Friday, March 12, 2010

1a 2ae q19 a4: Whether the goodness of the will depends on the eternal law? Yes.

Multo magis dependet bonitas voluntatis humanae a lege aeterna, quam a ratione humana, et ubi deficit humana ratio, oportet ad rationem aeternam recurrere, quia in omnibus causis ordinatis, effectus plus dependet a causa prima quam a causa secunda, quia causa secunda non agit nisi in virtute primae causae.

The goodness of the human will depends on the eternal law much more than on human aspectual apprehension, and when human aspectual apprehension fails, we must have recourse to the Eternal Formal Aspect, because wherever a number of causes are subordinate to one another, the effect depends more on the first than on the second cause, since the second cause acts only in virtue of the first.

Quod autem ratio humana sit regula voluntatis humanae, ex qua eius bonitas mensuretur, habet ex lege aeterna, quae est ratio divina.

Now it is from the eternal law, which is the Divine Formal Aspect, that human aspectual apprehension is the rule of the human will: the rule from which the will's goodness is measured.

Unde in Psalmo IV, dicitur, "multi dicunt, quis ostendit nobis bona? signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui, Domine", quasi diceret, "lumen rationis quod in nobis est, intantum potest nobis ostendere bona, et nostram voluntatem regulare, inquantum est lumen vultus tui, idest a vultu tuo derivatum.

Hence it is written (Psalm 4:6-7): "Many say: Who showeth us good things? The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us": as though to say: "The light of the formal aspect, which is in us [as our aspectual apprehension], is able to show us good things, and guide our will, insofar as it is the light of Thy countenance, i.e., derived from Thy countenance".

Lex aeterna sit nobis ignota secundum quod est in mente divina, innotescit tamen nobis aliqualiter, vel per rationem naturalem, quae ab ea derivatur ut propria eius imago, vel per aliqualem revelationem superadditam.

Although the eternal law is unknown to us according as it is in the Divine Mind, nevertheless it becomes known to us somewhat, either by natural aspectual apprehension, which is derived from the divine mind as its proper image, or by some sort of additional revelation.