Chapter 11
Chapter XI.
On the benefits pertaining principally to the punishment of adversaries.
She directed their works. Here he treats of the benefits pertaining to the punishment of adversaries, and first of those pertaining to punishment through lighter penalties, ordained for their correction, namely in this chapter and in the twelfth chapter; second, of those pertaining to punishment through heavier penalties, ordained for condemnation, namely in the thirteenth chapter and thereafter.
First, the punishment through lighter penalties is treated in two ways. In the first part, he treats principally of the punishment of the Egyptians who were unjustly oppressing the Israelites; second, of the punishment of the Canaanites who were unjustly holding their land, namely in the twelfth chapter.
First, concerning the punishment of the Egyptians for a twofold sin, first for unjust oppression.
In the first part, the punishment of the Egyptians is treated first on account of the unjust oppression of the children of Israel; second, on account of idolatry: For some who were erring.
In the first part, there is first shown toward the children of Israel, whom they wished to hold captive, the mercy of God; second, against the Egyptians wishing to unjustly hold them, the justice of God: For by what things.
In the first part, there is first touched upon the direction of the Israelites on the way; second, the clearing away or removal of impediments occurring on the way: They stood; third, their refreshment on the way: They thirsted.
(Vers. 1.). He says therefore: She directed, as if to say: not only did wisdom bestow the aforementioned benefits upon the Israelite people, but she also directed their works: The Gloss: "of the Israelites," namely after their departure from Egypt: in the hands, that is, in the power and governance, of a holy Prophet: The Gloss: "Moses," who was a prophet as regards doctrine: Deuteronomy 18: "The Lord will raise up for you a Prophet like me": holy as regards life: Exodus 33: "You have found grace before me." He taught and governed them not only by words, because he was a prophet, but also by examples, because he was holy, so that there could be said of him that word of Luke 24: "He was a prophet mighty in work and in word."
(Vers. 2.). They made a journey: Gloss: "Hastening to the promised land": through deserts, that is, through many places abandoned, namely by cultivators: which were not inhabited, namely by human inhabitants. And this was done with wisdom directing them through the hand of Moses, according to that passage of the Psalm: "You led your people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron." Which many did not acknowledge; whence Jeremiah 2: "They did not say: Where is the Lord, who brought us through the desert, through an uninhabitable and pathless land?" And in desert places they made huts: Gloss: "Tabernacles," that is, poor little dwellings, and they are called huts from "falling," because they can easily fall down: similarly it is read of Abraham that he dwelt "in tents," Hebrews 11. And they did this through forty-two encampments, which are specified in Numbers 33.
(Vers. 3.). They stood against enemies, namely against the Amalekites, fighting with them, as is found in Exodus 17, and against the Midianites, Numbers 31. And against their foes, namely the Amalekites, they avenged themselves, namely by triumphing and slaying them, and this through the prayer of Moses and the raising of his hands, as is clear from Exodus 17.
(Vers. 4.). They thirsted, namely on the part of the body because of a scarcity of water, as is clear from Exodus 17 and Numbers 20, and they called upon you, namely on the part of the soul, and this by themselves or through Moses: whence Numbers 20: "Lord God, hear the cry of this people"; in the Psalm: "They cried out to the Lord when they were in distress." And water was given to them from a most high rock, that is, from a lofty crag: Exodus 17: "You shall strike the rock," etc.; likewise Numbers 20: "Speak to the rock, and it will give you waters." And the quenching of thirst, that is, the allaying of thirst through the drinking of water, from the hard stone, supply: was given to them: in the Psalm: "He struck the rock, and waters flowed"; likewise Numbers 20: "Most abundant waters came forth, so that the people and the beasts drank." Moreover, it is called a most high rock, that is, very high, or most high by reason of what it signifies, namely because it signified Christ; whence 1 Corinthians 10: "And the rock was Christ." From this rock come forth the spiritual waters of graces: John 4: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him," etc.; likewise John 7: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink."
For by the very things. Here is shown the effect of divine justice against the Egyptians, who wished to detain the Israelites. And first is touched upon, through the failure of water, the punishment of the Egyptians: second, the fittingness of the punishment: For instead of a fountain: third, the intention of the one punishing: When they were diminished: fourth, the gravity of the punishment: These indeed: fifth, the effect upon those punished: For when they heard.
