Section CXCVI

For in the present life goodness and clemency reign and claim primacy for themselves, and justice itself puts on the nature of each and displays their countenance. We read this said remarkably by Basil¹ when, explaining the words, “The Lord loves mercy and judgment,” he writes:

If the judgment of God were separate and according to itself, so that he severely repaid us according to the deserts of those things which we have done, what hope would remain? Who among all men would be saved? But now he loves mercy and judgment. After he has stationed mercy as though sitting beside him and standing before the royal throne of judgment, he thus brings each one to judgment. “If² thou shalt observe iniquities, O Lord, Lord, who shall endure it?” Neither mercy without judgment, nor judgment without mercy. Πρὸ τῆς κρίσεως οὖν, ἀγαπᾷ ἐλεημοσύνην· καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην, ἔρχεται ἐπὶ τὴν κρίσιν. Before judgment, therefore, he loves mercy, and after mercy he comes to judgment. But these are conjoined with one another: mercy with judgment, lest either mercy alone produce softness or judgment alone bring despair. The judge wills to have mercy upon you and to make you a participant in his acts of compassion, provided that after sin he finds you humble, contrite, greatly deploring your wicked works, publishing without shame those things which were done secretly, and asking your brethren to be of assistance to you in receiving medicine—

—But if he sees a heart ignorant of repentance, a proud mind, a soul not believing in the future age, and no fear of judgment, then he loves judgment in you. For thus a good and humane physician first attempts to soothe a swelling with fomentations and gentle remedies; but when he sees that the mass yields nothing and resists in its hardness, then at last, after setting aside oil and the gentler manner of treatment, he employs the use of iron. Ἀγαπᾷ οὖν ἐλεημοσύνην ἐπὶ τῶν μετανοούντων· ἀγαπᾷ δὲ καὶ κρίσιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνενδότων. Therefore he loves mercy in the penitent, but he also loves judgment in the obstinate.

But in the obstinate judgment comes only at the final day; for so long as they have not reached the fatal limit, they are fostered by mercy. Nor without cause, says Basil³, is it written: “The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.” “Indeed, ἐνταῦθα διέζευκται ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως ὁ ἔλεος· μόνου γὰρ τοῦ ἐλέους Κυρίου πλήρης ἡ γῆ, τῆς κρίσεως εἰς τὸν ὡρισμένον καιρὸν ταμιευθείσης· ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν, ἔλεός ἐστι χωρὶς κρίσεως· οὐ γὰρ ἦλθεν ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα σώσῃ τὸν κόσμον, here mercy is separated from judgment. For the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord alone, judgment being reserved for the appointed time. Here, therefore, there is mercy without judgment. For he did not come⁴ to judge the world, but to save the world.”

By this law of mercy he provided for our first parents and recalled the human race which had fallen in them. For, after mercy has been defined⁵ as “an affection toward those who, contrary to their merit, have been cast down, proceeding from those who are moved by compassion,” Basil adds⁶: “Therefore, since we too, while dwelling in paradise, were once illustrious and worthy of regard, and yet through expulsion became inglorious and abject, our God has mercy upon us when he sees what sort we have become from what sort we were. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἀνεκαλεῖτο τῇ τοῦ ἐλέου φωνῇ—”

—λέγων· Ἀδὰμ ποῦ εἶ; οὐ γὰρ διδαχθῆναι ἐζήτει ὁ πάντα εἰδώς, ἀλλὰ νοῆσαι αὐτὸν ἐβούλετο οἷος ἀνθ᾽ οἵου γέγονε. Ποῦ εἶ; ἀντὶ τοῦ, εἰς οἷον πτῶμα κατελήλυθας ἀπὸ τηλικαύτου ὕψους; On this account he also recalled Adam with this voice of mercy, saying⁷: ‘Adam, where are you?’ For he who knows all things did not seek to be informed, but wished Adam himself to understand what sort of man he had become from what sort he had been. ‘Where are you?’ as if he were to say: ‘Into what a ruin have you fallen from so great a height?’”

By the impulse of the same mercy the Only-begotten came into this world to bring aid and furnish assistance to absolutely all men. For, at the words⁸, “Shall not my soul be subject to God? For from him is my salvation,” Basil first observes⁹ “that in these words is contained the cause why the author of the Psalm desires to be subject to God: namely, because salvation is from him. Ἴδιον γὰρ δημιουργοῦ τὸ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ποιημάτων τῆς ἀσφαλείας φροντίζειν. For it is proper to the maker to care for the preservation of his works.”

Then, explaining the same words in another manner¹⁰, he continues: “Or, salvation is from him because, prophetically foreseeing the future grace of the Lord’s incarnation, he says these things: namely, that one ought to serve God and love him, ὃς τηλικαύτην εὐεργεσίαν εἰς τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων προκατεβάλετο, who first conferred so great a benefit upon the human race that he did not even spare his own Son¹¹, but delivered him up for us all. For it is the custom of Scripture to call Christ the salvation of God; as Simeon also says somewhere¹²: ‘Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, because my eyes have seen thy salvation.’ Let us therefore be subject to God, because salvation is from him. But he explains what salvation is. Οὐκ ἐνέργειά τις ψιλὴ χάριν τινὰ ἡμῖν παρεχομένη εἰς ἀπαλλαγὴν ἀσθενείας, καὶ σώματος εὐεξίαν. It is not a certain bare operation bringing us some beneficence by which we are freed from infirmity and enjoy a good condition of body—

—But what is salvation? ‘For he is my God, and my Savior, my protector; I shall not be greatly moved’¹³. The Son who is from God is our God. Ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ σωτὴρ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὁ τὸ ἀσθενὲς ἡμῶν ὑπερείδων, ὁ τὸν ἐκ τῶν πειρασμῶν ἐγγινόμενον ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν σάλον ἐπανορθούμενος. The same is also the Savior of the human race, supporting our weakness and correcting the disturbance which comes upon our souls from temptations.”