Book I, Chapter 30

Chapter XXX. That voluntary things are governed by the laws of divine providence.

Lest anyone believe that what was set out earlier about providence holds true only in natural things, it seems that I should show specifically that voluntary things are in no way exempt from the laws of such providence. This follows from the twenty-seventh chapter,1 and it can be shown in the same way by that chapter's reasons and authorities. The two nearest chapters make it clear besides, over and above what is needed. Again, every wise father of a household provides for and takes care of better and more perfect things more fully and more attentively. But rational and voluntary things are better and more perfect than other natural things:

for they are the end of those things, as 21 teaches. And this appears to be the reasoning of the Savior, as he wholesomely admonishes the Epicureans,2 who are anxious for themselves and place no hope in divine providence: "Do not be anxious for your soul, what you will eat, nor for your body, what you will wear. Is not the soul more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky, for they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more than they? Which of you, by thinking, can add one cubit to his stature? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not labor, nor do they spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. But if the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, A1 God so clothes, how much more you of little faith?" Matthew 6. From these words he concludes: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek all these things. For your Father knows that you need all these."

But what would that knowledge of the Father be worth to ‖B1 us, unless he provided for his children in accordance with it? In this passage of argument, as is plain to anyone who looks, and as Chrysostom says, Christ argues with a double argument, or topic. First, descending from the greater to the lesser, when he puts first: "Is not the soul more than food, and the body more than clothing?" Second, on the contrary, ascending from the lesser to the greater, when he puts first: B2 "Look at the birds of the sky," etc. And on the words "Are you not much more than they?" Chrysostom adds: God made all animals for the sake of man, but man for his own sake. The more precious, then, the creation of man is, the greater is God's care for him. And many holy Doctors, some of whom the Gloss there cites, expound this passage in the same way. Again, after the Savior in Matthew 10 foretold to the Apostles the persecutions they would suffer for his name, in order to strengthen them against the fear of death through divine providence, he said: "Do not fear those who kill the body. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not fear; you are better than many sparrows." C1 Here Chrysostom says that he again brings in the discourse about the providence of God; and Jerome speaks, as is cited in the Gloss, and the sense is this: if small animals do not fall without God as Author, and providence is in all things, and the things among them that are to perish do not perish without God's will, then you who are eternal ought not to fear that you live without God's providence. As for what he says, "even the hairs of your head are all numbered," it shows God's immeasurable providence toward men, and signifies an ineffable effect,3 namely that nothing of ours lies hidden from God. C2 But according to Hilary and Chrysostom, the numbering of the hairs shows the diligence of divine providence around us. The Apostle too seems to confirm this reasoning in 1 Corinthians 9, where he holds that God's providence, or care, around natural and irrational things is almost nothing compared with his care around us, saying: "It is written in the law, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain. Is God concerned with oxen? Or does he not say it entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake." With these the Philosopher also agrees, in On the Heavens 2, 50,4 where, arguing against those who posit that the stars are moved by their own motion, he supposes that nature takes more care of precious things, saying: "Moreover it is unreasonable that nature gave them, that is, the stars, no organ for motion. For nature, as is fitting, does nothing in vain, nor, having cared for animals, would it thus have disregarded precious things." Again, otherwise the whole of Scripture on the predestination of the saints and the reprobation of the wicked would be emptied of force.