinitely effective. In a word, pure and unclouded reason makes manifest to us the existence and effectiveness of Divine Providence and Governance in the world. And that fact, once known, must not be allowed to slip from notice. If events seem in conflict with it, then this must be only seeming and not fact. For reason compels us to recognize Providence, but it does not enable us to explain in full, and in every event, the actual working-out of Providence. The right attitude of mind, the philosophical attitude, is that of humility and calm recognition of the limi- tations of the human mind. It is not only piety, it is true philosophy, that enables a man to know that “all things work together unto good.” Nor does this mean a fatalistic acceptance of all that happens as inevitable, and as inevitably the best that could happen. No; as we have seen in discussing the concurrence of God with free-wills, man is a true and total cause of his own free-acts, and man may be perverse. And yet, as we shall see, man is wholly unable to upset Divine Providence or to distort its plan, however much damage he may do to himself. We shall touch this point in our consideration of the next difficulty, namely, that of Divine Providence and existing evil. 2. The Question of Existing Evil. In an earlier part of this manual (cf. Book Third, Chap. I, Art. 2, d) we have defined evil, distinguishing it as physical and as moral evil, and we have proved that God wills physical evil accidentally (or per accidens) but does not will moral evil (or sin) in any way whatever. But the point we have to consider here may be raised in this question: How does God, if He is the Infinite Provider and Governor, even tolerate evil, especially moral evil, in the world which He rules so absolutely? To find the true answer to this question we must bring to our study a clear recognition of two truths: first, that God’s Providence and Governance is an infinitely wise and absolutely effective direction of things to their true end; secondly, that human freedom is a fact which involves the possibility of abuse. With these two truths held steadily in mind, we attack the problem of Divine Providence and existing evil. Providence directs realities and events to their true end. What is this end? Manifestly, it is the ultimate end, the last end, the absolutely final end, for this end it is that gives meaning to all subordinate and partial ends. Now, the final or ultimate end of all creatures is the manifestation of the external glory of God. And this end is absolutely achieved. We call the end of creation the external glory of God, for nothing internal or intrinsic can be afforded to the Infinite Being which already possesses the fulness of all perfection. And by objective external glory, we mean the character of creatures as an expression of God’s power and wisdom and goodness and beauty. Just as a well executed painting, or a finely sculptured statue, is a credit to the artist who made it, so is God’s world of creatures a credit to God; the work of art manifests the power and skill of the artist, his intelligence, his taste, his ability; the world of creatures manifests the perfections of the Creator. Such is the external and objective glory of God revealed in His works. Revealed? Yes, but to what or to whom? To intelligences, to minds, to persons. And here comes in the second note, the second determinant, in the final end of creatures; they exist to manifest God’s perfections to mankind, and thus to win mankind to a recognition of what they express. And we call that glory, that credit, that expressed perfection in a work which is recognized for what it is, the formal glory of him who wrought the work. The work of art is a credit to the artist in itself whether anyone ever sees it or not; it expresses his glory objectively. Yet the artist has not formal glory unless the work of art be known and in some sense appreciated. Now, creatures exist for the objective and formal glory of God; they exist to express this glory. And this they infallibly do. For in themselves, by their very being, they are expressions of God’s objective external glory; and men must always recognize that objective glory and make it formal, even when they do not turn the recognition to their own account and through it obtain happiness. For man will forever render objective and formal glory to God, and in himself, his works, his mind, he will eternally manifest God’s glory by showing forth the Divine Perfections; the souls in heaven manifest God’s mercy, love, goodness; the souls in hell manifest God’s justice. Thus, whether a man save his soul or lose it, the ultimate end of creation is absolutely achieved, and man is powerless to defeat it. It appears, therefore, that moral evil (that is, sin) which leads human lives to ruin and to endless misery, does not stand in the way of the attainment of the absolutely ultimate end of all crea- tion towards the attainment of which all things are guided by Divine Providence and Governance. In a word, moral evil does not come in conflict with the fact of Divine Providence at all. Nor does physical evil conflict with Providence. The defects that we call physical evils (sickness, suffering, harsh climate, etc.) are really a kindness to fallen man, who, without them, would never turn to God or to the practice of virtue. Even in a world that is marked by so many hardships, or physical evils, multitudes of men are constantly looking for a temporary heaven and an earthly Paradise, uncaring for that true and eternal beatitude for which they are meant to labor in the brief workday of earthly life. All men would do so were it not for the presence and pressure of physical evils which keep us reminded that we have not here a lasting city. Further, physical evils bring out the best in men; without them, there would be no occasion for the development of that stamina, that character, that heroism, which all men justly admire. It is manifest, without further argument, that physical evils, far from being in conflict with Divine Providence, are not in contact with its main character and purpose, and are apt instruments for the achievement of its secondary end which is the happiness and eternal well being of mankind. It is when we forget that man’s welfare is the secondary end of Divine Providence, and not the primary and absolutely ultimate end, that we find the existence of moral evil a difficulty. With this secondary end of Providence, moral evil is indeed in conflict, for it works the ruin of men. But here we must recall the fact that moral evil, like every sort of evil, is an absence and a lack, a defection and a failure, and not something with its own positive and formal constitution. And the failure and lack, the defection and fault, which we call sin or moral evil, is due to the non-conforming of free man with the full measure of God’s concurrence and premotion to good. Human freedom is a fact, and, as we have seen, it is something of its very nature subject to abuse in a finite creature which has not yet attained its final end or goal. Given to man for his own good, as well as for the expression of God’s formal and objective glory, freedom of choice (or freedom of will) is incapable of missing the ultimate end of Providence, but quite capable of missing the secondary end. It can be misused to harm man, although it cannot be misused to harm God or to upset the ultimate plans of God. God does not will its misuse, even indirectly or accidentally, or even in so far as such misuse harms man; He wills its proper use. But he wills that man act freely, and if man freely falls short of what nature and grace enable him to do, the failure is man’s own entirely, and it touches man alone, and in no wise conflicts with the ultimate end of Providence. And even in its secondary end the Providence of God is often indirectly served by moral evil. Out of the evil of persecution came the glory of the martyrs; out of the hardships vilely imposed upon the poor come nobility of life, strength of character, and the field for the exercise of the splendid social virtues that we call the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. To a thoughtful man,— and especially to one who is “of the household of the Faith” with that understanding of the familylife of Christendom which an outsider has never experienced and cannot rightly know,—it is abundantly evident that the Providence of God is constantly drawing good out of evil. Such a man requires no great effort of mind, as he traces in memory the course of his own life, and weighs the facts and events that have shaped it, to see God’s “good and gracious purpose working in all the evils” that have come upon him. It appears, then, that there is no real conflict between the fact of Providence and the fact of evil; no, not even when the evil is that moral evil which brings man to an eternal misery and an endless suffering.

