333、我说过，为了拯救人，圣治的运行自他出生时就开始了，并持续到他生命的结束。为理解这一点，我们必须知道，主明白人是什么样，他想成为什么样，因而他将来是什么样。此外，为叫他能成为一个人，从而拥有永生，他意愿的自由决不会被剥夺，如前面频繁所示。因此，主预见人死后的状态，并且自他出生时起直到他生命的结束，都在为此作准备。对于恶人，主通过允许邪恶，并不断把他们从恶中引离而作准备；而对于善人，主则通过把他们引向良善而作准备。因此，圣治在拯救人们的工作上是永不停息的；然而，愿意得救才能得救，那些承认神，并被祂引领的人都愿意得救；而那些不承认神，自己引领自己的人都不愿得救。后一种人不思想永生或救恩，而其他人会思想。主看到这一切，但仍引领他们，不过，是照着祂的圣治律法来引领的；祂不可能违反这些律法，因为违反它们就是违反祂的神性之爱，违反祂的神性智慧，因而违反祂自己。
既然主预见所有人死后的状态，也预见那些不愿得救的人在地狱的地方，以及那些愿意得救的人在天堂的地方，那么可推知，如前所述，祂通过允许并引离为恶人预备地方，通过引领为善人预备地方；除非从每个人出生直到生命结束不停地如此行，否则天堂和地狱都将不复存在。没有这种预见和准备，既不会有天堂，也不会有地狱，只有一片混乱。主以祂的预见为每个人预备他的地方（参看202，203节）。
通过对比来说明这一点。如果一个弓箭手或射手要瞄准一个靶标，在靶标后面画一条一英里长的直线，他在瞄准的时候哪怕偏离了一点点，如一个小手指的宽度，甚至一根头发丝的宽度，那么在这一英里的尽头，他的箭或发射物就会大大偏离靶标后面的直线，甚至会偏离得很远。如果主不每时每刻，甚至于每一个最微小的瞬间，在祂预见并准备每个人死后的地方时关注永恒，情况也是这样。但主如此做是因为对祂来说，整个未来都是现在，整个现在都是永恒。圣治在它所做的一切事上都关注无限和永恒（参看46-69，214ff节）。
333. We say that the operation of Divine providence to save a person begins at his birth and continues to the end of his life. To understand this one must know that the Lord sees what a person's character is, and foresees what the person wills it to be, thus what it will be. Moreover, for him to be human and thus immortal, his will's freedom cannot be taken away, as we have shown many times before. Consequently the Lord foresees a person's state after death and provides for it from his birth even to the end of his life. In the case of evil people He provides by permitting and continually steering away from evils. But in the case of good people He provides by leading to good. Thus Divine providence operates unceasingly to save a person. But no more can be saved than those who wish to be saved, and those wish to be saved who acknowledge God and are led by Him, whereas those do not wish to be saved who do not acknowledge God and guide themselves. For the latter do not think about eternal life and salvation, whereas the former do.
This the Lord sees, and yet He leads them, and leads them in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence, which He cannot go against, as to go against them would be to go against His Divine love and against His Divine wisdom, thus against Himself.
[2] Now because the Lord foresees the states of all people after death, and also foresees the places in hell of those who do not wish to be saved, and the places in heaven of those who do, it follows that for evil people He provides their places by permitting and steering away, as we have said, and for good people their places by leading. It follows as well that if this were not continually the case from a person's birth to the end of his life, heaven would not endure, and neither would hell. For without that foresight and at the same time providence, neither heaven nor hell would be anything but confusion. (That the Lord from foresight provides for everyone his own place may be seen in nos. 202-203, above.)
[3] We can illustrate this by the following comparison. If a spearman or musketeer should aim at a target, and a straight line were to be drawn from the target to a point a mile on beyond it, then if the spearman or musketeer should be off in his aim by only a fingernail, on reaching the end of the mile the missile or ball would be far wide of the line drawn on beyond the target. So it would be if the Lord did not every moment, indeed every least moment, regard eternity in foreseeing and providing each person's place after death. But this the Lord does, because the entire future is present to Him, and the entire present is to Him eternal. (That in everything that it does Divine providence regards something infinite and eternal, may be seen in nos. 46-69 and 214ff. above.)
