Question — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
First Question. On The Ultimate End Itself
13. What it is. 1. Every rational agent acts for the sake of an end. An end is that for the sake of which something is done, or that toward which someone tends. End is distinguished in many ways; it will suffice here to explain the end of the work and the end of the worker. The end of the work is that good toward which a thing or action tends by its nature: a clock toward indicating time, almsgiving toward relieving the poor. The end of the worker is that good which the agent intends or strives to obtain through his action; for example, almsgiving toward making satisfaction for sins. The end of the worker is the cause which moves the worker to acting.
The end of the worker can be the same as the end of the work, and it can be different from the end of the work. If an artisan builds a house, the end of the work, or of the house, is that it serve for dwelling; the end of the worker can be the same, namely that he construct dwellings, but it can also be another: that he make a profit, that he acquire provisions for himself.
- If we refer these things to God and to the things created by Him, and ask about the end of the Creator, or worker, and also about the end of creation, or work, it is clear first that there can be no discourse about a motive cause of creation, since God can be moved to acting by no good, neither external nor internal, but only about the reason why God willed that creatures should exist. Then it is certain that even God, acting ad extra, intends some good which He strives to obtain through His works or through creatures.
The end and the motive of an action differ from each other. For the motive is that good which moves the agent to the action; but the end is called both that good to the obtaining of which the action is ordered by its nature, and that good which the agent intends to obtain by his action. This good moves the agent to placing the action. Therefore only the end in this latter sense is the motive of the action, but not the end taken in the former sense, unless the agent is moved by that good to placing the action. Thus the internal end of eating is the preservation of life. In him who eats for the sake of pleasure, pleasure is the motive of eating; in him who eats in order to preserve life, the end is at the same time the motive of eating.
1 Cf. Kleutgen, Theologie der Vorzeit^2 (Munster: Theissing, 1872), vol. 1, n. 427 ff.; vol. 2, chief part 4: "Von der ubernaturlichen Gemeinschaft mit Gott"; chief part 5: "Vom naturlichen und ubernaturlichen Ziel und Ende des Menschen"; vol. 5, chief part 3: "Von der praktischen Theologie." Bouquillon, Theologia moralis fundamentalis^3, bk. 1, De ultimo fine; bk. 2, De mediis ad finem. Schwane, Allgemeine Moraltheologie (Freiburg: Herder, 1885), § 13. Th. Meyer, Institutiones iuris naturalis^4 (Freiburg: Herder, 1907), I, n. 35 ff. V. Cathrein, Moralphilosophie^4 (Freiburg: Herder, 1904), p. 79 ff.
14. 1. The reason which moved God to create man, or the world, is the divine goodness or the infinite perfection of God. Therefore love and the highest esteem of the divine perfection is the reason for which God from eternity wills that created things should exist in time, and that man should exist.
The reason for which God wills something is goodness, just as the reason for which He understands something is truth. But it cannot be a goodness distinct from God and placed outside God; otherwise God would not be most perfect and sufficient unto Himself. Therefore it is the divine goodness itself. Hence Sacred Scripture says: "The Lord has made all things for Himself,"1 namely by gratuitous goodness,2 and St. Augustine says: "Because God is good, we are."3
From the fact that man was created for the sake of divine goodness or the infinite divine perfection, two things necessarily follow: that man is a participation or participated likeness of the divine goodness, just as, analogically, an effect is a participation of the cause from which it flows; and that man, since he is a likeness and image, is a manifestation and representation of the divine goodness.
- The good for the obtaining of which man was created by God is twofold: the external glory of God and the beatitude of man. The former is called the external end of man; the latter, the internal end of man.
a. The external glory of God. God creates man, as He creates the whole world, not in order to obtain some good for Himself, but in order to communicate His good to man, and in order that man may manifest it and acknowledge it with praise. But the external glory of God consists in the manifestation of the divine good and in knowledge of it with praise.
a. Glory is twofold, internal and external. Internal glory is the perfection and excellence on account of which someone is worthy to be known and praised; external glory is an external work on account of which someone merits admiration and praise.
Internal glory is either objective, namely the perfection and excellence itself, which constitutes the object of knowledge and the motive of praise, or formal, which is the knowledge of that excellence itself and the praise, love, and joy which follow from this knowledge. External glory likewise is either objective, namely the external work itself, which constitutes the object of knowledge and the reason for praise and admiration, or formal, which is the knowledge of the work and the praise, love, and admiration which follow from it.
b. Therefore the definition by which glory is usually defined, "clear knowledge with praise," that is, knowledge concerning someone's excellence with acknowledgment and praise of the same, this definition, I say, sets forth formal external glory, which in the proper sense is called glory.
c. Objective external glory of God is the universal ultimate end of all created things and properly absolute, both because all things are so ordered to it that its attainment is necessary, and because it is not ordered to another end. Subjective external glory of God is the proper end of man, as a rational creature.
d. Since the nature of creatures is diverse, the glory which they were created to exhibit is also diverse: irrational creatures, which are only a certain trace of God,4 glorify God objectively by their mere existence, since they manifest God and His attributes; but man, who is the image and likeness of God,5 can know, praise, and love the excellence of God, and therefore by his existence he objectively glorifies God, and by admiration of God's works he formally glorifies Him.
b. The beatitude of man. Since man was made for the glory of God, he was created to know and love God; but the beatitude of man consists in the knowledge and love of God; therefore the ultimate end of man is the glory of God and at the same time the beatitude of man. Each end is acquired by the same acts of knowledge and love.
