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The Right Of Seigniory In
Theocratic Society

Chapter 5

The nature of divine seigniory

546. In order to know the fullness of divine rights relative to human creatures, it is necessary to consider the unique nature of divine seigniory over mankind. Such seigniory has to be preserved intact from all human laws, and safeguarded. Human laws, if they are to be just, must in fact be founded on divine seigniory.

547. Divine seigniory is both de facto and de iure seigniory. It will help if we say a word about both, because seigniory by right is very closely connected with seigniory in fact.

548. God, who is essential, complete and absolute being, must have in himself the three forms of being, that is, ideality, reality and morality.

549. Through these forms of being, he exercises absolute, de facto dominion in three modes over mankind.

550. God, so far as he has the form of ideality, that is, in so far as he is as ideal being, communicates to human beings the knowledge of good as such.

551. The knowledge of what is good as such is an element in the formation of the human will, because the will itself is simply an inclination towards good without determination or specification. Such an inclination is the will in first act, through which the will as potency is in being.
Human beings can choose between one good and another, but they can never choose that which the practical reason does not judge as good. They are inclined, therefore, towards good as such by an unavoidable necessity of nature. Thus, absolute, de facto dominion is exercised by God over his creatures through the communication of himself to them as ideal being.(45)

552. God, in so far as he has the form of reality, that is, in so far as he is real being without qualification, exercises absolute, de facto dominion over mankind through creation and conservation, and through providence by which he disposes and orders all that occurs. Through creation, he makes creatures subsist; conserving them, he gives them the reality of being at every successive moment of time, so that if they were not sustained by his creating power they would ipso facto cease; finally, through his providence, he harmonises the different measures of being and the different forces given to his creatures so that all may move together towards the realisation of the great design he has conceived from eternity.

553. The Creator's great design is that creatures, through the quantity of action he bestows on them, may come to know and glorify him in the best way possible, thus realising in themselves the greatest quantity of holiness and happiness which result from the practical knowledge they have of God and the consequent glory they render him. We can rightly affirm, therefore, that the glory of God is the unfailing end of the universe. Human free will is in service to this end with the same infallibility as that of necessary agents in nature; wicked persons themselves are necessary means for reaching it. Divine Scripture says that the will of God will be done in its entirety, and that his design, conceived from eternity and announced at the beginning will finally attain completion from the course of all events. His dominion, therefore, is absolute; nothing can frustrate it.(46)

554. Finally, in so far as the form of morality is in God, he has de facto dominion for realising his justice by bestowing bliss on the just, and merited unhappiness on the unjust. This dominion also is absolute, and cannot be resisted in any way by any being. Good persons are destined for peace and joy; those who dwell in heaven cannot but love God, who reigns in them without impediment as the power bringing them bliss. Remorse and torment are reserved for evil-doers; those condemned to hell cannot but fear God without limit, experiencing him as the power that punishes with great equity. This kind of de facto dominion also has no conceivable limits, nor opposition of any sort.

555. The de facto dominion exercised by the supreme Being over mankind is therefore threefold, and results in a threefold necessity: the moral necessity of following good; the necessity of accomplishing the eternal, divine design; the necessity of the triumph of justice through inexorable, ineffable rewards, and through inevitable, ineffable punishments.

556. God's right of dominion over mankind is also threefold because the three modes of being considered in God constitute three original titles of absolute and essential right.

557. The first of these titles is that of truth: God is subsistent truth.

558. We have shown that the principle of morality consists in truth; morally speaking truth is the primal, originating force of obligation for mankind.(47)
Every morally obliging authority and force is founded essentially in the light of truth.
Hence God, as subsistent truth, is not any title of dominion, but a supreme title from which all other titles receive their obligating force. God, as such, has by his essence the right of supreme dominion over intelligent creatures; this dominion synthesises and simplifies in itself every other juridical dominion.

559. The second title is that of principle of being: God is the cause of creatures; he is their Creator.

560. Every creature, therefore, and every entity found in creatures, is the absolute property of God, posited by God at every moment.

561. Creatures must conform to the will of the Creator. Otherwise, they would be attempting to violate the divine right of ownership by trying to impede the owner from using what is his in the way he wishes.

562. Because nothing is so closely united with and dependent upon human beings as their own union and dependence upon the act with which God posits them, God's ownership is more immediate and universal than any other.

563. The third title is that of absolute good: God is essential holiness and bliss.

564. It follows from this title that human beings do not attain the final good of holiness and eternal happiness unless they draw them from God.

565. It is necessary for human beings to acknowledge God as the supreme fount of their perfection. If they are not informed by God, essential holiness and bliss, they cannot themselves possess, nor find elsewhere, the full attainment of that which constitutes their end.

566. Acknowledging one's end in God involves acknowledging absolute dependence upon God. This dependence is such that man loses himself if he does not receive from God what saves and perfects him.

567. Hence this final title springs from the moral necessity incumbent upon persons of receiving perfection.(48)

568. What has been outlined here shows that the three titles of divine dominion over mankind respond to the three categorical forms of morality studied in Conscience.(49)

Notes

(45) Relative to the intellect, ideal being is called `exemplary truth' when beheld in relationship to things; the intellect is completely subject to ideal being as exemplary truth. Relative to the will, being as intuited in the idea is called `good as such', and has full command and direction of the human will. I have preferred to consider being as what is good because as such it dominates the personal activity of human beings.

(46) `I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, "My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish my purpose"' (Is 46: 9-10).

(47) Cf. ER, 103-107.

(48) Cf. ER, 215-222.

(49) 162-175, 198 - The most universal principle of morality is an abstract formula, implying the three categorical forms. It does not, therefore, provide a fourth title of right.

Chapter 06

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