That nothing happens without God we know from many sources; and, reversely, that God’s dispensations have no element of chance and confusion in them every one will allow, who realizes that God is Reason, and Wisdom, and Perfect Goodness, and Truth, and could not admit of that which is not good and not consistent with His Truth45    The text is in confusion here: but the Latin supplies: “Nothing reasonable fails in reason; nothing wise, in wisdom; neither virtue nor truth could admit of that which is not good,” &c.. Whether, then, the early deaths of infants are to be attributed to the aforesaid causes, or whether there is some further cause of them beyond these, it befits us to acknowledge that these things happen for the best. I have another reason also to give which I have learnt from the wisdom of an Apostle; a reason, that is, why some of those who have been distinguished for their wickedness have been suffered to live on in their self-chosen course. Having expanded a thought of this kind at some length in his argument to the Romans46    Rom. iii. 3–9; iv. 1, 2; ix. 14–24; xi. 22–36., and having retorted upon himself with the counter-conclusion, which thence necessarily follows, that the sinner could no longer be justly blamed, if his sinning is a dispensation of God, and that he would not have existed at all, if it had been contrary to the wishes of Him Who has the world in His power, the Apostle meets this conclusion and solves this counter-plea by means of a still deeper view of things. He tells us that God, in rendering to every one his due, sometimes even grants a scope to wickedness for good in the end. Therefore He allowed the King of Egypt, for example, to be born and to grow up such as he was; the intention was that Israel, that great nation exceeding all calculation by numbers, might be instructed by his disaster. God’s omnipotence is to be recognized in every direction; it has strength to bless the deserving; it is not inadequate to the punishment of wickedness47    This sentence is not in the Greek of the Paris Edition, and is not absolutely necessary to the sense.; and so, as the complete removal of that peculiar people out of Egypt was necessary in order to prevent their receiving any infection from the sins of Egypt in a misguided way of living, therefore that God-defying and infamous Pharaoh rose and reached his maturity in the lifetime of the very people who were to be benefited, so that Israel might acquire a just knowledge of the two-fold energy of God, working as it did in either direction; the more beneficent they learnt in their own persons, the sterner by seeing it exercised upon those who were being scourged for their wickedness; for in His consummate wisdom God can mould even evil into co-operation with good. The artisan (if the Apostle’s argument may be confirmed by any words of ours)—the artisan who by his skill has to fashion iron to some instrument for daily use, has need not only of that which owing to its natural ductility lends itself to his art, but, be the iron never so hard, be it never so difficult to soften it in the fire, be it even impossible owing to its adamantine resistance to mould it into any useful implement, his art requires the co-operation even of this; he will use it for an anvil, upon which the soft workable iron may be beaten