The Right Of Seigniory In Theocratic Society
Chapter 10
Three acts of dominion exercised by God towards his creatures
603. Acts of dominion have to be distinguished from acts of mere power.
604. All God's acts form part of his power, but acts of dominion, as I call them, refer immediately to the servitude due to him from human creatures.
605. The servitude given to God by human beings is in part necessary, and in part free. Hence the distinction between de facto and de jure dominion.(57) We see that God forms his intelligent creatures to acknowledge him as supreme Lord either by means of their necessitated will (for example, in their tendency towards good in general) or in spite of their will (the damned, for example, have to believe in God's divine power notwithstanding their recalcitrance). In forming his creatures like this, God certainly exercises an act of just dominion over them.
606. However, we do not wish to consider the power of God, but those acts of dominion which God exercises simply by right. In this case he uses his right of seigniory, but at the same time leaves human beings free to act or not in accordance with their servitude. These divine acts can be reduced to three kinds:
1. The rational law, and God's positive commands (the divine-positive law).
2. External circumstances, directed by his Providence to obtaining the greatest
servitude from his intelligent creatures. These circumstances manifest his will
as soon as the law is applied to them.
3. The communication of himself, as real being, to human beings. Through this
communication he establishes his reign in souls (this is the order of grace and
of glory).(58)
607. It is easy to see that these three kinds of acts of seigniory respond to the three supreme modes in which the human mind thinks being.
Notes
(57) Cf. 546-648.
(58) The dominion of grace is sublimely expressed by St. Augustine when, addressing God, he says of the Holy Spirit: `Here we shall rejoice in you, our resting place. Love lifts us to this point, and your good Spirit raises our lowliness from the gates of death. In your will is our peace. Our body tends under its weight to its own place, either below or whither it truly belongs. Fire reaches up, stone bears down; they are under the influence of their different weights, they seek their proper place. Oil spread on water remains on the surface; water sinks when spread on oil. They are under the influence of their own weights, they seek their proper place. If they are not ordered as they should be, they are not at rest; if ordered, they rest. My weight is my love; it bears me wherever I am borne. We are set aflame by your gift, and immediately we are borne on high. Inflamed, we move and ascend the inclines of our heart, singing the canticle of the ascents' (Confessions, bk. 13, c. 11).