OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN GENERAL.
GOD, then, Theotimus, needs not many acts, because one only divine act of his all-powerful will, by reason of its infinite perfection, is sufficient to produce all the variety of his works. But we mortals must treat them after the method and manner of understanding which our small minds can attain to; according to which, to speak of divine providence, let us consider, I pray you, the reign of the great Solomon, as a perfect model of the art of good government.
This great king then, knowing by divine inspiration that the
commonwealth is to religion as the body to the soul, and religion
to the commonwealth as the soul to the body, disposed with
himself all the parts requisite as well for the establishment of
religion as of the commonwealth. As to religion, he determined
that a temple must be erected of such and such length, breadth,
and height, so many porches and courts, so many windows and
thus of all the rest which belonged to the temple; then so many
sacrificers, so many singers and other officers of the temple.
And as for the commonwealth he determined to make a royal
palace and court for his majesty, and in this so many stewards,
so many gentlemen and other courtiers; and, for the people,
judges, and other magistrates who were to execute justice further, for the assurance of the kingdom, and securing of the public peace which it enjoyed, he arranged to have in time of
Now having disposed and arranged in his mind all the principal things requisite for his kingdom, he came to the act of providing them, and thought out all that was necessary to construct the temple, to maintain the sacred officers, the royal ministers and magistrates, and the soldiers whom he intended to appoint, and resolved to send to Hiram for fit timber, to begin commerce with Peru1 and Ophir, and to take all convenient means to procure all things requisite for the fulfilment and success of his undertaking. Neither stayed he there, Theotimus, for having made his project and deliberated with himself about the proper means to accomplish it, coming to the practice, he actually created officers as he had disposed, and by a good government caused provision to be made of all things requisite to carry out and to accomplish their charges. So that having the knowledge of the art of reigning well, he put it into practice, executed that disposition which he had made in his mind for the creation of officers of every sort, and provided in effect what he had seen it necessary to provide; and so his art of government which consisted in disposition, and in providence or foresight, was put into practice by the creation of officers and by actual government and good management. But inasmuch as the disposing is useless without the creation of officers, and creation also vain without that provident foresight which looks after what is needed to maintain the officers created or appointed; and since this maintaining by good government is nothing more than a providence put into effect, therefore not only the disposition but also the creation and good government of Solomon were called by the name of providence, nor do we indeed say that a man is provident unless he govern well.
Now, Theotimus, speaking of heavenly things according to the
impression we have gained by the consideration of human things,
we affirm that God, having had an eternal and most perfect
And because hereafter, Theotimus, I shall exhort you to
unite your will to God's providence, I would, while on this part
of my subject, say a word about natural providence. God then,
willing to provide men with the natural means necessary for
them to render glory to the divine goodness, produced in their
behalf all the other animals and the plants, and to provide for
the other animals and the plants, he has produced a variety of
lands, seasons, waters, winds, rains; and, as well for man as
for the other things appertaining to him, he created the elements,
the sky, the stars, ordaining in an admirable manner that almost
all creatures should mutually serve one another. Horses carry
us, and we care for them; sheep feed and clothe us, and we
feed them; the earth sends vapours to the air; and the air
rain to the earth; the hand serves the foot, and the foot the
hand. O! he who should consider this general commerce and
traffic which creatures have together, in so perfect a correspondence - with how strong an amorous passion for this sovereign wisdom would he be moved, crying out: Thy providence 0
Thus, dear Theotimus, this providence reaches all, reigns
over all, and reduces all to its glory. There are indeed fortuitous cases and unexpected accidents, but they are only fortuitous or unexpected to us, and are of course most certain
to the divine providence, which foresees them, and directs them
to the general good of the universe. These accidents happen
by the concurrence of various causes, which having no natural
alliance one with the other, produce each of them its particular
effect, but in such a way that from their concourse there issues
another effect of a different nature, to which though one could
not foresee it, all these different causes contributed. For example,
it was reasonable to chastise the curiosity of the poet Aeschylus,
who being told by a diviner that he would perish by the fall of
some house, kept himself all that day in the open country, to
escape his fate, and as he was standing up bareheaded, a falcon
which held in its claws a tortoise, seeing this bald head, and
thinking it to he the point of a rock, let the tortoise fall upon it,
and behold Aeschylus dies immediately, crushed by the house
and shell of a tortoise. This was doubtless a fortuitous accident, for this man did not go into the country to die, but to
escape death, nor did the falcon dream of crushing a poet's head,
but the head and shell of a tortoise to make itself master of the
meat within: yet it chanced to the contrary, for the tortoise
remained safe and poor Aeschylus was killed. According to us
this chance was unexpected, but in respect of the Divine providence which looked from above and saw the concurrence of
causes, it was an act of justice punishing the superstition of the
man. The adventures of Joseph of old were admirable in their
variety and the way they passed from one extreme to the other.
His brethren who to ruin him had sold him were amazed
to see that he had become viceroy, and were mightily apprehensive
1 According to the opinion not uncommon in. S. Francis's day. (Tr.)
2 Wisdom xiv. 3.