and formed into something useful. But some one will say, “It is not all who thus reap in this life the fruits of their wickedness, any more than all those whose lives have been virtuous profit while living by their virtuous endeavours; what then, I ask, is the advantage of their existence in the case of these who live to the end unpunished?” I will bring forward to meet this question of yours a reason which transcends all human arguments. Somewhere in his utterances the great David declares that some portion of the blessedness of the virtuous will consist in this; in contemplating side by side with their own felicity the perdition of the reprobate. He says, “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his hands in the blood of the ungodly48    Ps. lviii. 10.”; not indeed as rejoicing over the torments of those sufferers, but as then most completely realizing the extent of the well-earned rewards of virtue. He signifies by those words that it will be an addition to the felicity of the virtuous and an intensification of it, to have its contrary set against it. In saying that “he washes his hands in the blood of the ungodly” he would convey the thought that “the cleanness of his own acting in life is plainly declared in the perdition of the ungodly.” For the expression “wash” represents the idea of cleanness; but no one is washed, but is rather defiled, in blood; whereby it is clear that it is a comparison with the harsher forms of punishment that puts in a clearer light the blessedness of virtue. We must now summarize our argument, in order that the thoughts which we have expanded may be more easily retained in the memory. The premature deaths of infants have nothing in them to suggest the thought that one who so terminates his life is subject to some grievous misfortune, any more than they are to be put on a level with the deaths of those who have purified themselves in this life by every kind of virtue; the more far-seeing Providence of God curtails the immensity of sins in the case of those whose lives are going to be so evil. That some of the wicked have lived on49    ἐπιβιῶναί τινας τῶν κακῶν: or, “That some have lived on in their sins.” does not upset this reason which we have rendered; for the evil was in their case hindered in kindness to their parents; whereas, in the case of those whose parents have never imparted to them any power of calling upon God, such a form of the Divine kindness50    i.e.as letting them live, and mitigating the evil of their lives., which accompanies such a power, is not transmitted to their own children; otherwise the infant now prevented by death from growing up wicked would have exhibited a far more desperate wickedness than the most notorious sinners, seeing that it would have been unhindered. Even granting that some have climbed to the topmost pinnacle of crime, the Apostolic view supplies a comforting answer to the question; for He Who does everything with Wisdom knows how to effect by means of evil some good. Still further, if some occupy a pre-eminence in crime, and yet for all that have never been a metal, to use our former illustration, that God’s skill has used for any good, this is a case which constitutes an addition to the happiness of the good, as the Prophet’s words suggest; it may be reckoned as not a slight element in that happiness, nor, on the other hand, as one unworthy of God’s providing.

