The Divine Lamp

ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE

Book The First

On The Limits Of Human Reason In Its Judgments Regarding Divine Providence.

Forsitan vestiga Dei comprehendes? (Job 11:7)

Chapter 1 The Study of the Ways of Divine Providence Comforts Man Under Temptation.

Undeserving the name of Wisdom I account that kind of knowledge which has no influence on the human heart, but accumulates idly in the mind like so much dead weight, without adding to the sum of man’s good, or lessening his ills, and without satisfying, or even soothinwith well-grounded hopes, the ceaseless longings of his nature.

Granting, then, that only the knowledge which makes us better, and strengthens us, and raises our minds to salutary thoughts, has a right to be called Wisdom; what better means could we have of aquiring such a precious treasure, than pondering the Etrnal Counsels apparent in the vicissitudes of created things, and endeavouring to bring ourown lives into harmony with them?

All the dangers and temptations which imperil man’s fidelity to virtue, are, it seems to me, due to one sole cause, viz., the terrible difficulty which man experiences in steadfastly adhering to the path of duty, in a state which deprives him of many enjoyments and subjects him to manifold sufferings.  Sensible good lures his appetite to such a degree that, through greed of possessing it, he forgets the law of righteousness; suffering has so saddening and depressing an influence on him, that in hopes of ridding himself of the galling burden, or of at least escaping from the extreme vexation of having his inclinations thwarted, he abandons himself to evil.  But no sooner has he done so, than the stern voice of conscience rebukes him for having allowed his affections to deceive him, and for having violated that unbending law which fixes certain limits to the indulgence as well of human desires as of human aversions.  Then there arises in him a fierce battle between two contrary forces: the incorruptible conscience, which, as a heavenly herald, unceasingly proclaims in his heart the divine legislation; and the bent of sensible nature, which, blind to the light of truth, will hear of nothing but what is agreeable and delightful to itself.  This strugle continues until at last it comes to pass, that either he is brought back to virtue, or, being too faint-hearted to regain in mastery, becomes hardened in evil.

Now it is when a man has settled down in this lamentable state of moral perversion, that his mind enfeebled and unhappy, is apt to be led astray by harboring sinister thoughts against the high dispositions of Divine Providence.

The ills that befall him, and the restrictions imposed on sensuous gratifications, are to him a source of endless annoyance and discontent.  Unable to find a means of assuaging this misery, he casts the blame of it upon that God Who is the Supreme Disposer of all human things, and has, to the sinners cheifest discomfort, graven on the inner tablets of the heart that solemn unutterable command: “Turn away from evil, and do good.”  Wretched is the man fallen into so  deplorable error, who has not the mental strength to understand that the bounds set to present enjoyment are rather apparent than real, wisely ordained by the wisest of legislators to the end that we may, at a most trifling sacrifice, hereafter secure an unstinted fulness of all that we can desire.

 This doctrine is so consoling, that we ought to look upon it as good, and as such, embrace it with our hearts, even though our minds do not fully comprehend its truth.  Happy, however, are they, who can not only desire or believe it, but also understand it.  Does the infinitely wise Legislator, perchance, forbid us to investigate the reasons of the laws whereby He dispenses good and evil, if we are competent to do so?  On the contrary, he invites us all thereto.

But if our minds are unable to soar so high, what then?  Shall we have the audacity to dispute in all things with the Divine Intelligence?  Or rather, should we not seek to render ourselves partakers of God’s own Wisdom through faith?  Let us strengthen our weakness by a fir reliance on the words of our Creator, which so strongly urge upon us abstinence and patience; abstinence from momentary delights, by reminding us of the eternal punishment prepared for intemperance, and patience under momentary sufferings, by promising us, in return for it, ineffable and eternal joy.  Nevertheless, it is, as I have said, perfectly lawful for everyone to try, as best he may, to find out the sublime reasons of the government of Divine Providence: a government wholly directed to the advantage of the good, who for love of righteousness often sacrifice sensible enjoyments, and willingly submit to sufferins; and to the confusion of sinners, whom Providence blesses with many good things, and protects from many evils, in such a wise, however, as to leave to their own free will the power of preferring virtue to pleasure, or suffering to sin. (THEODICY: ESSAYS ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE by  Antonio Rosmini)

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