Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that not all things are subject to the Divine government. For it is written (Eccles. 9:11): "I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the learned, nor favor to the skillful, but time and chance in all." But things subject to the Divine government are not ruled by chance. Therefore those things which are under the sun are not subject to the Divine government.

Objection 2: Further, the Apostle says (1 Cor. 9:9): "God hath no care for oxen." But he that governs has care for the things he governs. Therefore all things are not subject to the Divine government.

Objection 3: Further, what can govern itself needs not to be governed by another. But the rational creature can govern itself; since it is master of its own act, and acts of itself; and is not made to act by another, which seems proper to things which are governed. Therefore all things are not subject to the Divine government.

On the contrary, Augustine says (De Civ. Dei v, 11): "Not only heaven and earth, not only man and angel, even the bowels of the lowest animal, even the wing of the bird, the flower of the plant, the leaf of the tree, hath God endowed with every fitting detail of their nature." Therefore all things are subject to His government.

I answer that, For the same reason is God the ruler of things as He is their cause, because the same gives existence as gives perfection; and this belongs to government. Now God is the cause not indeed only of some particular kind of being, but of the whole universal being, as proved above (Question 44, Articles 1,2). Wherefore, as there can be nothing which is not created by God, so there can be nothing which is not subject to His government. This can also be proved from the nature of the end of government. For a man's government extends over all those things which come under the end of his government. Now the end of the Divine government is the Divine goodness; as we have shown (Article 2). Wherefore, as there can be nothing that is not ordered to the Divine goodness as its end, as is clear from what we have said above (Question 44, Article 4; Question 65, Article 2), so it is impossible for anything to escape from the Divine government.

Foolish therefore was the opinion of those who said that the corruptible lower world, or individual things, or that even human affairs, were not subject to the Divine government. These are represented as saying, "God hath abandoned the earth" (Ezech. 9:9).

Reply to Objection 1: These things are said to be under the sun which are generated and corrupted according to the sun's movement. In all such things we find chance: not that everything is casual which occurs in such things; but that in each one there is an element of chance. And the very fact that an element of chance is found in those things proves that they are subject to government of some kind. For unless corruptible things were governed by a higher being, they would tend to nothing definite, especially those which possess no kind of knowledge. So nothing would happen unintentionally; which constitutes the nature of chance. Wherefore to show how things happen by chance and yet according to the ordering of a higher cause, he does not say absolutely that he observes chance in all things, but "time and chance," that is to say, that defects may be found in these things according to some order of time.

Reply to Objection 2: Government implies a certain change effected by the governor in the things governed. Now every movement is the act of a movable thing, caused by the moving principle, as is laid down Phys. iii, 3. And every act is proportionate to that of which it is an act. Consequently, various movable things must be moved variously, even as regards movement by one and the same mover. Thus by the one art of the Divine governor, various things are variously governed according to their variety. Some, according to their nature, act of themselves, having dominion over their actions; and these are governed by God, not only in this, that they are moved by God Himself, Who works in them interiorly; but also in this, that they are induced by Him to do good and to fly from evil, by precepts and prohibitions, rewards and punishments. But irrational creatures which do not act but are acted upon, are not thus governed by God. Hence, when the Apostle says that "God hath no care for oxen," he does not wholly withdraw them from the Divine government, but only as regards the way in which rational creatures are governed.

Reply to Objection 3: The rational creature governs itself by its intellect and will, both of which require to be governed and perfected by the Divine intellect and will. Therefore above the government whereby the rational creature governs itself as master of its own act, it requires to be governed by God.

Articulus 5

Argumentum 1

Ad quintum sic proceditur. Videtur quod non omnia divinae gubernationi subdantur.

Dicitur enim Eccle. IX, vidi sub sole nec velocium esse cursum, nec fortium bellum, nec sapientium panem, nec doctorum divitias, nec artificum gratiam, sed tempus casumque in omnibus.

Quae autem gubernationi alicuius subsunt, non sunt casualia.

Ergo ea quae sunt sub sole, non subduntur divinae gubernationi.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, apostolus, I ad Cor. IX, dicit quod non est deo cura de bobus.