(Vers. 5.). By which things etc.: Gloss: "Having recalled the benefits given to the earlier people, the punishment of the enemies is narrated." For by which things etc., as if to say: To the Israelites was given an abundance of waters: for, meaning "because": by which things their enemies suffered punishments, namely the Egyptians, from the lack of their drink, namely all the water of Egypt was turned into blood, so that they could not drink from it, as is clear from Exodus 7. And in these things, when they abounded, the children of Israel, namely in the waters which abounded in the land of Goshen, or according to the Gloss: "Which had flowed from the rock," Numbers 20: rejoiced.
(Vers. 6. 7.). By these things, namely by the waters, when they were lacking to them, namely the waters, Gloss: "To the Israelites," it was dealt well with them, because that lack was supplied through a miracle.
For instead of a fountain etc., as if to say: fittingly and appropriately a lack of water was given to the Egyptians, but an abundance of waters was conferred upon the Israelites: for instead of a fountain indeed, certainly, of an everlasting river, that is, the Nile flowing continuously from the beginning of the world — for it is one of the rivers of paradise: human blood, that is, the appearance of human blood, you gave to the unjust, that is, to the Egyptians, since, according to the Gloss, "their waters were turned into blood," as is clear from Exodus 7.
(Vers. 8.). Who, namely the children of Israel, when they were being diminished by the exposure of the slain infants, that is, by the public exposure and slaying of infants, which was done lest the people should multiply but rather be diminished, as is clear from Exodus 1: you gave them, namely the children of Israel, abundant water unexpectedly, "that is, unforeseen," because in the desert and flowing from a rock through a miracle in the desert. "A miracle is a difficult and unusual work existing beyond the hope and capacity of the one who marvels at it." Human blood etc., as if he wished to say, according to the Gloss: To the Egyptians instead of water you gave blood, to the Israelites instead of the shed blood of the children you gave water.
(Vers. 9.). Showing, O Lord, through the thirst which then was, namely in Egypt to the Egyptians and in the desert to the Israelites: how you would exalt your own, namely in the future, when "you will give them to drink from the torrent of your pleasure": in this, namely, that so wondrously you gave them drink in the present. And would slay their adversaries; Gloss: "With eternal thirst," as the rich banqueter, of whom Luke 16 speaks: likewise Isaiah 65: "Behold, my servants shall drink, you shall thirst." Or according to the literal sense, by this was prefigured that the Egyptians were to be slain in the Red Sea and the Israelites to be delivered.
(Vers. 10.). For when they were tried, namely the children of Israel in the desert by many trials and plagues: the Gloss says: "God corrected the sinning Israelites with fitting plagues and consoled them when they repented." Whence it follows: And indeed, that is, certainly, they received discipline with mercy; in the Psalm: "You were angry and you had mercy on us": with mercy, namely consoling, discipline, correcting: or: a merciful and light correction or scourging for their faults, and therefore they ought not to have cast it off: Proverbs 3: "My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord": Hebrews 12: "But if you are without discipline, you are illegitimate and not sons." They knew, namely through experience, how with wrath, that is, how harshly — which the Prophet feared, saying: "Lord, do not rebuke me in your fury, nor correct me in your wrath"; the impious, being judged, namely in the present, would suffer torments, namely incomparably graver ones in the future: "For he shall rain snares upon sinners," etc. They knew, I say, through experience and in this, that they were so harshly corrected: Luke 23: "If they do this in the green wood, what shall be done in the dry?" Likewise Proverbs 11: "If the just man receives his due on earth, how much more the impious and the sinner"?
Likewise Jeremiah 25: "Behold, in the city in which my name has been invoked, I shall begin to afflict: and shall you be as though innocent and exempt?" As if to say: no.
(Vers. 11.). These indeed: the Gloss says: "the Israelites"; as a father admonishing, namely unto greater progress or unto advancing to what is better, you tested, that is, by admonishing through their correction you rendered them proven. "For the Lord scourges every son whom he receives," Hebrews 12: and Proverbs 3: "Whom the Lord loves he corrects, and as a father in his son he delights"; likewise above in chapter 3: "As gold in the furnace he tested them." But those: the Gloss says: "the Egyptians, or the Canaanites"; as a harsh king, through the effect of punishment, namely, you who in your nature are benign: examining, namely with punishments and examinations of torments, just as robbers and thieves and malefactors are put to examination and tortured: Gregory says: "Punishment examines whether one loves the truth when at peace." You condemned, because through scourges they were not amended but made worse: Ezekiel 24: "Much labor was sweated, and its excessive rust did not come out of it, not even by fire"; likewise Jeremiah 6: "Call them rejected silver, because the Lord has cast them away."
