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no longer. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy is a good thing; what then have you done for another? You wish to be forgiven when you sin, why then did you not forgive the one who has sinned? but you approach God asking for the kingdom of heaven, but when you were asked for money, you did not give it. For this reason we are not shown mercy, because we do not show mercy. Why, he says? And yet this is mercy, to show mercy to the unmerciful. For he who has shown kindness to the cruel and unfeeling man, and to one who displays countless evils to his neighbor, how could he be merciful? What then, he says? Did not the font save us who had done countless evil things? It freed us from those things, not so that we might do them again, but so that we might not do them. For if we have died to sin, he says, how shall we still live in it? What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law? By no means. For this reason He freed you from those things, so that you would no 62.717 longer return to that dishonor. Since physicians too free those who have a fever from their inflammation, not so that they might use their health for ill-treatment and disorderliness (since it would be better to be sick, if indeed someone were to get well for this reason, so that he might nail himself to his bed again), but so that, having learned the evils that come from sickness, they might no longer fall into the same things, so that they might hold more securely to their health, so that they might do all things that contribute to it.

How then is it the philanthropy of God, he says, if He is not going to save the evil? For in many places I hear many saying this, that He is philanthropic, and will surely save everyone. Therefore, so that we may not deceive ourselves in vain (for I remember a certain promise of this sort), come, today let us take up this subject. I discoursed to you formerly about Gehenna, and I postponed the discourse about the philanthropy of God; today then it is good to deliver it. That there will be a Gehenna, then, we have sufficiently demonstrated, as it seems to me, perhaps, bringing forward the flood, and the former evils, and saying, that it is not possible for the one who did those things to leave the people of today unpunished. For if He so punished those who sinned before the law, He will not leave unpunished those who have done greater evils after grace. The question was therefore raised, How then is He good, and how philanthropic, if He punishes? and we postponed the discourse, so as not to overwhelm your ears with the abundance.

Come, today let us pay the debt, and show how God is good even in punishing. For this argument would also be fitting for us against the heretics; so let us pay attention with zeal. God, needing nothing from us, made us. And that He needed nothing, He showed by making us later on. For if He had needed, He would have made us long ago; but if He existed even without us, and we came into being in later times, He made us not needing us. He made heaven, earth, sea, all existing things for our sake. Are these not things of goodness, tell me? And one could say many things; but so that we may shorten the discourse, He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Is this not of goodness? No, he says. For once I was saying to a certain Marcionite, Are these things not of goodness? and he said, If He did not require an account for sins, it would be of goodness; but if He requires it, it is not of goodness. But that man is not present now. But come, let us say what was said then, and more than these things. For I show from superabundance, that if He did not require an account, He would not be good; but since He does require it, for this reason He is good. For tell me, if He did not require an account from us, would human life have stood? would we not have degenerated into wild beasts? For if, with fear and accountability and courts of justice hanging over us, we have surpassed the fish 62.718 in devouring one another, we have put the lions and the wolves to shame by seizing each other's property; if He did not require an account from us, and we were convinced of this, with how much confusion and turmoil would life be filled? what then would the fabled labyrinth be compared to the disorder of the world? would you not have seen countless absurdities and disorders? for who then would have respected a father? who would have

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οὐκέτι· Ἀνίλεως γὰρ ἡ κρίσις τῷ μὴ ποιήσαντι ἔλεον. Καλὸν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἔλεος· τί οὖν ἐποίησας ἑτέρῳ; Βούλει συγγνωσθῆναι πλημμελῶν, τί οὖν αὐτὸς οὐ συνέγνως τῷ πεπλημμεληκότι; ἀλλὰ προσέρχῃ μὲν τῷ Θεῷ βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν αἰτῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀργύριον αἰτηθεὶς οὐκ ἔδωκας ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐλεούμεθα, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἐλεοῦμεν. ∆ιὰ τί, φησί; καὶ μὴν τοῦτο ἐλέους ἐστὶ, τὸ τοὺς ἀνελεήμονας ἐλεεῖν. Ὁ γὰρ, τὸν ὠμὸν καὶ ἀπηνῆ, καὶ μυρία τῷ πλησίον ἐνδεικνύμενον κακὰ φιλανθρωπευσάμενος, πῶς ἂν ἐλεήμων εἴη; Τί οὖν, φησί; τὸ λουτρὸν οὐχὶ μυρία ἡμᾶς ἐργασαμένους κακὰ ἔσωσεν; Ἀπήλλαξεν ἐκείνων, οὐχ ἵνα πάλιν αὐτὰ πράττωμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ πράττωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀπεθάνομεν, φησὶ, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ πῶς ἔτι ζήσομεν ἐν αὐτῇ; Τί οὖν; ἁμαρτησόμεθα ὅτι οὐκ ἐσμὲν ὑπὸ νόμον; Μὴ γένοιτο. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό σε ἐκείνων ἀπήλλαξεν, ἵνα μη 62.717 κέτι παλινδρομήσῃς πρὸς τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἐκείνην. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἰατροὶ τοὺς πυρέττοντας ἀπαλλάττουσι τῆς φλογὸς, οὐχ ἵνα τῇ ὑγείᾳ πρὸς κάκωσιν ἀποχρήσωνται καὶ ἀταξίαν (ἐπεὶ βέλτιον νοσεῖν, εἴ γε μέλλοι τις διὰ τοῦτο ὑγιαίνειν, ἵνα πάλιν τῇ κλίνῃ προσηλώσῃ ἑαυτὸν), ἀλλ' ἵνα μαθόντες τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας κακὰ, μηκέτι τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπέσωσιν, ἵνα ἀσφαλέστερον τῆς ὑγείας ἔχωνται, ἵνα πάντα πράττωσι τὰ πρὸς ταύτην συντελοῦντα.