τὸ γὰρ μηδὲν ἀθεεὶ γίνεσθαι διὰ πολλῶν ἐπεγνώκαμεν, τὸ δ' αὖ πάλιν μὴ τυχαῖά τε καὶ ἄλογα εἶναι τὰ θεόθεν οἰκονομούμενα πᾶς ἂν ὁμολογήσειεν, εἰδὼς ὅτι ὁ θεὸς λόγος ἐστὶ καὶ σοφία καὶ πᾶσα ἀρετὴ καὶ ἀλήθεια, οὐδὲν δὲ τοῦ λόγου ἄλογον οὐδὲ τοῦ σοφοῦ τι ἄσοφον, οὐδ' ἂν ἡ ἀρετή τε καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια τὸ μὴ ἐνάρετόν τε καὶ ἔξω τοῦ ἀληθοῦς καταδέξαιτο.
Εἴτε οὖν κατὰ τὰς εἰρημένας αἰτίας ἄωροί τινες ἀναρπάζονται εἴτε τι καὶ ἕτερον παρὰ τὰ εἰρημένα ἐστί, τὸ πάντως ἐπὶ σκοπῷ τῷ βελτίονι ταῦτα γίνεσθαι συνομολογεῖσθαι προσήκει. οἶδα δέ τινα καὶ λόγον ἕτερον παρὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀποστόλου σοφίας μαθών, δι' ὅν τινες τῶν κατὰ κακίαν ὑπερβαλλόντων κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν προαίρεσιν ζῆσαι ἀφείθησαν: γυμνάσας γὰρ ἐπὶ πλέον τὴν τοιαύτην διάνοιαν ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους λόγῳ καὶ ἀνθυπενεγκὼν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἀκολούθου ἀντιτιθέμενον, τὸ μὴ ἂν εὐλόγως ἐν αἰτίᾳ τὸν κακὸν ἔτι γενέσθαι, εἴπερ θεόθεν ἔχει τὸ κακὸς εἶναι, μὴ ἂν γενόμενος πάντως, εἴπερ ἀβούλητον ἦν τῷ ἐπικρατοῦντι τῶν ὄντων, οὕτως ἀπαντᾷ τῷ λόγῳ διὰ βαθυτέρας τινὸς θεωρίας τὴν ἀνθυποφορὰν ὑπεκλύων: φησὶ γὰρ τὸν θεὸν ἑκάστῳ τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν νέμοντα ἔστιν ὅπου καὶ τῇ κακίᾳ διδόναι χώραν ἐπὶ σκοπῷ τῷ βελτίονι: τούτου γὰρ ἕνεκεν ἐᾶσαι γενέσθαι καὶ τοιοῦτον γενέσθαι τὸν Αἰγύπτιον τύραννον, ὡς ἂν τῇ ἐκείνου πληγῇ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ παιδευθείη, ὁ πολὺς ἐκεῖνος λαὸς καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐξ ἀριθμοῦ περίληψιν διαβαίνων. ἴσως γὰρ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως διὰ πάντων γνωριζομένης καὶ πρὸς τὸ εὐεργετεῖν τοὺς ἀξίους ἱκανῶς ἐχούσης καὶ πρὸς τὴν κόλασιν τῆς κακίας οὐκ ἀτονούσης, ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντως ἐχρῆν ἀποικισθῆναι τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὸν λαὸν ἐκεῖνον, ὡς ἂν μή τις αὐτοῖς γένοιτο τῶν Αἰγυπτίων κακῶν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βίου πλάνην κοινωνία, τούτου χάριν ὁ θεομάχος ἐκεῖνος, ὁ ἐπὶ παντὶ κακῷ ὀνομαστὸς Φαραὼ τῇ ζωῇ τῶν εὐεργετουμένων συνανέσχεν τε καὶ συνήκμασεν, ὡς ἂν τῆς διπλῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνεργείας ἐφ' ἑκατέρων μεριζομένης ἀξίως τῶν δύο λάβῃ τὴν γνῶσιν ὁ Ἰσραήλ, τὸ μὲν κρεῖττον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ διδασκόμενος, τὸ δὲ σκυθρωπότερον ἐπὶ τῶν διὰ κακίαν μαστιγουμένων ὁρῶν, ὡς τῷ ὑπερβάλλοντι τῆς σοφίας εἰδότος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸ κακὸν ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ συνεργίᾳ μεταχειρίζεσθαι. χρεία γὰρ τῷ τεχνίτῃ (εἰ χρὴ τὸν ἀποστολικὸν λόγον καὶ διὰ τῶν ἡμετέρων λόγων βεβαιωθῆναι), χρεία τοίνυν τῷ διὰ τῆς τέχνης πρός τι τῶν βιωφελῶν ἐργαλείων τυποῦντι τὸν σίδηρον οὐ μόνον τοῦ εὐκόλως τῇ τέχνῃ εἴκοντος ἔκ τινος φυσικῆς ἁπαλότητος, ἀλλὰ κἂν λίαν ἀντίτυπος ὁ σίδηρος ᾖ, κἂν μὴ ῥᾳδίως διὰ πυρὸς ἐκμαλάσσηται καὶ πρὸς τὸ σκεῦος τῶν ἀναγκαίων τοῦ βίου τυπωθῆναι τῷ ἀνυπείκτῳ τε καὶ στερρῷ μὴ οἶός τε ᾖ, καὶ τούτου ἡ τέχνη ἐπιζητεῖ τὴν συνεργίαν: ἄκμονι γὰρ χρήσεται τῷ τοιούτῳ, ὡς ταῖς ἐπὶ τούτου πληγαῖς τὸν εὐεργῆ τε καὶ ἁπαλὸν πρός τι τῶν χρησίμων ἀποτυποῦσθαι.
Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ τις, ὅτι οὐ πάντες παρὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον τῆς ἑαυτῶν μοχθηρίας ἀπέλαυσαν: οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ κατ' ἀρετὴν βιοτεύοντες ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ τῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἱδρώτων ἀπώναντο: τί οὖν, φησί, τούτων εἶναι τὸ χρήσιμον ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν κακίᾳ ἀτιμωρήτως βεβιωκότων; παραθήσομαί σοι καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο λόγον τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων λογισμῶν ὑψηλότερον: φησὶ γάρ που τῆς ἑαυτοῦ προφητείας ὁ μέγας Δαβὶδ μέρος τι τοῖς ἐναρέτοις εὐφροσύνης καὶ τὸ τοιοῦτον εἶναι, ὅταν ἀντιπαραθεωρῶσι τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀγαθοῖς τὴν τῶν κατακρίτων ἀπώλειαν: Εὐφρανθήσεται, γάρ φησι, δίκαιος, ὅταν ἴδῃ ἐκδίκησιν ἀσεβοῦς: τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ νίψεται ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ: οὐχ ὡς ἐπιχαίρων ταῖς τῶν ἀνιωμένων ὀδύναις, ἀλλ' ὡς τότε μάλιστα γνωρίζων τὸ ἐξ ἀρετῆς τοῖς ἀξίοις παραγινόμενον. σημαίνει γὰρ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων, ὅτι προσθήκη τῆς εὐφροσύνης καὶ ἐπίτασις τοῖς ἐναρέτοις γίνεται ἡ τῶν ἐναντίων ἀντιπαράθεσις: τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Τὰς χεῖρας ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ νίπτεται, τοιαύτην παρίστησι τὴν διάνοιαν, ὅτι τὸ καθαιρόμενον αὐτοῦ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν ἐνεργείας ἐν τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν διαδείκνυται: ἡ γὰρ τοῦ νίψασθαι λέξις καθαρότητος ἔμφασιν διερμηνεύει, ἐν αἵματι δὲ οὐχὶ νίπτεταί τις ἀλλὰ μολύνεται, ὥστε διὰ τούτου δῆλον γενέσθαι, ὅτι ἡ τῶν σκυθρωποτέρων ἀντιπαράθεσις τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς μακαριότητα δείκνυσιν.
Συναπτέον τοίνυν ἐπὶ κεφαλαίῳ τὸν λόγον, ὡς ἂν εὐμνημόνευτα γένοιτο τὰ ἐξητασμένα νοήματα. ἡ γὰρ ἄωρος τελευτὴ τῶν νηπίων οὔτε ἐν ἀλγεινοῖς εἶναι τὸν οὕτω τοῦ ζῆν παυσάμενον νοεῖν ὑποτίθεται οὔτε κατὰ τὸ ἴσον τοῖς διὰ πάσης ἀρετῆς κατὰ τὸν τῇδε βίον κεκαθαρμένοις γίνεται, προμηθείᾳ κρείττονι τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν τῶν κακῶν ἀμετρίαν κωλύοντος ἐπὶ τῶν μελλόντων οὕτω βιώσεσθαι. τὸ δὲ ἐπιβιῶναί τινας τῶν κακῶν οὐκ ἀνατρέπει τὴν ἀποδοθεῖσαν διάνοιαν: τῇ γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς γεννησαμένους χάριτι τὸ κακὸν ἐπ' ἐκείνων ἐνεποδίσθη: οἷς δὲ οὐκ ἦν τις ἐκ γονέων πρὸς τὸν θεὸν παρρησία οὐδὲ τοῖς ἐξ ἐκείνων τὸ τοιοῦτον ἔτι τῆς εὐεργεσίας εἶδος συμπαρεπέμφθη: ἢ πολλῷ χαλεπώτερος τῶν ἐπὶ κακίᾳ γνωρίμων ὁ κωλυθεὶς διὰ τοῦ θανάτου γενέσθαι κακὸς ἐφάνη ἄν, εἴπερ ἀκώλυτον ἔσχε τὴν πονηρίαν, ἢ εἴ τινες καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀκρότατον τῆς πονηρίας μέτρον προεληλύθασιν, ἡ ἀποστολικὴ θεωρία παραμυθεῖται τὸ ζήτημα, ὡς εἰδότος τοῦ πάντα ἐν σοφίᾳ ποιοῦντος καὶ διὰ τοῦ κακοῦ τι τῶν ἀγαθῶν κατεργάσασθαι. εἰ δέ τις καὶ ἐν πονηρίᾳ τὸ ἄκρον ἔχει καὶ ἐπ' οὐδενὶ χρησίμῳ κατὰ τὸ ῥηθὲν ἡμῖν ὑπόδειγμα παρὰ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ τέχνης κατεχαλκεύθη, τοῦτο προσθήκη τῆς εὐφροσύνης τῶν εὖ βεβιωκότων γίνεται, καθὼς ἡ προφητεία νοεῖν ὑποτίθεται, ὅπερ οὐ μικρὸν ἐν ἀγαθοῖς ἄν τις λογίσαιτο οὐδὲ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προμηθείας ἀνάξιον.