333. The premise is that for our salvation, divine providence begins at our birth and continues to the end of our life. To understand this, we need to realize that the Lord knows the kind of person we are and the kind of person we want to be and therefore the kind of person we will be. Further, he cannot deprive us of the freedom of our volition if we are to be human and therefore immortal, as amply explained above; so he foresees what our state will be after death and provides for it from our birth all the way to the end of our life. He does this for evil people by both allowing and constantly leading them away from their evils, and for good people by constantly leading them to what is good. So divine providence is constantly at work for our salvation; but it cannot save more of us than want to be saved. We want to be saved if we believe in God and are led by him, and we do not want to be saved if we do not believe in God and we lead ourselves. In the latter case, we are not thinking about eternal life or salvation, while in the former case we are. The Lord sees all this and still leads us, doing so under the laws of his divine providence, laws he cannot violate because that would be to violate his divine love and his divine wisdom, and therefore himself.
[2] Since he foresees everyone's state after death and foresees our place as well--in hell for people who do not want to be saved and in heaven for people who do--it follows that, as just stated, he provides places for the evil by permitting and leading them away and for the good by leading them to their places. It follows also that if this were not being done constantly for everyone from birth to the end of life, neither heaven nor hell would endure. Without this foresight and providence, that is, there would be neither a heaven nor a hell, only confusion. (See 202-203 above on the fact that we are all provided with places by the Lord in his foresight.)
[3] To illustrate this by a comparison, if an archer or musketeer were to aim at a target and a straight line a mile long were drawn behind the target, then if the aim were off just a hair, at the end of that mile the arrow or ball would have strayed far from the line behind the target. That is what it would be like if the Lord did not have his eye on eternity at every moment, every least moment, in his foresight and provision for everyone's place after death. The Lord does this, though, because to him the whole future is present, and to him everything present is eternal.
On the fact that divine providence focuses on what is infinite and eternal in everything it does, see above, 46-69, 214 and following.
333. The operation of the Divine Providence for the salvation of man is said to begin at his birth and to continue right on to the end of his life. In order to understand this it should be known that the Lord sees what the nature of a man is, and foresees what he desires to be, and thus what he will be; and in order that he may be a man and therefore immortal, the freedom of his will cannot be taken away, as has been shown above in many places. Therefore the Lord foresees man's state after death and provides for it from his birth right on to the end of his life. With the wicked the Lord provides by permitting and continually withdrawing them from evils; while with the good He provides by leading them to good. Thus the Divine Providence is unceasing in the work of saving man. However, no more can be saved than desire to be saved, and only those desire to be saved who acknowledge God and are led by Him; but those do not desire to be saved who do not acknowledge God and who lead themselves; for these give no thought to eternal life and salvation, while the others do. This the Lord sees and still He leads them, leading them according to the laws of His Divine Providence, contrary to which He cannot act, since so to act would be to act contrary to His Divine Love and contrary to His Divine Wisdom, that is, contrary to Himself.
[2] Now since the Lord foresees the state of all after death and also foresees the places in hell of those who do not desire to be saved, and the places in heaven of those who desire to be saved, it follows, as has been said, that He provides their places for the wicked by permitting and withdrawing, and their places for the good by leading; and unless this were done continually from the birth of everyone to the end of his life neither heaven nor hell would continue to exist, for without this foresight and Providence at the same time neither heaven nor hell would be anything but confusion. It may be seen above (n. 202-203) that everyone has his place provided for him by the Lord from this foresight.
[3] This may be illustrated by the following comparison. If a javelin thrower or a musketeer were to aim at a target and a straight line were drawn from the target a thousand feet beyond it; and if he should err in his aim by only a nail's breadth, his weapon or bullet, at a distance of a thousand feet, would diverge very far from the line drawn beyond the mark. So would it be if the Lord did not every moment, even every least fraction of a moment, regard eternity in foreseeing and providing everyone's place after death. This, however, is done by the Lord because all the future is present to Him and all the present is to Him eternal. It may be seen above (n. 46-69, 214, and following numbers) that the Divine Providence in everything it does has regard to the infinite and the eternal.
