The justice of the instructor is shown in his rebukes, and the goodness of God in his 1.9.87.3 compassions. For this reason David, that is, the Spirit through him, embracing both, sings of the same God: "Righteousness and judgment are the preparation of your throne; mercy and truth will go before your face." He confesses that it is of the same power both to judge and to do good; for the authority for both is together, 1.9.88.1 the judgment of the just one distinguishing opposites. And the same one is just and good, who is truly God, who is himself all things and all things are himself, because he is God, the only God. For just as the mirror is not evil to the ugly person, because it shows him as he is, and as the physician is not evil to the sick person who announces the fever to him, for the physician is not the cause of the fever, but is a proof of the fever, so too the one who reproves is not ill-disposed to the one who is sick in soul; for he does not implant the offenses, but points out the sins that are present for the 1.9.88.2 turning away from similar practices. So God is good on his own account, and just on our account, and this because he is good. And his justice to us he shows through his own Word from that place above, from whence he became Father. For before he became Creator, he was God, he was good, and for this reason he willed to be both Maker and Father; and that state of love has become the beginning of justice, of his making his sun shine and sending down his own Son; and he first announced the good righteousness from heaven, saying, "No one knew the Son except the Father, nor the 1.9.88.3 Father except the Son." This counterbalancing knowledge on equal terms is a symbol of ancient justice. Then justice came down to men both in writing and in body, in the Word and in the Law, compelling humanity to a saving repentance; for it was good. But you do not obey God; blame yourself for drawing the judge upon you. 1.10.t.1 Because the same God through the same Word both restrains from sins by threatening and saves humanity by exhorting. If, therefore, we have shown that the plan for making humanity austere, being good and saving, is necessarily undertaken by the Word, becoming suitable both for repentance and for the prevention of sins, it would follow to consider the gentleness of the Word; for he has been shown to be just and he sets forth his own maxims, which are exhortatory to salvation, through which he wishes to make known to us by the Father's will both what is noble and what is advantageous. 1.10.89.2 But consider these things: the noble belongs to the encomiastic, and the advantageous to the deliberative; for indeed the mode of the deliberative is the hortatory and dehortatory, and of the encomiastic it becomes the laudatory and the vituperative. For in what state does the deliberative faculty become hortatory, and in what state 1.10.89.3 dehortatory. And likewise the encomiastic, in what state does it become vituperative, and in what state laudatory; with which things the just instructor is especially occupied, who has aimed at our 1.10.89.4 advantage. But the vituperative and dehortatory kind has already been pointed out to us before, and now in turn the hortatory and laudatory must be handled, and as if on a balance let us lift up the equally weighted scales of the just one. 1.10.90.1 Therefore, for exhortation to what is advantageous, the instructor through Solomon makes use of it in this way: I exhort you, O men, and I send forth my voice to the sons of men; listen to me, for I will speak noble things, and so on. And he gives saving counsel, because counsel is suited for choice and for avoidance, just as he does through David, saying, "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and in the way of sinners

