Volume I, Treatise VIII, Chapter I

In Which Two Principles Are Established Concerning Conformity to the Will of God

“Not as I will, but as you will.” (Mat. xxvi. 39.) The Son of God, according to the holy fathers, descended from heaven, and clothed himself with our flesh for two reasons; the one to redeem us by his blood; the other, to teach us by his doctrine the way to heaven, and to instruct us by his example. For, as it would have been to little or no purpose, says St. Bernard, to have known the way had we been kept in prison, so it would have been to as little purpose to take us out of prison, had we remained ignorant of the way. Wherefore, since God is invisible, it was necessary for our being able to follow and imitate him, that he should: render himself visible, and clothe himself with our humanity, as shepherds are wont to clothe themselves with the skins of their sheep, that on seeing their own resemblance, the sheep may follow the more willingly. ‘If he were not truly God,” says St. Leo, “he could not have given usa remedy; and if he were not truly man, he had not given us an example.” (Ser. i. Nat. Dom.) He has expressed in one and the other of these two things, the excess of his love towards man. “The grace of his redemption has been very plentiful” (Ps. exxix. 7), and his instructions have abounded as much. Because he has instructed us not only by the doctrine of his words, but far more by the example of his deeds. “Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1), says St. Luke. He began first to act, and continued to do so throughout his whole life, and afterwards he employed two or three of the last years of his life in teaching. But amongst many other instructions he has given us, one of the chief is, that we should have an entire conformity to the will of God. This is a doctrine which he taught us not only in words, when he bid us to say to his Eternal Father, ‘“Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10); but what he has confirmed by his own example, because he himself tells us, ‘‘I descended from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38) Wherefore, in his prayer in the garden, when he was upon the point of finishing the work of our salvation, though as man he had a great horror of death, to manifest which, as well as his humanity, he said, “Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.” (Matthew 26) Yet his will always remained in a perfect submission to the will of his Father, and, therefore, he presently adds: “Yet let not my will but thine be done.” (Ibid.)

To treat this matter clearly, and to establish firmly this exercise of conformity, we must suppose two principles or truths, upon which this doctrine is founded. The first is, that our advancement and perfection consist in this conformity to the will of God; and that the greater this conformity is, the greater also will be our perfection. This truth is clear and easy to comprehend; because, beyond all doubt, perfection essentially consists in the charity and love of God; and the more we love God, the more perfect we shall consequently be. The four Gospels are full of this doctrine, as well as the Epistles of St. Paul, as also the. works of the holy fathers. “The love of God is the greatest, and the first of all the commandments.” (Matthew 22:38) ‘Charity is the bond of perfection.” (Colossians 3:14) “Charity is above all other virtues.” (Cor. xiii. 13.) But as the love of God is the most elevated, and most perfect of all virtues, so the most sublime, the most pure, and the most excellent practice of this love is an absolute conformity to the divine will, and to have no other will in all things but the will of God. “For that friendship only,” says St. Jerom (as the Roman orator had said before him), “‘is firm and solid, when we can neither will or not will anything, but what our friend wills or not wills.” (Ep. ad Demet.) And, therefore, the more we shall conform and submit our wills to the will of God, the more perfect, without doubt, we shall find ourselves, Moreover, it 18 certain that there is nothing better or more perfect than the will of God; and, consequently, we shall become better and more perfect, according to the proportion of our greater union with this will, according to the reasoning of the philosopher, who said, “if God be the most perfect of all things, it is infallibly true, that the More anything shall resemble him, the more perfect it will be.”

