Sometimes Holy Scripture may, by an improper use of terms, employ the term evils in place of affliction—not that these are properly and in their nature evils, but because they are imagined to be evils by those on whom they are brought for their good. For when divine judgment is reasoning with human beings, it must speak with human language and feelings. For when a doctor for the sake of health with good reason either cuts or cauterizes those who are suffering from the inflammation of ulcers, it is considered an evil by those who have to bear it. Nor are the spur and the whip pleasant to a restive horse. Moreover, all chastisement seems at the moment to be a bitter thing to those who are chastised, as the apostle says: Now all chastisement for the present indeed seems not to bring with it joy but sorrow; but afterwards it will yield the most peaceful fruits of righteousness to those who are exercised by it, and whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives; for what son is there whom the father does not correct?^[1] And so evils are sometimes used to stand for afflictions, as where we read, And God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do to them and did it not.^[2] And again: For you, Lord, are gracious and merciful, patient and very merciful and ready to repent of the evil,^[3] that is, of the sufferings and losses that you are forced to bring on us as the reward of our sins.

And another prophet, knowing that these are profitable to some, and certainly not through any jealousy for their safety but with an eye to their good, prays thus: Add evils to them, O Lord, add evils to the proud of the earth;^[4] and the Lord says, See, I will bring evils on them,^[5] that is, sorrows and losses, with which they shall for the present be chastened for their soul’s health, and so they shall at length be driven to return and hurry back to me whom in their prosperity they scorned. And so we cannot in any way assert that these afflictions were originally evil, for they are good for many and ultimately offer occasions for eternal bliss. Therefore (to return to the question raised), all those things that are thought to be brought on us as evils by our enemies or by any other people should not be counted as evils but as things indifferent. For in the end they will not be what he thinks who brought them on us in his rage and fury, but what he makes them who endures them. And so when death has been brought on a saint, we ought not to think that an evil has happened to him but something indifferent. It is an evil to a wicked person, while to the good it is rest and freedom from evils. For death is rest to one whose way is hidden.^[6] And so a good person does not suffer any loss from these evils because he suffers nothing strange, but by the crime of an enemy he only receives (and not without the reward of eternal life) that which would have happened to him in the course of nature and pays the debt of human death, which must be paid by an inevitable law, with the interest of a most fruitful suffering and the recompense of a great reward.

Notice here the rod of direction that is described. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Draw near to that rod. Let Christ be your King: let him rule you with that rod, not crush you with it. For that rod is a rod of iron, an inflexible rod. You shall rule them with a rod of iron and break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Some he rules; others he breaks in pieces. He rules those who are spiritual; he breaks in pieces those who are concerned about earthly desires. . . . Would he so loudly declare that he was about to strike you if he really wanted to strike you? He is, then, holding back his hand from the punishment of your offenses; but you dare not hold back. Turn around and face the punishment for your offenses, for there can be no unpunished offenses. Punishment therefore must be executed either by you or by him. You should plead guilty then in order that he may grant you a reprieve.

The apostle also knows vessels of wrath made for destruction so that he might make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy.^[1] God has divided all people into these two vessels, those of wrath, those of mercy, those like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, those like Paul and those who have believed. But what is the treasury of the Lord in which are the vessels of wrath? Perhaps it is the church, in which such often go unnoticed. But there will be a time when he opens the church. For now they have been shut up, and the vessels of wrath share space with the vessels of mercy, and the chaff are with the wheat.^[2] In one net are the worthless and the chosen fish.^[3] The Lord opens up his treasury in the time of the judgment, when the vessels of wrath are thrown out. He who is a vessel of mercy may reasonably say, They have gone out from us, for they were not from us.^[4] Outside the treasury the vessels who sin are not yet the vessels of wrath, but inferior. For they are servants who did not know the will of their Lord and did not do it. So they are vessels who are simply kept for other purposes.