Part 24 (2/2)

We have seen that the agencies which const.i.tute the universal order have each its own inner principle of finality; that these agencies are not isolated but mutually related in such ways that the ends of each subserve an extrinsic and remoter end which is none other than this universal order whereby we recognize the world as a _cosmos_. The maintenance of this order is the _intrinsic_ end of the universe as a whole: an end which is _immanent_ in the universe, an end which is of course _a good_. But this universal order itself is _for an end_, an _extrinsic_, _transcendent_ end, distinct from itself; and this end, too, must be _a good_. ”The universe,” says St. Thomas,(530) ”has the good of order and another distinct good.” The universal order, says Aristotle, has itself an end, a _good_, which is _one_, and to which all else is ordained: ”p??? ?? ?pa?ta s??t?ta?ta?”.(531) What can this Supreme Good be, this absolutely Ultimate End, this Transcendent Principle of all nature, and of all nature's tendencies and activities? Whence comes this universal tendency of all nature, if not from the Being who is the One, Eternal, Immutable Prime Mover,(532) and whose moving influence is Love?(533) Such is the profound thought of Aristotle, a thought re-echoed so sublimely by the immortal poet of Christian philosophy in the closing line of the _Paradiso_:-

L'amor che muove il Sole e l'altre stelle.

The immediate factors of the universal order of nature, themselves devoid of intelligence, must therefore be the work of Intelligent Will. To arrange these factors as parts of one harmonious whole, as members of one orderly system, Supreme Wisdom must have conceived the plan and chosen the means to realize it. The manifestation of G.o.d's glory by the realization of this plan, such is the ultimate transcendent end of the whole created universe. ”The whole order of the universe,” writes St. Thomas, developing the thought of Aristotle,(534) ”is for the Prime Mover thereof; this order has for its purpose the working out in an orderly universe of the plan conceived and willed by the Prime Mover. And hence the Prime Mover is the principle of this universal order.”

The truths so briefly outlined in this closing chapter on the order and purpose of the universe have nowhere found more apt and lucid philosophical formulation than in the monumental writings of the Angel of the Christian Schools; nor perhaps have they ever elsewhere appeared in a more felicitous setting of poetic imagery than in these stanzas from the immortal epic of the Poet of the Christian Schools:-

... Le cose tutte quante Hann' ordine tra lora; e questa e forma Che l'universo a Dio fa simigliante.

Qui veggion l'alte creature l'orma Dell'eterno Valore, il quale e fine Al quale e fatta la toccata norma.

Nell' ordine ch'io dico sono accline Tutte nature per diverse sorti Piu al Principio loro e men vicine;

Onde si muovono a diversi porti Per lo gran mar dell'essere, e ciascuna Con instinto a lei dato che la porti.

Questi ne porta il fuoco inver la Luna: Questi ne' cuor mortali e permotore; Questi la terra in se stringe ed aduna.

Ne pur le creature, che son fuore D'intelligenza, quest' arco saetta Ma quelle ch' hanno intelletto ed amore.

La Providenza, che cotanto a.s.setta, Del suo lume fa il ciel sempre quieto, Nel qual si volge quel ch'ha maggior fretta:

Ed ora li, com' a sito decreto, Cen porta la virtu di quella corda, Che ci che scocca drizzo in segno lieto.(535)

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