And all of us, however many men we are, are anticipated by the grace of God, nor do we experience the effects of justice before we have neglected the riches and treasures of goodness and mercy. For this is the rationale of the divine governance: that mercy and goodness vindicate to themselves the first parts, and only the second are assigned to justice and severity.
Cassiodorus writes excellently when, expounding the words1 of the Psalm, “Mercy and judgment I will sing; to thee, O Lord, I will sing,” he writes2:
The power of the Lord always either has mercy or judges. But neither is his mercy found without judgment nor his judgment without mercy; for each is joined to the other by mutual fellowship, nor does any deed of his come forth which is not perceived to be full of all virtues. For just as he said here “mercy and judgment,” elsewhere he speaks in place of these two names of “justice and peace”; and again, “mercy and truth”; or, “justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne”; so that everywhere he may demonstrate God to be loving and just. There is no doubt that this manner of speech can be numbered among the distinctive properties of divine Scripture. For also in that time of his glorious advent, he exercises mercy in the first place when he says3: “Come, blessed of my Father,” and so forth; but not without equity,
because he renders to his faithful the things promised to them. But afterward judgment follows, when he says4 to the impious: “Depart from me, accursed, into everlasting fire”; which nevertheless is not without loving-kindness, because he is known to bring forth vengeance after much patience. Thou seest, therefore, both that these two are consonant with one another and that, placed in their own orders, they shine forth. Let sinners, therefore, who wickedly despair of their salvation hear the merciful Lord; let the proud, who do not judge their evil to be deserving of punishment, understand the Judge. Thus the whole is sung here compendiously and most fully, because in these two expressions both all the works of the Lord and the edification of the whole Church are shown to have been narrated.
Elsewhere5, upon the words of the Psalm, “He loves mercy and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord,” he confirms this, saying:
In this and the following verses, by the third species of definition, which in Greek is called ποιότης and in Latin qualitative, he declares the Lord by narrating the things which he has done or which he does daily. For we are said to love those things which we do more often. Thus it is sung here to the Lord, “He loves mercy and judgment,” as though he did not also love prudence and temperance. But because he frequently grants this to us, he is said altogether to love it. In this world, therefore, he loves mercy, where he disseminates it far and wide; namely, where he sustains sinners, where he patiently awaits blasphemers, where he furnishes life to the unworthy, and like things, which it is evident must in every way be applied to the supernal loving-kindness. He loves judgment also, when he separates the pious from the impious and discerns their merits by the quality of equity. It follows where he bestows that mercy of which he spoke above, when “the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.” This earth, surely, which contains the wretched, where we labor under the assault of the devil, where by the weakness of the flesh we are drawn away from the heavenly commandments. For then what mercy can we ask, when we are no longer burdened by any necessities? Here, therefore, let us seek mercy, with which the whole earth has been filled.