The second principle or truth is, that there can nothing happen in this world, but by the order and will of God. And this is always to be understood except in sin, of which he is neither the cause nor author. Insomuch that as it is against the nature of fire to cool, and of light to darken, so it is more repugnant to the infinite goodness of God, either to love, or be the cause of evil. “Your eyes are pure, O Lord!” says the prophet Habacuc; “you cannot look upon evil, nor behold iniquity.” (Habacuc 1:13) As in the world, when we would express the aversion we have for anything, we ordinarily say, “we cannot endure the sight of it;” so the prophet says here, that God cannot endure the sight of iniquity, to express how great a horror he has of it. “You are nota God who are pleased with iniquity” (Psalms 5:4), says David in-a certain place; and in another: “You have loved justice and hated iniquity.” (Psalms 54:8) Lastly, the Scripture speaks in innumerable places of the hatred that God bears to sin, and, therefore, it is certain he can neither be the cause nor author thereof. But, sin only excepted, all other things, as suffering, pains, and afflictions, happen by the order, and by the will of God. This is a truth not to be called in question. For what the pagans suppose concerning fortune is a mere chimera or impossibility, since fortune is nothing; and, consequently, it is not she who bestows those goods upon us, which are commonly called the goods of fortune. It is God alone who distributes them, and the Holy Ghost teaches us this truth by the mouth of the Wise Man. “Both good and bad, life and death, poverty and riches, come all equally from the hand of God.” (Ecclesiastes 10:1,14)

For though all these things proceed from second causes, yet it is certain that there is nothing done throughout the universe, but by the command and will of our sovereign master, that orders and governs it. There is nothing, in respect of God, that happens by chance. He has regulated all things, and appointed everything from all eternity. He has taken an account of every hair of your head, and not one of them shall fall to the ground without his order. But why do I speak of men, since his providence extends itself over all other creatures? “Are not two sparrows,” says Jesus Christ, “sold for a farthing? and not one of them falls to the ground without the permission of your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 10:29) No; there is not a lea that moves upon a tree but by his will. And it is by this very will that those things are regulated in which chance seems to have a greater share. ‘ They draw lots,” says the Wise Man, “but it is by God they are directed.” (Proverbs 16:33) ‘We must not imagine that there is anything of this kind that happens by chance. What seems most of all to depend upon chance is, an effect of his unalterable providence, which adjusts all things for his proper ends. “The lot fell upon Matthias” (Acts 1:26), says St. Luke, and without doubt it was not by chance the lot fell on him, but by a particular disposition of the divine Providence, which from all eternity had destined him for an apostleship, and would make use of this means.

The light of nature alone has been sufficient to make philosophers themselves come to the knowledge of this truth, and forced them to declare that, though in regard to second causes, some things might happen by chance, yet, in regard of the first cause, nothing happened but by order of providence. Which happens, say they, as when a master, having sent his servant about some business, should afterwards send another to the same place upon a different errand, yet with intention that they should meet with one another upon the way. ‘Their meeting, in regard to themselves, would be purely by chance; but in regard to their master, it would be a premeditated design. It is the very same with things which seem to happen here below by chance. In respect of men, who see these accidents happen contrary to their inclination, and without ever having so much as thought of them, it is an effect of chance; but, in regard of God, it is a necessary consequence, and an execution of the eternal order of his providence, who would have it thus for secret and hidden ends, which are known to none but himself.

What we ought to infer from these two truths is, what we have before spoken of, that since all things come to us from the hand of God, and that all our perfection consists in conforming ourselves to what he wills; we must receive all things as coming from him, and in them conform ourselves entirely to his divine will. We must look upon nothing to happen by chance, or by the conduct or malice of man, for this is what ordinarily is wont to give us most trouble and pain; nor must we imagine that this or that thing has happened to us because such or such a one had a hand in it; nor that if such and such an accident had happened things would have fallen out after a different manner. This is not what we are to amuse or trouble ourselves about; but what way or what manner soever anything happens to us we must always receive it as coming from the hand of God, because it is he, in effect, who, by these means sends these things to us.

An ancient father of the desert was wont to say, that man should never enjoy true peace and satisfaction in this life, till he could persuade himself that there were none but God and he in this world. And St. Dorotheus relates, that the ancient fathers so accustomed themselves to receive all things as coming from the hand of God, of what nature soever they were, and after what manner soever they happened, that by this means they enjoyed a profound tranquillity and peace of mind, and always led a heavenly life upon earth.

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