Πῶς οὖν ἡ φιλανθρωπία τοῦ Θεοῦ, φησὶν, εἴ γε μὴ μέλλοι σώζειν τοὺς κακούς; πολλαχοῦ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο πολλοὺς ἀκούω λέγοντας, ὅτι φιλάνθρωπός ἐστι, καὶ πάντως σώσει πάντας. Ἵν' οὖν μὴ μάτην ἑαυτοὺς ἀπατῶμεν (καὶ γὰρ μέμνημαι τοιαύτην τινὰ ὑπόσχεσιν), φέρε τήμερον τὸν λόγον τοῦτον κινήσωμεν. ∆ιελέχθην περὶ γεέννης πρὸς ὑμᾶς πρώην, καὶ ἀνεβαλόμην τὸν περὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας λόγον· σήμερον οὖν αὐτὸν ἀποδοῦναι καλόν. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἔσται γέεννα, ἱκανῶς, ὡς ἐμαυτῷ δοκῶ, τάχα ἀπεδείξαμεν, τὸν κατακλυσμὸν εἰς μέσον ἐνεγκόντες, καὶ τὰ πρότερα κακὰ, καὶ εἰπόντες, ὅτι οὐχ οἷόν τε τὸν ἐκεῖνα ποιήσαντα ἀτιμωρήτους ἐᾶσαι τοὺς νῦν. Εἰ γὰρ τοὺς πρὸ τοῦ νόμου ἁμαρτόντας οὕτως ἐκόλασε, τοὺς μείζονα κακὰ ἐργασαμένους μετὰ τὴν χάριν ἀτιμωρήτους οὐκ ἀφήσει. Ἐζητεῖτο τοίνυν, Πῶς οὖν ἀγαθὸς, πῶς δὲ φιλάνθρωπος, εἴ γε κολάζει; καὶ ἀνεβαλόμεθα τὸν λόγον, ὥστε μὴ τῷ πλήθει καταχῶσαι τὰς ἀκοὰς τὰς ὑμετέρας.

Φέρε, τήμερον ἀποδῶμεν τὸ χρέος, καὶ δείξωμεν, πῶς ἀγαθὸς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ κολάζων. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος οὗτος ἁρμόσειεν ἄν· ὥστε μετὰ σπουδῆς προσέχωμεν· Οὐδενὸς δεόμενος ὁ Θεὸς τῶν παρ' ἡμῶν, ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς. Ὅτι δὲ οὐδενὸς ἐδεῖτο, ἐδήλωσεν ἐκ τοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα ποιῆσαι. Εἰ γὰρ ἐδεῖτο, πάλαι ἂν ἐποίησεν· εἰ δὲ καὶ χωρὶς ἡμῶν ἦν αὐτὸς, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐν ὑστέροις χρόνοις γεγόναμεν, οὐ δεόμενος ἡμῶν ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς. Ἐποίησεν οὐρανὸν, γῆν, θάλατταν, πάντα τὰ ὄντα δι' ἡμᾶς. Ταῦτα οὐκ ἀγαθότητος, εἰπέ μοι; Καὶ πολλὰ ἄν τις ἔχοι λέγειν· ἀλλ' ἵνα συντέμωμεν τὸν λόγον, Ἀνατέλλει τὸν ἥλιον ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς, βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους. Τοῦτο οὐκ ἀγαθότητος; Οὒ, φησί. Καὶ γάρ ποτε πρός τινα Μαρκιωνιστὴν ἔλεγον, Ἆρα οὐκ ἀγαθότητος ταῦτα; καὶ ἔφησεν, Εἰ μὴ τὸν λόγον ἀπῄτει τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἀγαθότητος ἦν· εἰ δὲ ἀπαιτεῖ, οὐκ ἀγαθότητος. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὐ πάρεστι νῦν. Φέρε δὲ τὰ τότε λεχθέντα εἴπωμεν, καὶ πλείονα τούτων. Ἐγὼ γὰρ δείκνυμι ἐκ περιουσίας, ὅτι εἰ μὴ ἀπῄτει λόγον, οὐκ ἀγαθός· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀπαιτεῖ διὰ τοῦτο ἀγαθός. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, εἰ μὴ ἀπήτει λόγον ἡμᾶς, ἆρα ἂν ἔστη ὁ βίος ὁ ἀνθρώπινος; ἆρα οὐκ ἂν εἰς θηρία ἐξεπέσομεν; Εἰ γὰρ, ἐπικειμένου φόβου καὶ εὐθυνῶν καὶ δικαστηρίων, τοὺς ἰχθῦς παρηλάσα 62.718 μεν ἀλλήλους κατεσθίοντες, τοὺς λέοντας καὶ τοὺς λύκους ἀπεκρύψαμεν τὰ ἀλλήλων ἁρπάζοντες· εἰ μὴ λόγον ἡμᾶς ἀπῄτει, καὶ τοῦτο πεπείσμεθα, πόσης ἂν συγχύσεως καὶ τύρβης ἐπληρώθη ὁ βίος; τίς ἦν ὁ μυθευόμενος λαβύρινθος λοιπὸν πρὸς τὴν ἀταξίαν τὴν κοσμικήν; οὐκ ἂν εἶδες μυρίας ἀτοπίας καὶ ἀταξίας; τίς γὰρ ἂν ᾐδέσθη πατέρα λοιπόν; τίς δὲ ἂν