δίκαιον ἐπιδείκνυται τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ τὸ περὶ τὰς ἐπιτιμήσεις καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ περὶ τὰς 1.9.87.3 οἰκτειρήσεις. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ ∆αβίδ, τουτέστι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ δι' αὐτοῦ, ἄμφω περιλαβὼν ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ψάλλει θεοῦ· δικαιοσύνη καὶ κρίμα ἑτοιμασία τοῦ θρόνου σου· ἔλεος καὶ ἀλήθεια προπορεύσονται πρὸ προσώπου σου. Τῆς αὐτῆς εἶναι δυνάμεως ὁμολογεῖ καὶ κρίνειν καὶ εὐεργετεῖν· ἅμα γὰρ ἀμφοῖν ἡ 1.9.88.1 ἐξουσία ἡ κρίσις τοῦ δικαίου διακρίνουσα τὰ ἐναντία. Καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς δίκαιος καὶ ἀγαθός, ὁ ὄντως θεός, ὁ ὢν αὐτὸς τὰ πάντα καὶ τὰ πάντα ὁ αὐτός, ὅτι αὐτὸς θεός, ὁ μόνος θεός. Ὡς γὰρ τὸ ἔσοπτρον τῷ αἰσχρῷ οὐ κακόν, ὅτι δεικνύει αὐτὸν οἷός ἐστιν, καὶ ὡς ὁ ἰατρὸς τῷ νοσοῦντι οὐ κακὸς ὁ τὸν πυρετὸν ἀναγγέλλων αὐτῷ, οὐ γὰρ αἴτιος τοῦ πυρετοῦ ὁ ἰατρός, ἀλλὰ ἔλεγχός ἐστι τοῦ πυρετοῦ, οὕτως οὐδὲ ὁ ἐλέγχων δύσνους τῷ κάμνοντι τὴν ψυχήν· οὐ γὰρ ἐντίθησι τὰ πλημμε λήματα, τὰ δὲ προσόντα ἐπιδείκνυσιν ἁμαρτήματα εἰς τὴν 1.9.88.2 τῶν ὁμοίων ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἀποτροπήν. Ὥστε ἀγαθὸς μὲν ὁ θεὸς δι' ἑαυτόν, δίκαιος δὲ ἤδη δι' ἡμᾶς, καὶ τοῦτο ὅτι ἀγαθός. Τὸ δίκαιον δὲ ἡμῖν διὰ τοῦ λόγου ἐνδείκνυται τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ ἐκεῖθεν ἄνωθεν, ὅθεν γέγονεν πατήρ. Πρὶν γὰρ κτίστην γενέσθαι θεὸς ἦν, ἀγαθὸς ἦν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ δημιουργὸς εἶναι καὶ πατὴρ ἠθέλησεν· καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀγάπης ἐκείνης σχέσις δικαιοσύνης γέγονεν ἀρχή, καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ἐπιλάμποντος τὸν αὑτοῦ καὶ τὸν υἱὸν καταπέμποντος τὸν αὑτοῦ· καὶ πρῶτος οὗτος τὴν ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἀγαθὴν κατήγγειλεν δικαιοσύνην, οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ λέγων, οὐδὲ τὸν 1.9.88.3 πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός. Αὕτη ἡ ἀντιταλαντεύουσα γνῶσις ἐπ' ἴσης δικαιοσύνης ἀρχαίας σύμβολον. Ἔπειτα δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καταβέβηκεν ἡ δικαιοσύνη καὶ γράμματι καὶ σώματι, τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῷ νόμῳ, εἰς μετάνοιαν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα βιαζομένη σωτήριον· ἀγαθὴ γὰρ ἦν. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑπακούεις τῷ θεῷ· σεαυτὸν αἰτιῶ τὸν κριτὴν ἐπισπώμενος. 1.10.t.1 Ὅτι ὁ αὐτὸς θεὸς διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου καὶ ἀπείργει τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἀπειλῶν καὶ σῴζει τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα παρακαλῶν. Εἰ τοίνυν τὴν περὶ τὸ ἐπιστύφειν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα οἰκονομίαν, ἀγαθὴν οὖσαν καὶ σωτήριον, ἀναγκαίως ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου παραλαμβανομένην ἐπεδείξαμεν πρός τε μετάνοιαν καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τὴν κώλυσιν εὔθετον γενομένην, ἑξῆς ἂν εἴη σκοπεῖν τὸ ἤπιον τοῦ λόγου· δίκαιος γὰρ οὗτος ἀποδέδεικται καὶ τὰς ἰδίας παρατίθεται γνώμας τὰς πρὸς σωτηρίαν παρακλητικάς, δι' ὧν καὶ τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ συμφέρον πατρικῷ 1.10.89.2 θελήματι γνωρίζειν ἡμῖν βούλεται. Σκόπει δὲ ταῦτα· τὸ μὲν καλὸν τοῦ ἐγκωμιαστικοῦ, τὸ δὲ συμφέρον τοῦ συμβουλευτικοῦ· καὶ γὰρ οὖν τοῦ μὲν συμβουλευτικοῦ σχέσις τὸ προτρεπτικὸν καὶ ἀποτρεπτικόν, τοῦ δὲ ἐγκωμιαστικοῦ τὸ ἐπαινετικόν τε καὶ ψεκτικὸν γίνεται. Πῶς γὰρ ἔχουσα ἡ διάνοια ἡ συμβουλευτικὴ προτρεπτικὴ γίνεται καὶ πῶς ἔχουσα 1.10.89.3 ἀποτρεπτική. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐγκωμιαστικὸν πῶς μὲν ἔχον ψεκτικὸν γίνεται, πῶς δὲ ἔχον ἐπαινετικόν· περὶ ἃ καταγίνεται μάλιστα ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ὁ δίκαιος ὁ τοῦ ἡμετέρου 1.10.89.4 συμφέροντος ἐστοχασμένος. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τὸ μὲν ψεκτικὸν καὶ ἀποτρεπτικὸν εἶδος ὑποδέδεικται ἡμῖν ἤδη πρότερον, νῦν δὲ αὖ τὸ προτρεπτικὸν καὶ ἐπαινετικὸν μεταχειριστέον καὶ καθάπερ ἐπὶ ζυγοῦ τὰς ἰσοστασίους ἀντισηκώσωμεν τοῦ δικαίου πλάστιγγας. 1.10.90.1 Τῇ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὰ συμφέροντα προτροπῇ ὁ παιδαγωγὸς διὰ Σολομῶντος ὧδέ πως χρῆται· ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς, ἄνθρωποι, παρακαλῶ καὶ προΐεμαι ἐμὴν φωνὴν υἱοῖς ἀνθρώπων· ἐπακούσατέ μου, σεμνὰ γὰρ ἐρῶ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Συμβουλεύει δὲ τὰ σωτήρια, ὅτι ἡ συμβουλὴ πρὸς αἵρεσίν ἐστι καὶ φυγὴν ἐπιτήδειος, καθάπερ ποιεῖ διὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ λέγων μακάριος ἀνὴρ ὃς οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ἐν βουλῇ ἀσεβῶν καὶ ἐν ὁδῷ ἁμαρτωλῶν