Beatitude is distinguished as twofold: objective or external, which is the good in whose possession man becomes blessed; and subjective or internal, which is the attainment and possession of that good. Moral philosophy demonstrates at length that the objective beatitude of man is nothing other than God, the highest good, since there is no other good which can quiet the appetite of man, and that subjective beatitude consists in the knowledge and love of God, since by these acts man is intimately joined with the highest good and enjoys it.6
Note. What the ultimate end of man is, is here shown from the end which God had and had to have in creation; moral philosophy deduces the same from the very nature of man.
1 Prov. 16:4.
2 St. Bernard, Sermon 3 on Pentecost, n. 4.
3 De doctrina christiana l. 1, n. 32.
4 Job 11:7.
5 Gen. 1:26-27.
6 Cf. Cathrein I^4, p. 81 f., 96 ff.; Meyer I, n. 59 ff.
15. The external glory of God is the primary end of man; perfect beatitude is the secondary end of man.
a. Whatever God wills, He wills for the sake of His goodness. Therefore He wills the beatitude of man only for the sake of His goodness, namely so that this goodness may be communicated and manifested, or for the sake of His external glory. Therefore He wills His external glory primarily, and the beatitude of man secondarily. b. Since the love of God is ordered, He wills individual goods according to their dignity. But the glory of God, since it is a divine good, excels the beatitude of man in dignity, which is the good of a creature.
The Hermesianists thought that this order of ends had to be inverted, namely that God principally intends the beatitude of man, and His own glory secondarily, lest God, if He ultimately referred all things to His own glory, should have to be called desirous of His own advantage and ambitious. But: a. the external glory of God, which is the primary end of creatures, is not some advantage or internal good of God, since such a good cannot accrue to God, as being most perfect. b. He is called ambitious who seeks glory not due to him, or glory due to him in an undue manner; but God seeks and intends glory most due to Himself and in a due manner, namely from love of His infinite perfection and goodness. Therefore God wills and intends only that which right order requires.1
1 Cf. Kleutgen, Theologie der Vorzeit I, n. 428 ff.
16. The beatitude to which man is destined in the present order consists in the intuitive vision of God and in the highest love and joy which result from it.
a. Vision. "Beloved, now we are sons of God; and it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is."1 By these words the Apostle teaches that our state in eternity will be far different from that which we now have: for then we shall be like God in glory and beatitude; and the cause of this wonderful transformation is the intuitive vision of God. "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away. Now we see through a mirror in an enigma: but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know as I also am known."2 From these words we learn that the knowledge of God which we enjoy in this life is far inferior to the knowledge which we shall enjoy in eternity: for the knowledge of this life, whether natural through reason or supernatural through faith, is mediated knowledge of God; but the knowledge of the future life is immediate vision and intuition of God. Benedict XII declares: "By apostolic authority we define that the blessed enjoy the divine essence, and also that from such vision and fruition the souls of those who have already departed are truly blessed and have eternal life and rest."3
b. Love. From the intuitive vision by which the human intellect is intimately joined with the divine essence, there arises in the will, by natural necessity, love of the highest good immediately known. The Apostle signifies this highest charity, by which man is borne toward God, in these words: "Now there remain faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."4 For he says charity is greater than faith and hope because it is also to remain in eternity.
c. Joy. Speaking of eternal beatitude, Sacred Scripture says: "Well done, good and faithful servant ... enter into the joy of thy Lord."5 "Your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one shall take from you."6 And indeed, since through the love of the highest good present every appetite is satisfied and quieted, and since man at the same time knows that the possession of the highest good cannot cease, there necessarily follows from this that highest joy by which Sacred Scripture designates eternal beatitude.
d. The perfect beatitude of man consists in those acts by which he perfectly possesses and enjoys the highest good. But by the intuitive vision of God and by the love which necessarily follows from it, man possesses the highest good in the most perfect way and enjoys it. Therefore Benedict XII says: The blessed "enjoy the divine essence, and from such vision and fruition the souls of those who have already departed are truly blessed."
1 1 John 3:2.
3 Constitution Benedictus Deus, January 29, 1336.
4 1 Cor. 13:13.
5 Matt. 25:21.
6 John 16:22.
17. It is supernatural. The beatitude to which man is destined in the present order is truly supernatural, that is, it exceeds all the powers and all the demands of created nature, and is a participation in the divine life itself.
The beatitude which is promised to us in heaven can be known only by Him who searches the deep things of the Godhead; but such beatitude surpasses both the powers and the demands of created nature, and therefore is supernatural in the strict sense.1 The beatitude of the Son of God is altogether supernatural to created nature; but the beatitude which awaits us in eternity is a participation in the beatitude of the Son of God Himself: for He will grant us to sit with Him on His throne, just as He Himself sits on the throne of His Father;2 He will dispose the kingdom for us, just as the Father has disposed it for Him; He will grant that we eat and drink at His table in His kingdom.3 The beatitude which awaits us in eternity consists in the intuitive vision of God, together with the love which necessarily results from it. But this is the beatitude of God Himself, and consequently is altogether supernatural. The sonship by which man is constituted an adoptive son of God is plainly supernatural; therefore the beatitude which corresponds in due proportion to adoptive sonship is also supernatural. But the beatitude which we await in eternity is the beatitude of the sons of God.4 Although man can produce ethically good works by the powers of nature, nevertheless he cannot perform, without the help of grace, any work that is apt for the ultimate end to which we have been destined by God. But if grace alone renders us apt for works proportioned to the ultimate end, our ultimate end is supernatural.
1 "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love Him; but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." 1 Cor. 2:9-10.
2 "He who has overcome, I will give to sit with Me on My throne; just as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne." Apoc. 3:21.
3 "And I dispose to you, as My Father has disposed to Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom." Luke 22:29 f.
4 "For whoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry: Abba, Father. For the Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit that we are sons of God. But if sons, also heirs: heirs indeed of God, and coheirs of Christ." Rom. 8:14-17. Cf. Gal. 4:1 ff.