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We sometimes consider God's will as it is in itself,
and finding it all holy and all good, we willingly
praise, bless and adore it, and sacrifice our own and
all other creatures' wills to its obedience, by that
divine exclamation: Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven.
At other times we consider God's will in the
particular effects of it, as in the events that touch
us, and accidents that befall us, and finally in the
declaration and manifestation of his intentions. And
although God in reality has but one quite single and
most simple will, yet we call it by different names,
according to the variety of the means whereby we know
it; by which variety also we are, in various ways,
obliged to conform ourselves to it.
Christian doctrine clearly proposes unto us the
truths which God wills that we should believe, the
goods he will have us hope for, the pains he will
have us dread, what he will have us love, the
commandments he will have us observe, and the
counsels he desires us to follow. And this is called
God's signified will, because he has signified and
made manifest unto us that it is his will and
intention that all this should be believed, hoped
for, feared, loved and practised.
Now forasmuch as this signified will of God proceeds
by way of desire, and not by way of absolute will, we
have power either to follow it by obedience, or by
disobedience to resist it; for to this purpose God
makes three acts of his will: he wills that we should
be able to resist, he desires that we should not
resist, and yet allows us to resist if we please.
That we have power to resist depends on our
natural condition and liberty; that we do resist
proceeds from our malice; that we do not resist is
according to the desire of the divine goodness. And
therefore when we resist, God contributes nothing to
our disobedience, but leaving our will in the hands
of its liberty permits it to make choice of evil; but
when we obey, God contributes his assistance, his
inspiration, and his grace. For permission is an
action of the will which of itself is barren, sterile
and fruitless, and is as it were a passive action,
which acts not but only permits action; desire on the
contrary is an active, fruitful, fertile action,
which excites, invites and urges.
Wherefore God, in his desire that we should follow
his signified will, solicits, exhorts, excites,
inspires, aids and succours us, but in permitting us
to resist he does nothing but simply leave us to our
own wills, according to our free election, contrary
to his desire and intention. And yet this desire is a
true desire, for how can one more truly express the
desire that his friend should make good cheer, than
by providing a good and excellent banquet, as did the
king in the Gospel parable, and then, inviting,
urging, and in a manner compelling him, by prayers,
exhortations and pressing messages, to come and sit
down at the table and eat.
In truth, he that should by main force open his
friend's mouth, cram meat into his throat, and make
him swallow it, would not be giving courteous
entertainment to his friend, but would be using him
like a beast, and like a capon that has to be
fattened. This kind of favour requires to be offered
by way of invitation, persuasion, and solicitation,
not violently and forcibly thrust upon a man, and
hence it is done by way of desire, not of absolute
will.
Now it is the same with regard to the signified
will of God: for in this, God desires with a true
desire that we should do what he makes known, and to
this end he provides us with all things necessary,
exhorting and urging us to make use of them. In this
kind of favour one could desire no more, and as the
sunbeams cease not to be true sunbeams when they are
shut out and repulsed by some obstacle, so God's
signified will remains the true will of God even if
it be resisted, though it has not the effects which
it would have if it were seconded.
The conformity then of our heart to the signified
will of God consists in this, that we will all that
the divine goodness signifies unto us to be of his
intention, believing according to his doctrine,
hoping according to his promises, fearing according
to his threats, loving and living according to his
ordinances and admonitions, to which all the
protestations which we make so often in the holy
ceremonies of the Church do tend.
For on this account we stand while the Gospel is
read, as being prepared to obey the holy
signification of God's will contained therein; hence
we kiss the book at the place of the Gospel, in
adoration of the sacred word which declares his
heavenly will. Hence many saints of the old time
carried in their bosoms the Gospel written, as an
epithem of love, as is related of S. Cecily, and S.
Matthew's Gospel was actually found upon the heart of
the dead S. Barnabas, written with his own hand.
Wherefore in the ancient councils, in the midst of
the whole assembly of Bishops, there was erected a
high throne, and upon it was placed the book of the
holy Gospels, which represented the person of our
Saviour,King, Doctor, Director, Spirit and sole Heart
of the Councils, and of the whole Church: so much did
they reverence the signification of God's will
expressed in that divine book. Indeed that great
mirror of the pastoral order, S. Charles, Archbishop
of Milan, never studied the holy Scripture but
bareheaded and upon his knees, to testify with what
respect we are to read and hear the signified will of
God.
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