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It is to be observed that it is the custom in the Holy Scripture to
speak of God's permission as His energy, as when the apostle says in
the Epistle to the Romans, Hath not the potter power over the clay,
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto
dishonour? And for this reason, that He Himself makes this or
that. For He is Himself alone the Maker of all things; yet it is
not He Himself that fashions noble or ignoble things, but the
personal choice of each one. And this is manifest from what the same
Apostle says in the Second Epistle to Timothy, In a great house
there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and
of earth: and some to honour and some to dishonour. If a man
therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour
sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every
good work. And it is evident that the purification must be voluntary:
for if a man, he saith, purge himself. And the consequent
antistrophe responds, "If a man purge not himself he will be a vessel
to dishonour, unmeet for the master's use and fit only to be broken in
pieces." Wherefore this passage that we have quoted and this, God
hath concluded them all in unbelief, and this, God hath given them
the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that
they should not hear, all these must be understood not as though God
Himself were energising, but as though God were permitting, both
because of free-will and because goodness knows no compulsion.
His permission, therefore, is usually spoken of in the Holy
Scripture as His energy and work. Nay, even when He says that God
creates evil things, and that there is no evil in a city that the Lord
hath not done, he does not mean by these words that the Lord is the
cause of evil, but the word 'evil' is used in two ways, with two
meanings. For sometimes it means what is evil by nature, and this is
the opposite of virtue and the will of God: and sometimes it means
that which is evil and oppressive to our sensation, that is to say,
afflictions and calamities. Now these are seemingly evil because they
are painful, but in reality are good. For to those who understand
they became ambassadors of conversion and salvation. The Scripture
says that of these God is the Author.
It is, moreover, to be observed that of these, too, we are the
cause: for involuntary evils are the offspring of voluntary ones.
This also should be recognised, that it is usual in the Scriptures
for some things that ought to be considered as effects to be stated in a
causal sense, as, Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and
done this evil in Thy sight, that Than mightest be justified when
Thou speakest, and prevail when Thou judgest. For the sinner did
not sin in order that God might prevail, nor again did God require
our sin in order that He might by it be revealed as victor. For above
comparison He wins the victor's prize against all, even against those
who are sinless, being Maker, incomprehensible, uncreated, and
possessing natural and not adventitious glory. But it is because when
we sin God is not unjust in His anger against us; and when He
pardons the penitent He is shewn victor over our wickedness. But it
is not for this that we sin, but because the thing so turns out. It
is just as if one were sitting at work and a friend stood near by, and
one said, My friend came in order that I might do no work that day.
The friend, however, was not present in order that the man should do
no work, but such was the result. For being occupied with receiving
his friend he did not work. These things, too, are spoken of as
effects because affairs so turned out. Moreover, God does not wish
that He alone should be just, but that all should, so far as
possible, be made like unto Him.
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