(Vers. 12.). For those who were absent etc., as if to say: rightly I said that you harshly condemned them. For those who were absent, namely the Egyptians from the presence of Moses and Pharaoh, or from the children of Israel, and those who were present, namely those expressly consenting to the malice of Pharaoh: or also, according to the Gloss, the Canaanites, whether those who were slain by Israel or those who heard of the victory of the others: were similarly tormented, because the plagues were "in all the land of Egypt," as is clear concerning the plague of blood, Exodus 7. Or: those present were tormented in body, those absent, who heard of this, were tormented in mind.
But then it is asked: how then were they similarly tormented, namely those absent in mind, but those present in body?
It must be said that they were similarly tormented in genus, namely insofar as both these and those were tormented, but not similarly in species or mode.
(Vers. 13.). For a twofold [weariness] had seized them, namely as if taking possession of them, weariness, that is, affliction, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Let them be clothed with their confusion as with a double cloak"; Jeremiah 17: "Destroy them with a double destruction." Twofold, I say: and, in place of 'that is': groaning, over the onset of present evils: with the memory of past things, that is, with the grief they had from the recollection of past evils, seeing that plagues succeeded upon plagues. The Gloss: "Twofold weariness, that is, the recollection of past evils and the storm of present ones."
For when they heard etc. Here is shown the punishment's effect upon those punished, first on the part of the Israelites; second, on the part of the Egyptians: For him whom etc.; third, on the part of both: Not similarly.
(Vers. 14.). As if to say: truly you tested these and condemned those. For when they heard, namely the children of Israel, with Moses proclaiming this; that through their torments things were going well for them, that is, profitably, namely unto their salvation, according to that passage in Romans 8: "For those who love God all things work together for good"; they remembered the Lord, whom, namely, they had as it were consigned to oblivion: who, despairing: in the Psalm: "They did not remember his hand" etc.; likewise: "They forgot his benefits and his wonders, which he showed them"; but afterward, afflicted, they remembered him: "For the eyes which guilt closes, punishment opens," as Gregory says; in the Psalm: "And they remembered that God is their helper." Marveling, namely at the power and mercy of God, at the end of the outcome, that is, after the end of the outcome of the matter: for from the end depends right judgment. "For the outcome proves the deeds"; whence also Peter followed Christ "to see the end," Matthew 26.
(Vers. 15.). Whom indeed etc., as if to say: and truly it is so: whom, namely the Israelite people or Moses, cast forth in wicked exposure, that is, evilly and dangerously cast into the river, they mocked, namely the Egyptians, as though he would perish in the river, notwithstanding the basket. At the end of the event they marveled, that is, after the outcome of the matter, seeing, namely, Moses so exalted by miracles: whence Exodus 11: "And so Moses was a very great man before the servants of Pharaoh and all the people." Or: at the end they marveled, namely at the people miraculously liberated: Exodus 14: "Let us flee from Israel; for the Lord fights for them against us." Thus the impious err, not considering the end of the just, but only their present affliction: above in chapter 5: "We fools esteemed their life madness and their end without honor." Not similarly etc., as if to say: thus you condemned the impious and liberated the just; you, I say, not dealing similarly with the just; the Gloss: "As with the unjust," because Proverbs 16: "The just man falls seven times a day and rises again, but the impious shall fall into evil." The reason for the diversity, however, is not on the part of God, since "he is no respecter of persons," Acts 10, but on the part of the unjust.
(Vers. 16.). Whence it follows: For their thoughts moreover: I said well: not similarly: moreover, for but rather: for their senseless thoughts, that is, hardened in evil, their iniquities, namely the exterior ones, as if to say: on account of their evil thoughts they are permitted to fall into evil works: whence the Gloss: "Iniquitous works proceed from thoughts," because the reprobate do not change their heart amid the scourges of the Lord: Romans 2: "According to your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath" etc.: Revelation 22: "He who is filthy, let him be filthy still."
