Chapter 25.—God Punishes Both in Wrath and in Mercy.

Although there are some men who are so eminent in righteousness that God speaks to them out of His cloudy pillar, such as “Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name,”348    Ps. xcix. 6. the latter of whom is much praised for his piety and purity in the Scriptures of truth, from his earliest childhood, in which his mother, to accomplish her vow, placed him in God’s temple, and devoted him to the Lord as His servant;—yet even of such men it is written, “Thou, O God, wast propitious unto them, though Thou didst punish all their devices.”349    Ps. xcix. 8. Now the children of wrath God punishes in anger; whereas it is in mercy that He punishes the children of grace; since “whom He loveth He correcteth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”350    Prov. iii. 12; Heb. xii. 6. However, there are no punishments, no correction, no scourge of God, but what are owing to sin, except in the case of Him who prepared His back for the smiter, in order that He might experience all things in our likeness without sin, in order that He might be the saintly Priest of saints, making intercession even for saints, who with no sacrifice of truth say each one even for himself, “Forgive us our trespasses, even as we also forgive them that trespass against us.” 351    Matt. vi. 12, 14; Luke xi. 4. Wherefore even our opponents in this controversy, whilst they are chaste in their life, and commendable in character, and although they do not hesitate to do that which the Lord enjoined on the rich man, who inquired of Him about the attainment of eternal life, after he had told Him, in answer to His first question, that he had already fully kept every commandment in the law,—that “if he wished to be perfect, he must sell all that he had and give to the poor, and transfer his treasure to heaven;”352    Matt. xix. 12. yet they do not in any one instance venture to say that they are without sin. But this, as we believe, they refrain from saying, with deceitful intent; but if they are lying, in this very act they begin either to augment or commit sin.

25. Sint licet homines tanta excellentes justitia, ut ad eos de columna nobis loquatur Deus, qualis Moyses et Aaron in sacerdotibus ejus, et Samuel in his qui invocant nomen ejus; cujus magnae laudes pietatis et innocentiae in Scriptura veridica praedicantur, ab ineunte pueritia, ex quo eum mater votum solvens in templo Dei constituit, et servum Domino dedicavit: etiam de talibus scriptum est, Tu propitius eras illis, et vindicans in omnes affectiones eorum (Psal. XCVIII, 6-8). In filios quippe damnationis vindicat iratus: in filios autem gratiae vindicat propitius, dum 0167 quem diligit corripit, et flagellat omnem filium quem recipit (Prov. III, 12, et Hebr. XII, 6). Nulla autem vindicta, nulla correptio, nullum Dei flagellum debetur nisi peccato, excepto illo qui in flagella paratus est, ut experiretur omnia secundum similitudinem sine peccato, ut esset sanctus sanctorum sacerdos interpellans etiam pro sanctis, qui non mendaciter etiam de se quisque dicunt, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris (Matth. VI, 12). Unde et ipsi qui contra haec disputant, cum sint casta vita, moribusque laudabiles, nec dubitent facere, quod illi diviti pro consequenda vita aeterna consilium requirenti, cum se respondisset jam omnia legis implevisse mandata, praecepit Dominus, si vellet esse perfectus, venderet omnia quae habebat et daret pauperibus, thesaurumque transferret in coelum (Id. XIX, 20, 21): nemo tamen eorum audet dicere se esse sine peccato. Quod, sicut credimus, non fallaci animo dicunt: si autem mentiuntur, eo ipso incipiunt vel augere, vel habere peccatum.