The Right Of Seigniory In Theocratic Society
Chapter 9
Servitude before God demands three acts:
morality, worship and obedience
587. Three acts of human servitude respond to the three titles of divine seigniory.
588. The necessity of conforming all our activities to the rational order, wherein lies morality, responds to God's title as truth, as ideal being.
589. The necessity of acknowledging God as principle of every being, of adoring him and sacrificing to him,(56) of drawing close to him in every way in order to attract him, as it were, to us, wherein lies worship, responds to the God's title as real Being.
590. The necessity of harmonising every human wish with the divine will, however it may be known, responds to the God's title as holiness, as moral being, wherein consists positive obedience which, if perfect, not only fulfils the express commands, but also the counsels of the supremely good Lord.
591. These three acts of servitude are categorically distinct, although each one involves and supposes the others.
592. In fact, morality prescribes worship and the obedience to be given to God; worship is not perfect without morality and obedience; obedience cannot be conceived in an immoral person who does not offer worship to God. None of these acts can stand without the others.
593. Nevertheless, it is helpful to distinguish them mentally from one another. First, because the titles in which they are founded are distinct. Second, because the obligations expressly contained in each of these acts is only potentially or virtually present in the others. For example, the act of `living according to reason' is contained expressly in morality, which, however, refers only implicitly and virtually to worship and obedience. In worship, the obligation of acknowledging the seigniory of the supreme Being in our interior and exterior actions is actual and expressed, but its conformity with reason is present only implicitly. In obedience, the immediate purpose is our submission to the will of the supreme Being; the obligation of worship and of morality has to be argued from this.
594. Very often these three things have been separated, with great harm to man's duty of submission to God. Mistakes have been made in three ways.
595. Morality has been opposed to worship and obedience. It has been maintained that morality alone includes all divine worship, and all obedience to the being who is essentially reason. God as reality and holiness has been ignored.
596. Worship has been opposed to morality and obedience. It has been maintained that man's duty to God is fulfilled when worship has been satisfied (and in this case, worship is commonly understood as chiefly composed of exterior ceremonies). It has been forgotten that God is not only the principle of being, but also absolute reason and holy will.
597. Finally, obedience has been opposed to morality and worship. It has been maintained that man has no further obligation towards his Creator when he has fulfilled his positive, external commands, the letter of the law, not the spirit. God, as supreme reason and holy will to which man owes interior submission of will and heart, has been ignored.
598. Each of these errors resulted from the formation of imperfect concepts of morality, worship and obedience to God, because the implicit content of the concept was separated from their immediate content. Conclusions to be argued from what was implicit were ignored.
599. Each of these three summary duties constituting servitude due from creatures to the Creator possesses an unchangeable part, springing from it directly, and a part more or less developed depending upon the progress made by mankind.
600. The immediate, unchangeable part of morality is the imperative, `Follow the light of reason'. Its deduced and developed part are the particular imperatives formed by varying applications of the light of moral reason to changing and evolving circumstances.
601. The immediate, unchangeable part of worship is the imperative, `Acknowledge with your whole self the supreme dominion of the supreme Being'. Its deduced, developed part are the various acts of worship contained implicitly in this practical acknowledgement. These acts can vary and increase according to changeable circumstances, and independently of our will.
602. The immediate, unchangeable part of obedience is the imperative, `Obey the divine will'. Its deduced, developed part is made up of the various acts of obedience rendered necessary by better rational interpretation, more in harmony with the divine will, or by God's positive manifestation of his will in various matters.
Notes
(56) Sacrifice is the act by which creatures annihilate themselves, as it were, in order to show effectively their acknowledgement of the Creator's infinite seigniory.