Chapter 123 — That all things are ruled by divine providence

We can see from the foregoing that all things are governed by divine providence. For whatever is ordered to the end of a certain agent is directed toward that end by that agent. For example, all the soldiers in an army are ordered to the end intended by the commander, which is victory, and are directed by him to that end. Now, we showed above that all things tend by their actions to the divine goodness as their end. Hence all things are directed to this end by God himself, to whom this end properly belongs. To be thus directed is the same as to be ruled and governed by providence. Therefore, all things are ruled by divine providence.

Moreover, things that can fail, and that do not always remain constant, are found to be under the direction of beings that do remain constant. Thus all the movements of lower bodies, being defectible, are regulated in accordance with the undeviating movement of a heavenly body. But all creatures are changeable or defectible. As regards intellectual creatures, their very nature is such that deficiency in voluntary action can arise in them. Other creatures have some part in movement, either by way of generation and corruption, or at least according to place. God himself is the only being in whom no defect can arise. Consequently, all creatures are set in order by him.

Furthermore, whatever is by participation is traced back, as to its cause, to that which is by essence; for example, what is burning has fire in some way as the cause that ignited it. Since God alone is good by his very essence, and all other things obtain their full measure of goodness by some sort of participation, all beings must be brought to their full measure of goodness by God. But this is what it means to be ruled and governed; for things are governed or ruled by being established in the order of good. And so all things are governed and ruled by God.