Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that enjoyment is not only of the last end. For the Apostle says (Philem. 20): "Yea, brother, may I enjoy thee in the Lord." But it is evident that Paul had not placed his last end in a man. Therefore to enjoy is not only of the last end.

Objection 2: Further, what we enjoy is the fruit. But the Apostle says (Gal. 5:22): "The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace," and other like things, which are not in the nature of the last end. Therefore enjoyment is not only of the last end.

Objection 3: Further, the acts of the will reflect on one another; for I will to will, and I love to love. But to enjoy is an act of the will: since "it is the will with which we enjoy," as Augustine says (De Trin. x, 10). Therefore a man enjoys his enjoyment. But the last end of man is not enjoyment, but the uncreated good alone, which is God. Therefore enjoyment is not only of the last end.

On the contrary, Augustine says (De Trin. x, 11): "A man does not enjoy that which he desires for the sake of something else." But the last end alone is that which man does not desire for the sake of something else. Therefore enjoyment is of the last end alone.

I answer that, As stated above (Article 1) the notion of fruit implies two things: first that it should come last; second, that it should calm the appetite with a certain sweetness and delight. Now a thing is last either simply or relatively; simply, if it be referred to nothing else; relatively, if it is the last in a particular series. Therefore that which is last simply, and in which one delights as in the last end, is properly called fruit; and this it is that one is properly said to enjoy. But that which is delightful not in itself, but is desired, only as referred to something else, e.g. a bitter potion for the sake of health, can nowise be called fruit. And that which has something delightful about it, to which a number of preceding things are referred, may indeed by called fruit in a certain manner; but we cannot be said to enjoy it properly or as though it answered perfectly to the notion of fruit. Hence Augustine says (De Trin. x, 10) that "we enjoy what we know, when the delighted will is at rest therein." But its rest is not absolute save in the possession of the last end: for as long as something is looked for, the movement of the will remains in suspense, although it has reached something. Thus in local movement, although any point between the two terms is a beginning and an end, yet it is not considered as an actual end, except when the movement stops there.

Reply to Objection 1: As Augustine says (De Doctr. Christ. i, 33), "if he had said, 'May I enjoy thee,' without adding 'in the Lord,' he would seem to have set the end of his love in him. But since he added that he set his end in the Lord, he implied his desire to enjoy Him": as if we were to say that he expressed his enjoyment of his brother not as a term but as a means.

Reply to Objection 2: Fruit bears one relation to the tree that bore it, and another to man that enjoys it. To the tree indeed that bore it, it is compared as effect to cause; to the one enjoying it, as the final object of his longing and the consummation of his delight. Accordingly these fruits mentioned by the Apostle are so called because they are certain effects of the Holy Ghost in us, wherefore they are called "fruits of the spirit": but not as though we are to enjoy them as our last end. Or we may say with Ambrose that they are called fruits because "we should desire them for their own sake": not indeed as though they were not ordained to the last end; but because they are such that we ought to find pleasure in them.

Reply to Objection 3: As stated above (Question 1, Article 8; Question 2, Article 7), we speak of an end in a twofold sense: first, as being the thing itself; secondly, as the attainment thereof. These are not, of course, two ends, but one end, considered in itself, and in its relation to something else. Accordingly God is the last end, as that which is ultimately sought for: while the enjoyment is as the attainment of this last end. And so, just as God is not one end, and the enjoyment of God, another: so it is the same enjoyment whereby we enjoy God, and whereby we enjoy our enjoyment of God. And the same applies to created happiness which consists in enjoyment.

Articulus 3

Argumentum 1

Ad tertium sic proceditur. Videtur quod fruitio non sit tantum ultimi finis.

Dicit enim apostolus, ad philem., ita, frater, ego te fruar in domino.

Sed manifestum est quod Paulus non posuerat ultimum suum finem in homine. Ergo frui non tantum est ultimi finis.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, fructus est quo aliquis fruitur.

Sed apostolus dicit, ad Galat. V, fructus spiritus est caritas, gaudium, pax, et cetera huiusmodi; quae non habent rationem ultimi finis.

Non ergo fruitio est tantum ultimi finis.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, actus voluntatis supra seipsos reflectuntur, volo enim me velle, et amo me amare. Sed frui est actus voluntatis, voluntas enim est per quam fruimur, ut Augustinus dicit X de Trin..

Ergo aliquis fruitur sua fruitione. Sed fruitio non est ultimus finis hominis, sed solum bonum increatum, quod est deus.

Non ergo fruitio est solum ultimi finis.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod Augustinus dicit, X de Trin., non fruitur si quis id quod in facultatem voluntatis assumit, propter aliud appetit.

Sed solum ultimus finis est qui non propter aliud appetitur.

Ergo solius ultimi finis est fruitio.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod, sicut dictum est, ad rationem fructus duo pertinent, scilicet quod sit ultimum; et quod appetitum quietet quadam dulcedine vel delectatione.

Ultimum autem est simpliciter, et secundum quid, simpliciter quidem, quod ad aliud non refertur; sed secundum quid, quod est aliquorum ultimum. Quod ergo est simpliciter ultimum, in quo aliquid delectatur sicut in ultimo fine, hoc proprie dicitur fructus, et eo proprie dicitur aliquis frui. Quod autem in seipso non est delectabile, sed tantum appetitur in ordine ad aliud, sicut potio amara ad sanitatem; nullo modo fructus dici potest.

Quod autem in se habet quandam delectationem, ad quam quaedam praecedentia referuntur, potest quidem aliquo modo dici fructus, sed non proprie, et secundum completam rationem fructus, eo dicimur frui.

Unde Augustinus, in X de Trin., dicit quod fruimur cognitis in quibus voluntas delectata conquiescit.

Non autem quiescit simpliciter nisi in ultimo, quia quandiu aliquid expectatur, motus voluntatis remanet in suspenso, licet iam ad aliquid pervenerit. Sicut in motu locali, licet illud quod est medium in magnitudine, sit principium et finis; non tamen accipitur ut finis in actu, nisi quando in eo quiescitur.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod, sicut Augustinus dicit in I de doctr. Christ., si dixisset te fruar, et non addidisset in domino, videretur finem dilectionis in eo posuisse. Sed quia illud addidit, in domino se posuisse finem, atque eo se frui significavit.

Ut sic fratre se frui dixerit non tanquam termino, sed tanquam medio.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod fructus aliter comparatur ad arborem producentem, et aliter ad hominem fruentem. Ad arborem quidem producentem comparatur ut effectus ad causam, ad fruentem autem, sicut ultimum expectatum et delectans. Dicuntur igitur ea quae enumerat ibi apostolus, fructus, quia sunt effectus quidam spiritus sancti in nobis, unde et fructus spiritus dicuntur, non autem ita quod eis fruamur tanquam ultimo fine. Vel aliter dicendum quod dicuntur fructus, secundum Ambrosium, quia propter se petenda sunt, non quidem ita quod ad beatitudinem non referantur; sed quia in seipsis habent unde nobis placere debeant.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod, sicut supra dictum est finis dicitur dupliciter, uno modo, ipsa res; alio modo, adeptio rei.

Quae quidem non sunt duo fines, sed unus finis, in se consideratus, et alteri applicatus. Deus igitur est ultimus finis sicut res quae ultimo quaeritur, fruitio autem sicut adeptio huius ultimi finis. Sicut igitur non est alius finis deus, et fruitio dei; ita eadem ratio fruitionis est qua fruimur deo, et qua fruimur divina fruitione. Et eadem ratio est de beatitudine creata, quae in fruitione consistit.