Sed unicuique est cura eorum quae gubernantur ab ipso.

Non ergo omnia subduntur divinae gubernationi.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, illud quod seipsum gubernare potest, non videtur alterius gubernatione indigere. Sed creatura rationalis seipsam gubernare potest, cum habeat dominium sui actus, et per se agat; et non solum agatur ab alio, quod videtur esse eorum quae gubernantur. Ergo non omnia subsunt divinae gubernationi.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod Augustinus dicit, V de CIV. Dei, quod deus non solum caelum et terram, nec solum hominem et Angelum, sed nec exigui et contemptibilis animantis viscera, nec avis pennulam, nec herbae flosculum, nec arboris folium, sine suarum partium convenientia dereliquit.

Omnia ergo eius gubernationi subduntur.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod secundum eandem rationem competit deo esse gubernatorem rerum, et causam earum, quia eiusdem est rem producere, et ei perfectionem dare, quod ad gubernantem pertinet. Deus autem est causa non quidem particularis unius generis rerum, sed universalis totius entis, ut supra ostensum est.

Unde sicut nihil potest esse quod non sit a deo creatum, ita nihil potest esse quod eius gubernationi non subdatur. Patet etiam hoc idem ex ratione finis. Intantum enim alicuius gubernatio se extendit, inquantum se extendere potest finis gubernationis. Finis autem divinae gubernationis est ipsa sua bonitas, ut supra ostensum est.

Unde cum nihil esse possit quod non ordinetur in divinam bonitatem sicut in finem, ut ex supra dictis patet; impossibile est quod aliquod entium subtrahatur gubernationi divinae.

Stulta igitur fuit opinio dicentium quod haec inferiora corruptibilia, vel etiam singularia, aut etiam res humanae non gubernantur a deo.

Ex quorum persona dicitur Ezech. IX, dereliquit dominus terram.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod sub sole dicuntur esse ea quae secundum motum solis generantur et corrumpuntur. In quibus omnibus casus invenitur; non ita quod omnia quae in eis fiunt, sint casualia; sed quia in quolibet eorum aliquid casuale inveniri potest. Et hoc ipsum quod aliquid casuale invenitur in huiusmodi rebus, demonstrat ea alicuius gubernationi esse subiecta. Nisi enim huiusmodi corruptibilia ab aliquo superiori gubernarentur, nihil intenderent, maxime quae non cognoscunt, et sic non eveniret in eis aliquid praeter intentionem, quod facit rationem casus. Unde ad ostendendum quod casualia secundum ordinem alicuius superioris causae proveniunt, non dicit simpliciter quod vidit casum esse in omnibus, sed dicit tempus et casum; quia scilicet secundum aliquem ordinem temporis, casuales defectus inveniuntur in his rebus.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod gubernatio est quaedam mutatio gubernatorum a gubernante. Omnis autem motus est actus mobilis a movente, ut dicitur in III physic..

Omnis autem actus proportionatur ei cuius est actus. Et sic oportet quod diversa mobilia diversimode moveantur, etiam secundum motionem unius motoris. Sic igitur secundum unam artem dei gubernantis, res diversimode gubernantur, secundum earum diversitatem.

Quaedam enim secundum suam naturam sunt per se agentia, tanquam habentia dominium sui actus, et ista gubernantur a deo non solum per hoc quod moventur ab ipso deo in eis interius operante, sed etiam per hoc quod ab eo inducuntur ad bonum et retrahuntur a malo per praecepta et prohibitiones, praemia et poenas. Hoc autem modo non gubernantur a deo creaturae irrationales, quae tantum aguntur, et non agunt.

Cum ergo apostolus dicit quod deo non est cura de bobus, non totaliter subtrahit boves a cura gubernationis divinae; sed solum quantum ad modum qui proprie competit rationali creaturae.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod creatura rationalis gubernat seipsam per intellectum et voluntatem, quorum utrumque indiget regi et perfici ab intellectu et voluntate dei. Et ideo supra gubernationem qua creatura rationalis gubernat seipsam tanquam domina sui actus, indiget gubernari a deo.