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IF then we say that these impulses were implanted in us by the Creator,
He will not on that account seem blameworthy, if we choose wrongly to abuse
them, and to pervert them to harmful purposes, and are ready to be made
sorry by means of the useless Cains of this world, and not by means of
showing penitence and the correction of our faults: or at least if we are
angry not with ourselves (which would be profitable) but with our brethren
in defiance of God's command. For in the case of iron, which is given us
for good and useful purposes, if any one should pervert it for murdering
the innocent, one would not therefore blame the maker of the metal because
man had used to injure others that which he had provided for good and
useful purposes of living happily.
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