Second, concerning the punishment of the Egyptians on account of idolatry.
That certain ones erring etc. Here is touched upon the punishment of the Egyptians on account of idolatry, and this through the sending of flies. And the fittingness of this punishment is shown first on the part of the one sinning; second, on the part of the judge punishing, at: For not.
(Vers. 16.). Because certain ones etc., as if to say: thus they were punished for the oppression of the Israelites: because, standing for "since": certain ones, of the Egyptians, wandering, namely from the faith: Proverbs 14: "They err who work evil." They worshipped mute serpents: mute he says to distinguish from the serpent who spoke to Eve in the earthly paradise, Genesis 3: and worthless beasts, that is, useless for worship: for the Egyptians worshipped Aesculapius under the form of a serpent, Mercury under the form of a dog, Jupiter under the form of a ram, Apis under the form of an ox: Romans 1: "They changed the likeness of the incorruptible God into the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed beasts and of serpents." You sent upon them a multitude of dumb animals for vengeance, namely frogs and flies, gnats and locusts, according to that verse of the Psalm: "He sent among them the dog-fly, and it devoured them, and the frog, and it destroyed them; and he gave their fruits to the mildew and their labors to the locust."
(Vers. 17.). That they might know that by what things, that is, by what sort of things, a man sins, by these, that is, by similar things, also, that is, even, he is tormented: the Gloss: "That from the likeness of the punishment they might recognize the quality of the fault," just as "Haman was hanged on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai," Esther 7; and Goliath was slain by his own sword, 1 Kings 17; and Holofernes was slain by his own dagger by the woman whom he had wickedly desired, Judith 13.
For not impossible etc. Here is shown the fittingness of the punishment on the part of the judge who punishes, who prefers to use mercy rather than power. And first it is shown that this light punishment was not from powerlessness; second, that it was from mercy: But all things; third, there is added the proof of power: For greatly; fourth, the proof of mercy: And you have mercy.
In the first he shows that he could have punished them otherwise, namely either through an instrument of vengeance already created, or through another to be newly created, at the words: Or of a new kind; or immediately by himself: For even without these.
(Vers. 18.). He says therefore: For not etc. I have rightly said that you punished them through those things by which they had sinned, and this on account of the fittingness of the punishment to the fault, not on account of your powerlessness. For not impossible was, that is, greatly powerless, your hand, "that is, your Son," according to that verse of the Psalm: "Send forth your hand from on high": almighty: whence below in chapter 18: "Your almighty word, O Lord" etc. Which created, that is, formed, the world: for to create is to make something from nothing, to form however, is from pre-existing matter. But the world was from pre-existing matter, yet previously created formless: whence it follows: From unseen matter, that is, from prime matter, which was unseen, that is, invisible at that time, both on the part of itself, because it lacked distinct form, and on the part of the agent, because light was lacking, which is necessary for reducing the sense of sight from potency to act; whence Genesis 1: "The earth was void and empty," namely as to the first defect: "and darkness was upon the face of the deep," as to the second. To send upon them, namely for vengeance, a multitude of bears, or bold lions, which are strong and rapacious animals: on account of which David glories in overcoming them in 1 Kings 17: "I have slain a lion and a bear." To send, I say, lions etc., as he did when he sent lions into the land of Samaria, which devoured the peoples transferred there, because they did not worship God.
(Vers. 19. 20.). Or beasts of a new kind, full of rage and unknown, and therefore more terrible: Deuteronomy 32: "I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of those that drag upon the ground" etc. Or a fiery vapor, or of fires, breathing out, namely for destruction: or sending forth the smell of smoke, namely for the infection of the air, or shooting horrible sparks from their eyes, for terror.
Of which not only the harm, made namely by striking, could exterminate them, that is, place them beyond the boundaries of life: but even the sight, by seeing, could kill through fear, namely the unjust and the wicked: for of the just it is said in the Psalm: "You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon."
It should be noted, moreover, that through the various aforementioned beasts, six kinds of sins can be understood: through the bear, the vice of gluttony: through the lion, pride; through beasts full of rage, wrath; through those breathing out fiery vapor, lust; through those sending forth the smell of smoke, avarice; through those shooting sparks from their eyes, envy.
