|
Objection 1: It would seem that the will is not moved by God alone
as exterior principle. For it is natural that the inferior be moved by
its superior: thus the lower bodies are moved by the heavenly bodies.
But there is something which is higher than the will of man and below
God, namely, the angel. Therefore man's will can be moved by an
angel also, as exterior principle.
Objection 2: Further, the act of the will follows the act of the
intellect. But man's intellect is reduced to act, not by God
alone, but also by the angel who enlightens it, as Dionysius says
(Coel. Hier. iv). For the same reason, therefore, the will
also is moved by an angel.
Objection 3: Further, God is not the cause of other than good
things, according to Gn. 1:31: "God saw all the things that
He had made, and they were very good." If, therefore man's will
were moved by God alone, it would never be moved to evil: and yet it
is the will whereby "we sin and whereby we do right," as Augustine
says (Retract. i, 9).
On the contrary, It is written (Phil. 2:13): "It is God
Who worketh in us" "both to will and to accomplish."
I answer that, The movement of the will is from within, as also is
the movement of nature. Now although it is possible for something to
move a natural thing, without being the cause of the thing moved, yet
that alone, which is in some way the cause of a thing's nature, can
cause a natural movement in that thing. For a stone is moved upwards
by a man, who is not the cause of the stone's nature, but this
movement is not natural to the stone; but the natural movement of the
stone is caused by no other than the cause of its nature. Wherefore it
is said in Phys. vii, 4, that the generator moves locally heavy and
light things. Accordingly man endowed with a will is sometimes moved
by something that is not his cause; but that his voluntary movement be
from an exterior principle that is not the cause of his will, is
impossible.
Now the cause of the will can be none other than God. And this is
evident for two reasons. First, because the will is a power of the
rational soul, which is caused by God alone, by creation, as was
stated in the FP, Question 90, Article 2. Secondly, it is
evident from the fact that the will is ordained to the universal good.
Wherefore nothing else can be the cause of the will, except God
Himself, Who is the universal good: while every other good is good
by participation, and is some particular good, and a particular cause
does not give a universal inclination. Hence neither can primary
matter, which is potentiality to all forms, be created by some
particular agent.
Reply to Objection 1: An angel is not above man in such a way as to
be the cause of his will, as the heavenly bodies are the causes of
natural forms, from which result the natural movements of natural
bodies.
Reply to Objection 2: Man's intellect is moved by an angel, on
the part of the object, which by the power of the angelic light is
proposed to man's knowledge. And in this way the will also can be
moved by a creature from without, as stated above (Article 4).
Reply to Objection 3: God moves man's will, as the Universal
Mover, to the universal object of the will, which is good. And
without this universal motion, man cannot will anything. But man
determines himself by his reason to will this or that, which is true or
apparent good. Nevertheless, sometimes God moves some specially to
the willing of something determinate, which is good; as in the case of
those whom He moves by grace, as we shall state later on (Question
109, Article 2).
|
|