Nor ought it to occasion wonder that the divine economy toward men, so long as they dwell in this mortality, is of such a kind: for God is generally good; he exhibits a universal remedy; and he so fulfills toward us the offices of father and mother that he himself abundantly repairs what our first parents lost for all and each. Cassiodorus indeed confirms all these things by explicit testimonies.
He confirms the first when, upon the words1 of the Psalm, “He hath not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities,” he writes:
The sentence is general, because there is no one who does not have his grace gratuitously, since the law encloses all things under sin; as the Apostle testifies2, “God hath concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy on all.” Yet he gives the spirit in common to the good and the evil, grants health, removes necessities, and is generally good.
He confirms the second when he concludes3 the exposition of Psalm XLIX with these words:
Why, O Jews, do you still act foolishly? Why do you not fear your destruction? Hear the Synagogue proclaiming the incarnation of the Lord and the future judgment. Believe now the one who has been seen, who was foretold to come. The remedies of loving-kindness are not far away, if you hasten to the benefits of penance. Why do you separate yourselves from the general remedy? That which frees us saves them also. Let us say in common: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.” Seek baptism; receive the flesh which you crucified; drink the blood which you shed. A pious confession is able to absolve that which it is evident impious vows committed.
He confirms the third also when, upon the words4, “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord hath taken me up,” he subjoins this commentary:
He calls Adam, the first man, his father, and his wife Eve, from whom human generation descended, his mother.
They, therefore, forsook us by the condition of mortality and could not nourish us when they were removed from this light. There follows: “But the Lord hath taken me up,” namely, in the place of a true parent. He is a father because he founded us, because he rules us; a mother because he cherishes us, because he nurses the weak and the little.