333. The operation of the Divine providence for the salvation of man is said to begin at his birth and to continue unto the end of his life. To understand this it must be known that the Lord sees what man is, and foresees what he wills to be, thus what he will be; and that he may be a man and therefore immortal the freedom of his will must not be taken away, as has been frequently shown before. Consequently the Lord foresees man's state after death, and provides for it from his birth until the end of his life. With the evil the Lord provides by permitting evils and continually withdrawing them from evils; while with the good He provides by leading to good. Thus the Divine providence is unceasingly in the work of saving men. But no more can be saved than are willing to be saved, and those are willing to be saved who acknowledge God and are led by Him; and those are unwilling who do not acknowledge God and who lead themselves; for such do not think about eternal life or about salvation, while the others do. This the Lord sees and still He leads them, and leads them in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence, contrary to which laws He cannot act, since to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to His Divine love and contrary to His Divine wisdom, which is to act contrary to Himself.
[2] Since, then, the Lord foresees the states of all after death, and also foresees the places in hell of those who are not willing to be saved, and the places in heaven of those who are willing to be saved, it follows that for the evil, as has been said, the Lord provides their places by permitting and by withdrawing, and for the good by leading; and unless this were done unceasingly from every one's birth until the end of his life neither heaven nor hell would continue to exist, for without that foresight and providence together neither heaven nor hell would be anything but confusion. That the Lord from foresight has provided for every one his place may be seen above (202, 203).
[3] This may be illustrated by this comparison. If an archer or a marksman should aim at a mark, and behind the mark a straight line were drawn for a mile, and if he should err only by a finger's breadth in his aim, his missile or ball keeping on to the end of the mile would depart very far from the line. So would it be if the Lord did not every moment, and even every least fraction of a moment, regard the eternal in His foreseeing and providing every one's place after death. But this the Lord does because the entire future is present to Him and the entire present is to Him the eternal. That the Divine providence in every thing it does has regard to the infinite and eternal may be seen above (46-69, 214, seq.).
333. Dicitur quod operatio Divinae Providentiae ad salvandum hominem inchoet a nativitate ejus et perstet usque ad finem vitae ejus; quod ut intelligatur, sciendum est, quod Dominus videat, qualis homo est, ac praevideat qualis vult esse, ita qualis futurus est; et liberum voluntatis ejus non potest auferri, ut sit homo et inde immortalis, ut prius multis ostensum est; quare Dominus praevidet statum ejus post mortem, et illum providet a nativitate ejus usque ad finem vitae; apud malos providet permittendo et continue abducendo a malis; apud bonos autem providet ducendo ad bonum; ita Divina Providentia est continue in operatione salvandi hominem; sed non salvari possunt plures quam salvari volunt, ac illi volunt salvari, qui Deum agnoscunt, et ab Ipso ducuntur; et illi non volunt, qui Deum non agnoscunt, et semet ducunt; hi enim non cogitant de vita aeterna, et de salvatione, illi vero cogitant: hoc videt Dominus, et usque ducit illos, et ducit secundum leges Divinae Providentiae suae, contra quas non potest agere, quoniam agere contra illas, foret agere contra Divinum suum Amorem, et contra Divinam suam Sapientiam, quod est contra Se Ipsum.
[2] Nunc quia praevidet omnium status post mortem, et quoque praevidet loca illorum, qui non salvari volunt, 1in inferno, ac loca illorum, qui salvari volunt, in coelo, sequitur, quod, ut dictum est, provideat malis sua loca permittendo et abducendo, ac bonis sua loca ducendo; quod nisi fieret continue a nativitate cujusvis ad finem vitae ejus, coelum non subsisteret, nec infernum: nam absque illa Praevidentia et simul Providentia non foret coelum nec infernum nisi confusum quoddam: quod cuivis suus locus a Domino ex praeviso provisus sit, videatur supra 202-203.
[3] Hoc illustrari potest per hanc comparationem; si jaculator aut sclopetarius collimaret ad scopum, et a scopo post illum duceretur linea recta ad milliaris distantiam, 2si in collimatione aberraret ungue solum, telum vel globulus ad finem milliaris immensum recederet a linea post scopum ducta; ita foret, nisi Dominus omni momento, imo minutissimo spectaret aeternum in praevidendo et providendo cujusvis locum post mortem; sed hoc fit a Domino, quia omne futurum est Ipsi praesens, et omne praesens est Ipsi aeternum. Quod Divina Providentia in omni quod facit, spectet infinitum ac aeternum, videatur supra 46-69, 214 seq.
Footnotes:
1 Prima editio: volunt; (ut videtur)
2 Prima editio: distantiam;