Section XXXVII

Since, therefore, divine providence toward men is exercised by a twofold office, that of goodness and justice, of mercy and wrath, the rationale of each is nevertheless diverse and is not of one kind.

It is diverse in origin, since God fulfills the parts of mercy and goodness of his own accord, but approaches the parts of wrath and justice only when provoked. Hence that saying¹ of Peter Damian: men are quick to wrath, slow to mercy; but God is both slow to wrath and quick to pity. He immediately adds that this also must be considered in the mercy of him who has mercy: that men of the world forgive once or twice, or at most seven or ten times; but God forgives a thousand times in a day, if it could happen, the things which we commit, and this as long as we live, as long as we sojourn away from him.

It is diverse in time, since he does not become wrathful and punish before he has anticipated men with benefits and heaped gifts upon them. Peter Damian writes aptly²:

Behold, he sees and is silent; he sees and does not reveal; he sees and does not judge; he sees and does not avenge; he sees

and dissimulates that he sees; he calls and thou dost not hear; he promises and thou dost contemn; he threatens and thou dost not fear, and thou treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath. Since, therefore, he is a just and mighty judge, he is greatly patient and is not angry on every day. Behold, he contains wrath, represses fury, turns away his eyes, spares those who sin; and they, guilty of all, gather all these things unto their own judgment. Will he who has thus been quiet and silent always be silent in this manner? Or hast thou not read that he will come to judgment, casting aside patience, knowing not humility, ignorant of mercy?

It is diverse in amplitude, since God embraces all by his goodness, but visits with the severity of justice only those who have resisted his goodness. Its force is so great and its abundance so remarkable that Chrysostom represented it by this truly most forceful image³: φιλάνθρωπος γάρ ἐστι, καὶ καθάπερ ἡ ὠδίνουσα ἐπιθυμεῖ τεκεῖν, οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπιθυμεῖ τὸν ἔλεον τὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκχεῖν, “for God is benign, and just as a woman seized by the pains of childbirth desires to give birth, so also he desires to pour forth his mercy.”

From these things it follows: I. that the principle of the salvific will is implanted in God by nature, but that the cause and incitement of the will by which he inflicts punishments comes to him from without; II. that the salvific will is first, antecedent, and universal, but that the will of punishing is second, consequent, and particular; III. that divine providence toward men is so administered by mercy and justice that mercy precedes, but the order of justice and severity follows; and therefore IV. that not all obtain the fruits of mercy, nor do all arrive at salvation, because God established this law: that men themselves also, in order to attain so great a good, solicitously contribute their own labor after the grace by which they are anticipated and with the grace by which they are assisted⁴.

An Anonymous author excellently explained this⁵ upon these words of Scripture⁶,

“Wash me yet more from my iniquity,” saying:

Attend carefully, I pray, to the things which I shall say, and strain the sinews of thy mind. Ὁ ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄφατος, ἀνερμήνευτος, καταληφθῆναι μὴ δυνάμενος, ὑπερβαίνων νοῦν, νικῶν λογισμόν. ἀλλ᾽ εἰ καὶ τοιοῦτός ἐστιν ὁ ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα μὴ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἄχρηστοι γένωνται ἐλεούμενοι, χρείαν ἔχει καὶ τῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῶν. πρόσχες ὃ λέγω. ὁ Θεὸς ἐλεεῖ, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐλεεῖ, ἀλλὰ λέγει· δὸς καὶ σύ. τί ποτέ; οἷόν τι λέγει. μυρία ἔχεις ἁμαρτήματα φορτία, ἔχεις πλημμελήματα πολλά· θέλω αὐτὰ κουφίσαι. δὸς καὶ σὺ χεῖρα· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ἐγώ σου χρείαν ἔχω, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ βούλομαι καὶ σέ τι συνεισενέγκασθαι εἰς τὴν σαυτοῦ σωτηρίαν. The mercy of God, indeed, is so great that it can be explained by no discourse and comprehended by no thought, but exceeds the mind and surpasses reason. Yet, even though the mercy of God is such, it nevertheless desires our parts also, lest men, having obtained mercy, should become useless. Attend to what I shall say: God imparts mercy, but not simply; rather, he says: “Do thou also give something.” What? For example, thou art oppressed by infinite burdens of sins, thou hast many offenses; I will wash them away. Do thou also extend thy hand—not because I have need of thee, but because I will that thou also contribute something toward thine own salvation.

Whence V. it is evident that those are most greatly deceived who estimate and define the scope and amplitude of the divine salvific will from the number of those who are saved. For the latter number embraces no others than those who offer an obedient will to God, obey him when he calls, and follow him as he goes before; but the former has the same bounds as the goodness and mercy of God, which is entirely infinite and altogether universal.