Sect. 113God the Conservator of All ThingsGod the Conservator of All Things
I. No created beings can continue to exist unless God sustains and preserves them. The Divine Conservation required for the continuance of created existence, is not merely negative, but positive: that is to say, it is not enough for God not to destroy creatures; He must exercise some active influence on them. Again, this positive conservation is not indirect—i.e. a mere protection against destructive agencies—but a direct Divine influence on the very being of the creature, such that, if this influence were withdrawn, the creature at once would return into nothing. Hence the Divine Conservation affects even the incorruptible substances of spirits; it affects matter and form, and the connection of both: in short, it is co-extensive with the creative act. Conservation, like creation, implies a direct action of the Divine Power and the immediate presence of God in all things that He conserves. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, and the generality of theologians explain the dogma by two familiar analogies: things depend for their continued existence on the preserving influence of God in the same manner as a non-luminous body depends for its light on the source of light, and as the life of the body depends on the influence of the soul.
We must not believe that God is the Creator and Maker of all things in such a way as to consider that, when the work was completed, all things made by Him could continue to exist without the action of His infinite power. For, just as it is by His supreme power, wisdom, and goodness that all things have been brought into being: in like manner, unless His continuous providence aided and conserved them with that same force whereby they were originally produced, they would at once fall back into nothing. And this Scripture declares when it says (Wisd. 11:26), “How can anything endure, if Thou wouldst not? or be preserved, if not called by Thee?” (See also Roman Catechism, or Catechism of the Council of Trent, pt. i., chap. 2, n. 21.) Other passages of Holy Scripture bearing on the question are the following. “But if Thou turn away Thy face they shall be troubled; Thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust” (Ps. 103:29); “Last of all hath spoken to us by His Son, … by Whom He made the world, … upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:2, 3); “My Father worketh until now, and I work” (John 5:17). St. Paul refers to the passive relation, the being upheld, in the words, “In Him we live, and move, and be” (Acts 17:28).
II. The necessity of positive Conservation and its peculiar character of a preserving activity result from the fact that the existence of creatures can in no way be due to the creatures themselves: what is not, cannot give itself being. The fact that a creature actually exists, does not change its contingent character; although it exists, it does not exist necessarily, but depends on an external cause as much for its continuous as for its initial existence. The “derivative existence” of creatures stands to the “self-existence” of God in the same relation of dependence as the rays of light to the source of light, and as the acts of the soul to the substance of the soul. From this point of view, the preserving influence of God on His creatures at once appears as a continuous creation.
III. From the necessity and nature of this Divine influence, it follows that God, absolutely speaking, can destroy His creatures by simply suspending His creative action (cf. Ps. 103:29). A creature, on the contrary, cannot destroy itself or any other creature as to its whole substance: neither by suspending a positive conserving influence, which the creature does not possess, at least as regards the substance of things; nor by a positive action opposed to and more powerful than the Divine conserving action. Created forces can only change the conditions upon which the preservation of substantial forms depends: when these conditions cease, God ceases His conserving influence. Cf. St. Thomas, I., q. 104, a. 3, and De Potentia, q. 5, art. 3.
Although, speaking absolutely, God could annihilate His creatures, it is most probable that He never will destroy any of the direct and immediate products of His creative power. Of spiritual creatures, it can be demonstrated that their eternal conservation by God is a moral necessity; as to material things, however, our reason only leads us to presume that the Divine Will, which gave them existence and conserved them until now, will never change: no reason being known why it should. “God made not death, neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living; for He created all things that they might be; and He made the nations of the earth for health; and there is no poison of destruction in them” (Wisd. 1:13, 14)
I. No created beings can continue to exist unless God sustains and preserves them. The Divine Conservation required for the continuance of created existence, is not merely negative, but positive: that is to say, it is not enough for God not to destroy creatures; He must exercise some active influence on them. Again, this positive conservation is not indirect—i.e. a mere protection against destructive agencies—but a direct Divine influence on the very being of the creature, such that, if this influence were withdrawn, the creature at once would return into nothing. Hence the Divine Conservation affects even the incorruptible substances of spirits; it affects matter and form, and the connection of both: in short, it is co-extensive with the creative act. Conservation, like creation, implies a direct action of the Divine Power and the immediate presence of God in all things that He conserves. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, and the generality of theologians explain the dogma by two familiar analogies: things depend for their continued existence on the preserving influence of God in the same manner as a non-luminous body depends for its light on the source of light, and as the life of the body depends on the influence of the soul.
We must not believe that God is the Creator and Maker of all things in such a way as to consider that, when the work was completed, all things made by Him could continue to exist without the action of His infinite power. For, just as it is by His supreme power, wisdom, and goodness that all things have been brought into being: in like manner, unless His continuous providence aided and conserved them with that same force whereby they were originally produced, they would at once fall back into nothing. And this Scripture declares when it says (Wisd. 11:26), “How can anything endure, if Thou wouldst not? or be preserved, if not called by Thee?” (See also Roman Catechism, or Catechism of the Council of Trent, pt. i., chap. 2, n. 21.) Other passages of Holy Scripture bearing on the question are the following. “But if Thou turn away Thy face they shall be troubled; Thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust” (Ps. 103:29); “Last of all hath spoken to us by His Son, … by Whom He made the world, … upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:2, 3); “My Father worketh until now, and I work” (John 5:17). St. Paul refers to the passive relation, the being upheld, in the words, “In Him we live, and move, and be” (Acts 17:28).
II. The necessity of positive Conservation and its peculiar character of a preserving activity result from the fact that the existence of creatures can in no way be due to the creatures themselves: what is not, cannot give itself being. The fact that a creature actually exists, does not change its contingent character; although it exists, it does not exist necessarily, but depends on an external cause as much for its continuous as for its initial existence. The “derivative existence” of creatures stands to the “self-existence” of God in the same relation of dependence as the rays of light to the source of light, and as the acts of the soul to the substance of the soul. From this point of view, the preserving influence of God on His creatures at once appears as a continuous creation.
III. From the necessity and nature of this Divine influence, it follows that God, absolutely speaking, can destroy His creatures by simply suspending His creative action (cf. Ps. 103:29). A creature, on the contrary, cannot destroy itself or any other creature as to its whole substance: neither by suspending a positive conserving influence, which the creature does not possess, at least as regards the substance of things; nor by a positive action opposed to and more powerful than the Divine conserving action. Created forces can only change the conditions upon which the preservation of substantial forms depends: when these conditions cease, God ceases His conserving influence. Cf. St. Thomas, I., q. 104, a. 3, and De Potentia, q. 5, art. 3.
Although, speaking absolutely, God could annihilate His creatures, it is most probable that He never will destroy any of the direct and immediate products of His creative power. Of spiritual creatures, it can be demonstrated that their eternal conservation by God is a moral necessity; as to material things, however, our reason only leads us to presume that the Divine Will, which gave them existence and conserved them until now, will never change: no reason being known why it should. “God made not death, neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living; for He created all things that they might be; and He made the nations of the earth for health; and there is no poison of destruction in them” (Wisd. 1:13, 14)
Seção 39% da obra, de A Manual of Catholic Theology (Wilhelm & Scannell, sobre a Dogmatik de Scheeben). Ver o original.