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AND that we may make these statements clear by instances from Holy
Scripture, what could be brought about that was more salutary and more to
the good of the whole world, than the saving remedy of the Lord's Passion?
And yet it was not only of no advantage, but was actually to the
disadvantage of the traitor by whose means it is shown to have been brought
about, so that it is absolutely said of him: "It were good for that man if
he had never been born." For the fruits of his labour will not be repaid
to him according to the actual result, but according to what he wanted to
do, and believed that he would accomplish. And again, what could there be
more culpable than craft and deceit shown even to a stranger, not to
mention one's brother and father? And yet the patriarch Jacob not only met
with no condemnation or blame for such things but was actually dowered with
the everlasting heritage of the blessing. And not without reason, for the
last mentioned desired the blessing destined for the first-born not out of
a greedy desire for present gain but because of his faith in everlasting
sanctification; while the former (Judas) delivered the Redeemer of all to
death, not for the sake of man's salvation, but from the sin of
covetousness. And therefore in each case the fruits of their action are
reckoned according to the intention of the mind and purpose of the will,
according to which the object of the one was not to work fraud, nor was
that of the other to work salvation. For justly is there repayment to each
man as the recompense of reward, for what he conceived in the first
instance in his mind, and not for what resulted from it either well or
badly, against the wish of the worker. And so the most just Judge regarded
him who ventured on such a falsehood as excusable and indeed worthy of
praise, because without it he could not secure the blessing of the first-
born; and that should not be reckoned as a sin, which arose from desire of
the blessing. Otherwise the aforesaid patriarch would have been not only
unfair to his brother, but also a cheat of his father and a blasphemer, if
there had been any other way by which he could secure the gift of that
blessing, and he had preferred to follow this which would damage and injure
his brother. You see then that with God the inquiry is not into the
carrying out of the act, but into the purpose of the mind. With this
preparation then for a return to the question proposed (for which all this
has been premised) I want you first to tell me for what reason you bound
yourselves in the fetters of that promise.
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