his life. With the evil He makes the
provision by permitting and withdrawing from evils, in the case of the
good by leading to good. Divine providence is thus continually acting for
man's salvation, but more cannot be saved than are willing to be saved,
and those are willing who acknowledge God and are led by Him. Those are
not willing who do not acknowledge God and who lead themselves. The
latter give no thought to eternal life and to salvation, the former do.
The Lord sees the unwillingness but still He leads such men, and does so
in accordance with the laws of His divine providence, contrary to which
he cannot act, for to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to
His divine love and wisdom, and this is to act contrary to Himself.

[2] Inasmuch as the Lord foresees the states 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 do desire to be saved, it follows that
He provides their places for the evil by the permitting and withdrawing
of which we spoke, and their places for the good by leading them. Unless
this was done steadily from birth to the close of life neither heaven nor
hell would remain standing, for apart from this foresight and providence
neither would be anything but confusion. It may be seen above (nn. 202,
203) that everyone has his place provided for him by the Lord through
this foresight.

[3] A comparison may throw light on this. If a javelin thrower or a
marksman should aim at a target, from which a line was drawn straight
back for a mile and should err in aim by only a finger's breadth, the
missile or the bullet at the end of the mile would have deviated very far
from the line. So would it be if the Lord did not, at every moment and
even the least fraction of a moment, look to what is eternal in
foreseeing and making provision for one's place after death. But this the
Lord does: the entire future is present to Him, and the entire present is
to Him eternal. That divine providence looks in all it does to what is
infinite and eternal, may be seen above, nn. 46-49, 214 ff.

334. As was said also, the activity of divine providence continues to
eternity, for every angel is being perfected in wisdom to eternity, each,
however, according to the degree of affection of good and truth in which
he was when he left this world. It is this degree that is perfected to
eternity; what is beyond that is outside the angel and n