Treatise I: On the Subject for Whom Moral Theology Is Written

Usefulness of the treatise. It is helpful first of all to know to whom moral rules are to be proposed and accommodated.

The subject of moral theology is man, in his present condition as a wayfarer.

"Man," I say, that is, a rational creature, a person, and a part of the human race divided into perfect societies.

"Creature": therefore fully constituted under God, from whom he received being, with the absolute obligation of preserving the order promulgated by God, whether in human nature itself, or by superadded positive will.

"Rational": therefore a formal praiser of God, who ought to refer both himself and the world to God.

"Person," that is, existing for himself, or made for a personal end or beatitude, and, by an intimate appetite which shows itself in every pursuit by which he seeks the true, the good, and the beautiful, tending toward God.

"Part of the human race divided into perfect societies": therefore, with his personal dignity preserved, subordinated to the society of which he is a member.

"In his present condition," of man elevated and redeemed by Christ. As elevated, man is called to the immediate possession of God, which is now begun through sanctifying grace, but will be fully perfected in heaven through glory. As redeemed by Christ, he is his adoptive brother, called to assimilation to the Son of God, with whom, as with the head, he becomes one body as a member.

"As a wayfarer," that is, moving himself toward the terminus, or a being not yet perfect, who ought to perfect or complete himself.

Yet do not think that these various aspects and connected functions are opposed or disparate. On the contrary, they conspire into a wonderful unity. To whichever one he fittingly tends, man fulfills all the others. Thus, he who obeys God praises God, becomes blessed, tends toward God, serves society, imitates Christ, and perfects himself. Nor can anyone render himself useful to society in the due manner without at the same time perfecting himself and performing or obtaining all the other things. You may say the same of him who truly pursues his own perfection.

Man perfect in the terminus is man deified by the beatific vision. Man perfect on the way is man who is wholly disposed toward that deification, turned toward it with full will. For the perfection of the imperfect is disposition toward perfection. But man is disposed toward deification insofar as he renders himself conformable to God in that part which it is in his power to join to God or to separate from God, that is, in the will. This now, as we shall see later, is done through charity.

This same thing is shown in another and perhaps better way. In the present condition of our elevation, our perfection is less our own work than a divine benefit to be accepted by us. Wherefore, the disposition toward deification stands in our adaptation to the will of God, which, just as it alone gave the vocation, alone can complete the same by the beatific possession of God. And this perfection is also an imitation of Christ, who taught us to pray: "Thy will be done"; and from the beginning of his mortal life was the most perfect follower of the divine will, according to that saying: "In the head of the book it is written of me, that I should do thy will, O God" (Heb. 10, 7).

Corollary. If things stand thus, moral theology is at the same time the science of rectitude, of perfection, and of beatitude.

Man, a rational creature, a person, and at the same time part of a perfect society, in his present condition as a wayfarer, ought both to serve God and society, and to consult for himself and imitate Christ. Yet these functions are so closely joined with one another that, by the formal execution of one, the others at the same time are materially fulfilled. But the perfection of the wayfarer is that he dispose himself to deification through conformity with the divine will. Insofar as it teaches these things, moral theology is at the same time the science of rectitude, perfection, and happiness.