Summary Of The Article

In this Article we have defined providence in general, and Divine Providence in particular. We have noticed that Providence on the part of God means Divine Governance exercised over creatures. We have proved the existence of Providence as a fact, drawing our arguments from the Infinite Understanding of God, from His essential First Causality, from His Wisdom, from the world-order. And we have indicated, as an inevitable conclusion of reason, that Divine Providence and Governance are extended to the last and least details in the universe of realities, and are no mere general movement or control in the wide direction of ultimate good. We have considered certain difficulties that assail the unthinking mind when the subject of Providence is considered in the face of a world in which so much seems to happen by chance, and in which there are manifest imperfections (or physical evils) and much moral evil (or sin).

INDEX (Numbers refer to pages)

Absolute attributes, 149 Absolute power, 246 Accident, 231 Accidental formal cause, 57 Actio Dei, 267 Actual being, 14 Actuality, 14 Adam, Karl, 96 Aeviternity, 173 Agnostic, the, 51 Agnosticism, 24, 40 Agnostic position, the, 16 Animal suffering, 230 Animism, 114 Anselm, St., 33, 45 Antecedent Divine Will, 209 Anthropolatry, 114 Anthropomorphism, 171 f., 238 f., 285 A posteriori demonstration, 42 Apprehensive knowledge, 182 A priori demonstration, 42 Aquinas, St. Thomas, see St. Thomas Aquinas Archetypal ideas, 38, 202 Argument from Design, 74 Argument of St. Anselm, 34 Arnold, Matthew, 16 Aseity,i35 A simultaneo demonstration, 45 Atheism, 24, 40, 96 f., 99

Atheist, antic of, 91 Atheistic position, the, 96 Attribute, 112, 144, 146 ff. Attributes of God, 143 ff 149 ff. absolute, 149 negative, 150 positive, 150 relative, 150 f. Banez, 190 Being, 14 Boedder, Fr., HZ f., 198 Boethius, 172 Bruehl, Dr. Charles, 79

Cajetan, 190 Causality, 46 ff. Cause, 53 ff. accidental, 57 efficient, 58 f. exemplar, 58 extrinsic, 58 ff. final, 59 f., 71 ff. formal, 55 ff. in esse, 260 in fieri, 260 instrumental, 58 intrinsic, 55 ff. material, 55 partial, 266