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State of the question. It seems that creatures need not
be conserved by God in being because: 1. many creatures
are incorruptible; 2. a builder can erect a structure
that will last for many ages, and a fortiori God can do
the same with beings; 3. in no creature do we find a
positive tendency to non-being; 4. divine conservation
would be an action without a positive effect, because
whatever is does not become.
Reply. The reply is that creatures need divine
conservation and this truth is of faith. Of the Son of
God we read in the Scriptures, "upholding all things by
the word of His power";[949] in the language of the
Bible "uphold" signifies the same as "conserve," and
the same interpretation is accepted by the Septuagints,
Philo, and in Christian tradition. We read further,
"For in Him we live and move and are,"[950]
"For of Him and by Him and in Him are all
things,"[951] "And He is before all, and by Him
all things consist."[952] St. Thomas says,
"Both according to faith and according to reason we must
say that creatures are conserved in being by God."
Proof from reason. 1. God indirectly conserves
corruptible things by removing from them corruptive
principles. 2. Directly and "per se" God
conserves all creatures even those creatures that are
incorruptible.
Every effect that depends on a certain cause not only
according to its becoming but also directly according to
its being needs to be conserved directly by that cause.
But every creature depends directly for its being on
God, who alone is being itself in essence. Therefore
every creature needs to be conserved directly by God.
Proof of the major. Every effect depends on its cause in
the way it is caused. Just as the becoming of a thing
cannot perdure when the action of the agent which is the
cause of the becoming ceases (for example, the passive
erection of the house ceases when the builder does not
work), so the being of a thing does not perdure when the
action of the agent which is the cause of its being
ceases.
Proof of the minor. God alone is being by essence
because His essence is His being, whereas the creature
is being by participation, and its essence is not its
being.
Hence, if the conserving action of God were to cease,
every creature would be annihilated, just as, says St.
Augustine, "the atmosphere would be continually
darkened" if the illuminative action of the sun were to
cease.[953]
To understand this reasoning we must note the opposition
between the cause of the becoming and the direct cause of
the being of a thing. When a father begets a son he is
the direct cause of the passive generation of his son but
not of the son's being. Thus the son often remains alive
after the death of the father. Indeed, if the father
were the direct cause of the very nature and the very being
of his son, he would be his own cause since nature and
being are found in the father and the son in the same way,
inasmuch as they belong to the same species.
On the other hand, since God is being by essence He is
the direct cause of the very being of every creature, and
the creature is being by participation, depending on
essential being as long as it perdures, just as the
diffused light in the air depends on the illumination of
the sun and ceases with the cessation of this
illumination.
We may understand this more readily if we recall that
there are causes in the world upon which the permanence of
their effects depends after the effects are
produced.[954] For example, atmospheric pressure
and solar heat are required for the conservation of a
living animal as well as for its production; the object of
sensation not only objectively causes sensation but also
conserves it, and when the object is removed the sensation
ceases. In the intellectual order, too, the knowledge
of principles is necessary not only for acquiring the
knowledge of the conclusions but also to conserve that
knowledge, and similarly if the desire for the end
ceases, the desire for the means to that end also ceases.
From this we may be able better to understand St.
Thomas' words: "It is manifest that if two things are
of the same species, one cannot be the cause of the form
of the other inasmuch as the form is such a form because it
would then be the cause of its own form; it can,
however, be the cause of this form inasmuch as it is in
matter, that is, inasmuch as this matter acquires this
(individuated) form. This is a cause according to
becoming, as when a man begets a man, or when fire
kindles fire.
Evidently, a cow, however perfect it may be, cannot be
the cause of bovinity or of the bovine race, for then it
would be its own cause. The cause of the bovine race is
the divine idea of cow, or the idea of this species.
Hence if a cause is of the same species as its effect, it
is a direct cause only of the becoming. If, on the other
hand, the cause is of a higher nature than its effect, it
not only produces the effect but also conserves it. Thus
God, who is being by essence, conserves every creature,
which is being by participation.
Reply to first objection. The potency to non-being is
not positively in incorruptible beings, but God can
remove from such creatures His conserving influence.
Reply to second objection. God cannot communicate to a
creature that it continue in being after the divine action
ceases, just as He cannot communicate to a creature that
He should not be its cause.
Reply to third objection. In corruptible creatures there
is a tendency to non-being inasmuch as the matter of these
beings desires another form; and these beings need to be
conserved even indirectly by the removal of that which may
corrupt them.
Reply to fourth objection. "God's conservation is not
a new action, it is a continuation of the action which
confers being. This action, however, is without
movement or time," that is, it is a continuation of the
creative action above time by which God creates without
any instrument and without any intermediary matter and
those things that cannot be produced except by creation,
namely, the angels and spiritual souls. Therefore God
directly conserves matter, the soul, and the angels, in
being, and He is therefore intimately present in these
creatures.[955]
Several corollaries may be deduced from the principle that
St. Thomas lays down in this article: "When an effect
that is not born is to receive the imprint of the agent in
the same manner as the imprint is in the agent....,
then the cause of this effect is the cause not only of the
becoming but also of the being." Thus the influence of
Christ is as necessary for the conservation of the Church
as it was for its institution; the same is true of the
influence of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the same way
the influence of the founders of religious orders perdures
even in heaven so that their orders may continue in being.
St. Thomas' influence also perdures that the true
spirit of his doctrine may be conserved.[956]
We see, then, that there are, under God's
conservation, subordinate conserving causes but always in
the sense that the most universal effect, namely, being,
must be attributed to the most universal cause. The
proper effect, according to the fourth mode of predication
"per se", necessarily and directly depends on
the proper cause, just as in the second mode of
predication the properties depend on the essence from which
they are derived.[957] As illumination depends on
light, so the being of things depends on God, who is
subsisting being itself.
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