And each of us thinks, since he has not been an idolater, since he has not been immoral—would that we were pure in such areas—that after he has been set free from this life, he will be saved. We do not see that all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive either good or evil according to what he has done in the body.^[1] We do not hear what has been said: You especially have I known out of all the tribes on the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all—not just some and not others—of your iniquities.

The most merciful physician, cutting away the cancerous flesh, spares not in order to spare; he pities not in order to pity the more. For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and he scourges every son whom he receives.

As it is impossible for two people to share a journey at the same time, he is saying, unless indicating to each other where and why they are traveling, or for a lion to roar if there is no prey, or for a bird to fall without a hunter, or for all the other things mentioned, so it is impossible for any punishment to be imposed without God willing it. He calls punishment evil, note, by use of a general custom: we are accustomed to use troubles of diseases, chastisements, untimely deaths, famines, wars, and the like, not because they are troublesome by nature but because they are troublesome to human beings and the source of distress and grief.

I do not say these things in arrogance, but I have the prophet Amos standing at my side, crying and saying, There is no evil in the city which the Lord has not done. Now evil is a many-faceted term. I wish that you shall learn the exact meaning of each expression, in order that on account of ambiguity you may not confound the nature of the things and fall into blasphemy. There is then evil, which is really evil; fornication, adultery, covetousness, and the countless dreadful things, which are worthy of the utmost reproach and punishment. Again there is evil, which rather is not evil but is called so, famine, pestilence, death, disease, and other of a similar nature. For these would not be evils. On this account I said they are called so only. Why then? Because, were they evils intended to become the sources of good to us, chastening our pride, goading our sloth and leading us on to zeal, making us more attentive.

It is, then, customary for sacred Scripture to speak of his permission as an action and deed, but even when it goes so far as to say that God creates evil and that there is not evil in a city which the Lord has not done, it still does not show God to be the author of evil. On the contrary, since the word evil is ambiguous it has two meanings, for it sometimes means what is by nature evil, being the opposite of virtue and against God’s will, while at other times it means what is evil and painful in relation to our sensibility, which is to say, tribulation and distress. Now while these last seem to be evil, because they cause pain, actually they are good because to such as understand them they are a source of conversion and salvation. It is these last that Scripture says are permitted by God. Moreover, one must know that we too cause them because involuntary evils spring from voluntary ones.

Lord, you have been our refuge.^[1] Therefore we have recourse to you. Our healing shall be from you, for our evil is from ourselves. Because we have abandoned you, you have abandoned us to ourselves. May we therefore be found in you, for in ourselves we had been lost. Lord, you have been our refuge. Why, my brethren, should we doubt that the Lord will make us gentle if we submit ourselves to be tamed by him? You have tamed the lion, which you did not create. Will your Creator be unable to tame you? What is the source of your power to tame such savage beasts? Are you their equal in bodily strength? By what power then have you been able to tame such huge beasts? The so-called beasts of burden are wild by nature, for if untamed they could not be endured. But because you are not accustomed to see them except when handled by men and under the curb and control of men, you might think that they were born tame. At any rate, consider the savage beasts. The lion roars; who does not fear? And yet, whence your knowledge of the fact that you are more powerful? Not in bodily strength but in the inner reason of the mind. You are more powerful than a lion, because you have been made to the image of God. The image of God tames a wild beast. Is God unable to tame his own image?

If, then, any hope of salvation is still left to you, if any slight remembrance of God, if any desire for future rewards, if any fear of the punishments reserved for the unrepentant come back quickly to sobriety; raise your eyes to the heavens; return to your senses; cease your wickedness; shake off the drunkenness that has drenched you; stand up against him who has overthrown you. Have the strength to rise up from the earth. Remember the good Shepherd, how he will pursue and deliver you. And if there are but two legs, or the tip of an ear, leap back from him who has wounded you. Remember the compassion of God, how he heals with olive oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall the memory of what has been written, how he that falls rises again, and he that is turned away turns again,^[1] he that has been smitten is healed, he that is caught by wild beasts escapes, and he that confesses is not rejected. The Lord does not wish the death of the sinner, but that he return and live.^[2] Do not be contemptuous^[3] as one who has fallen into the depths of sins.

God’s other titles fall into two distinct groups. The first group belongs to his power, the second to his providential ordering of the world, a twofold providential ordering—involving, and not involving, incarnation. Clear cases of titles that belong to his power are Almighty and King—whether it be of glory,^[1] the ages,^[2] of the forces,^[3] or of the beloved or the rulers^[4]—Lord Sabbaoth,^[5] which means lord of the armies, forces^[6] or masters.^[7] To his providential ordering belong God—be it of salvation,^[8] retribution,^[9] peace,^[10] or righteousness,^[11] or of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob^[12] or all the spiritual Israel,^[13] which has the vision of God.^[14] For since we are controlled by three conditions—fear of punishment, hope for salvation and glory too, and the practice of the virtues which results in these last—the name which mentions retribution deals with fear, the one which mentions salvation with hope, and that which refers to virtues disciplines us to practice them. The intention is that by, as it were, carrying God inside one,^[15] a person may have some success here and press on all the harder to perfection, toward that affinity with God which comes from the virtues.