Nor does Origen, the disciple of Clement, speak otherwise. He explains the words1 of the Psalm, “How good is the God of Israel to those who are right of heart,” by this scholion2:
Εἰς τὸ ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῷ πᾶσιν ἀγαθός ἐστιν ὁ θεός· σωτὴρ γάρ ἐστι πάντων ἀνθρώπων, μάλιστα πιστῶν. So far as lies in himself, God is good to all; for he is the Savior3 of all men, especially of the faithful.
But because he is such, therefore4,
ὁ θεὸς εἰς ἀγαθοποιίαν προχειρότερός ἐστιν, εἰς δὲ τὸ κολάσαι τοὺς ἀξίους κολάσεως μελλητής, God is prompt to do good, but slow to punish those who are worthy of punishment. For although he could in silence, without attestation beforehand, punish those whom he had once judged worthy of punishment, he never does this; but even if he has condemned, he says what it is always his purpose to say, so that those who had been condemned through transgression may be liberated from condemnation through penance.
After confirming this economy of God, distinguished by goodness, by several examples from the Scriptures5, he adds6:
God had condemned Jerusalem on account of the sins which it had committed, and this was the final sentence: that it should be left to captivity. Nevertheless, since he is a lover of men and wills no one to perish, before the time of devastation drew near he also sent this7 Prophet so that through his discourses it might be converted to penance; he sent the same man under the second king and also sent him under the third. Why say more? Captivity was now imminent, and God was still exhorting, granting—so to speak—even one day beforehand a place for penance. Whence it is written that Jeremiah prophesied until the captivity of Jerusalem and until the fifth month. The bonds of the enemies had now constrained their hands, and nevertheless God was in a manner saying these things: αἰχμάλωτοι γέγονατε, κἂν οὕτω μετανοήσατε; behold, you have been made captives; even though late, do penance. Ask me, and I shall spare you; I who handed you over am able to rescue you from captivity.
From these things he infers8:
See how great an evil it is to sin, so that the souls of those who are abandoned by God are handed over to Satan, who takes them captive. But God does not abandon those whom he deserts without cause or judgment. For when he has sent rain upon the vineyard, and the vineyard has brought forth thorns instead of grapes, what will he do except command the clouds that they rain no shower upon it?