Chapter II, Section 1: Divine Preservation

Pohle, God the Author of Nature and the Supernatural, Part I, Chapter II, §1 (pp. 61–66)

Chapter II: The Continued Existence of the Created Universe, or Divine Preservation and Concurrence

God, having produced out of nothing the various substances that constitute the created universe, with all their properties and powers, continues to influence them, (1) by preserving them in their being,¹ and (2) by concurring in their operations.² We shall consider the divine Preservation of the universe and God’s Concurrence with His creatures in two separate Sections.

Section 1: Divine Preservation

1. The Nature of Divine Preservation

All created beings are contingent and absolutely dependent on the creative First Cause. It follows that, once created, they cannot continue in substantial existence without the co-operation of the Creator. A created being never for a moment ceases to be an ens ab alio,³ and therefore forever depends upon the preservative influence of God. A sudden withdrawal of that influence would result in the inevitable annihilation of the creature. Consequently divine Preservation is as indispensable for the continued existence of the cosmos as Creation was for its beginning.⁴ In this sense the preservation of the universe is sometimes called “continued creation.”

This does not mean that all created beings sink back into nothingness at every moment of their existence, to be each time promptly recreated by God, as Bayle scoffingly insinuated.⁵ Divine preservation must not be conceived as intermittent, but as the continued action of God. The power which sustains the universe is an incommunicable attribute of God in the same sense as the creative power which called it into being.

What we have so far said is sufficient to show the falsity of the systems that have been at various times devised in respect of divine Preservation. First and above all we must note that the divine Preservation of the cosmos is not merely negative. “It is not enough for God not to destroy His creatures, He must exercise some positive influence on them.”⁶ Preservation must be conceived as a positive divine influence directed to the very substance of a creature, and by which the creature is enabled to continue its existence.⁷

Like Creation, Preservation, entitatively considered, is an eternal and necessary act; terminatively, however, it is temporal and free.

2. The Teaching of Revelation

Though never formally defined as an article of faith, the doctrine of the divine Preservation of the universe is undoubtedly contained in the sources of Revelation. The Roman Catechism declares that, unless preserved by God’s Providence, the universe would instantly return to its original nothingness.⁸

a) Holy Scripture clearly enforces the necessity of divine Preservation, as distinct from Creation. Wisd. XI, 26: “Quomodo posset aliquid permanere, nisi tu voluisses, aut quod a te vocatum non esset, conservaretur?” — How could any thing endure, if thou wouldst not? or be preserved, if not called by thee? If this preservative influence were withdrawn, all living beings would perish. Ps. CIII, 29: “Auferes spiritum eorum, et deficient et in pulverem suum revertentur” — Thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust. Holy Scripture describes divine Preservation either actively as an “upholding” or keeping together, or passively as the indwelling of all things in God. Heb. I, 2 sq.: “Per quem fecit et saecula, … portansque⁹ omnia verbo virtutis suae” — By whom also he made the world … upholding all things by the word of his power. Col. I, 16 sq.: “Omnia per ipsum et in ipso creata sunt … et omnia in ipso constant¹⁰” — All things were created by him and in him … and by him all things consist.¹¹

b) The teaching of the Fathers on the whole conforms to the Scripture texts just quoted. Origen commentates on Acts XVII, 28 as follows: “In what manner then shall we live and move and be in God, unless with His power He grasps and holds together the universe?”¹² St. Chrysostom observes: “To hold the universe together is no smaller matter than to have created it. Nay, if we be allowed to marvel, it is something even greater. For while the act of Creation produced beings, the act of Preservation sustains them, lest they return to nothingness.”¹³ St. Augustine remarks: “The world would scarcely endure even for one single moment, if God were to withdraw His governance from it.”¹⁴

We will close the Patristic argument with a passage from the writings of St. Gregory the Great: “Cuncta ex nihilo facta sunt, eorumque essentia rursum ad nihilum tenderet, nisi eam auctor omnium regiminis manu teneret” — All things were made out of nothing, and their essence would tend to return to nothing, did not the author of all sustain them by his governance.¹⁵

c) It may be set down as a certain theological conclusion that in point of fact God will never actually withdraw His preserving influence either from the universe as a whole, or from any of its constituent parts. He will forever sustain the substance of His Creation. With regard to spiritual substances, their eternal duration (immortality) is an ethical postulate based upon God’s wisdom, sanctity, and fidelity. As to material substances (not, however, their combinations) we have positive assurance that they will also endure forever. Cfr. Wisd. I, 14: “Creavit Deus, ut essent [i.e., permanerent] omnia” — He created all things that they might be.¹⁶

Transubstantiation proves nothing against this; for though bread and wine disappear in the conversion, they are not properly annihilated. The same quantity of natural substance is restored when the species become corrupted.¹⁷

Notes

Readings

*Scheeben, Dogmatik, Vol. II, §§ 130, 131, Freiburg 1878 (Wilhelm-Scannell’s Manual, Vol. I, pp. 361 sqq.); Heinrich, Dogmat. Theologie, Vol. V, §§ 272–273, 2nd ed., Mainz 1888; Lessius, De Perfect. Moribusque Div., l. 10–11; St. Thomas, Contr. Gent., III, 65 (Rickaby, Of God and His Creatures, pp. 236 sqq.); Idem, De Potent., qu. 5; Petavius, De Deo, VIII, 2; B. Boedder, S.J., Natural Theology, pp. 348 sqq., 2nd ed., London 1899; L. J. Walker, S.J., art. “Providence,” in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII.

Note on this transcription: as with the previous articles, page-break footnote columns were interleaved by the OCR and have been hand-separated. Two short Greek glosses embedded in Scripture quotations (behind “portans” in Heb. I, 3, and behind “constant” in Col. I, 17) were reconstructed from garbled characters with reasonable confidence. A third, extremely garbled Greek/Hebrew parenthetical inside the Wisdom XI, 26 quotation could not be reliably reconstructed and has been silently omitted rather than guessed at.