(Vers. 21.). For even without these etc. Nor could you punish them only in this way, for even without these, that is, without the aid of these beasts, they could have been killed by a single breath: Gloss: "That is, by a single indignation or command." So breath is understood where it is said in Genesis 6: "My spirit shall not remain in man," that is, my indignation, etc. Or: by a single angelic breath, as happened to Sennacherib and his army, as is clear from Isaiah 37. Having suffered persecution, namely as from a meritorious cause, from their own deeds, so that they would be destroyed by their own works, just as a viper perishes by its own offspring: Luke 3: "Offspring of vipers," etc.; in the Psalm: "Render to them according to the works of their hands." And scattered, namely through diverse places outside their own land, by the spirit of your power. This can be understood intransitively, and then it is understood of the uncreated Spirit; or transitively, that is, effectively, and then it can be understood of a created spirit: Job 4: "I saw those who work iniquity perish by the blast of God, and be consumed by the spirit of his wrath." But all things etc. Here he shows that he punished out of mercy and punished less than he could have: and first by this, that he did not punish beyond what the magnitude of the fault required, because in measure; second by this, that he did not punish beyond what the multiplicity of the fault required, because in number; third, because not beyond what the condition or quality of the sinner required, because in weight.
(Vers. 21.). I have rightly said that you do not punish according to the immensity of your power, that is, to the extent that you could; but all things etc., as if to say: not only the creatures themselves, but also their retributions and penalties or punishments, you have disposed in measure, so that they do not exceed the magnitude of the fault; and in number, so that they do not exceed the multiplicity of the fault; and in weight, so that they do not exceed the condition of the sinner or the circumstance of the sin. That he punishes according to measure: Revelation 18: "As much as she glorified herself in delights, so much give her torment and mourning"; likewise Isaiah 27: "In measure against measure, when she shall be cast off, you shall judge her"; likewise Luke 6: "With what measure you measure, it shall be measured back to you." That according to number: Revelation 18: "Double unto her double according to her works"; likewise Isaiah 40: "She has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins," that is, a twofold punishment, namely the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense, or exterior bodily punishment and interior spiritual punishment, that is, the remorse of conscience. That according to weight is clear from above, chapter 6: "To the little one mercy is granted, but the mighty shall suffer torments mightily."
Otherwise it can be explained thus: all things, namely corporeal things with respect to their nature, you have disposed in measure, number, and weight, because the measure of all corporeal things is the four elements, which have number, weight, and measure, as is evident.
Or otherwise: weight refers to the power of the one operating; number to the wisdom of the one ordering; measure to the clemency of the one preserving; Romans 11: "From whom are all things," with respect to the power of the Father; "through whom are all things," with regard to the wisdom of the Son; "in whom are all things," with regard to the clemency of the Holy Spirit. According to the Gloss of Rabanus: "In measure, quality; in number, quantity; in weight, reason."
According to Augustine, the measure of a creature is its determinate quantity by which it is called great or small or middling; number, a determinate quality by which it is distinguished from another; weight, the property by which it rests in its own place; whence according to Augustine, measure is the same as mode; species is the same as number; order is the same as weight. "These three," namely mode, species, and order, "where they are great, are great goods; where small, small; where none, none," as he himself says.
Or this can be explained concerning measure, number, and weight in uncreated things thus: in measure, that is, in you measuring all things, that is, prefixing a mode to each thing; in number, that is, in you numbering all things, that is, bestowing upon each thing its proper species; in weight, that is, in you weighing all things, that is, assigning to all things their proper and certain order. With this agrees a certain exposition of Augustine, who says: "In measure, that is, in yourself, who are measure without measure, prefixing a mode to each thing; number without number, furnishing a species to every thing; weight without weight, drawing every thing to stability." The first in the nature of the efficient cause, the second in the nature of the exemplar, the third in the nature of the final cause.
Morally thus: In measure, against the vice of superfluity; in number, against the vice of singularity; in weight, against the vice of levity.
But it is objected: if he disposed all things in measure, number, and weight, then he disposed measure in measure, etc., and so on to infinity.
It can be said that, speaking of number, weight, and measure in uncreated things, the distribution is universal; but speaking of created things, the distribution is accommodated, namely such that the distribution is understood to be made for things measured, numbered, and weighed. Or: All things, that is, complete beings, not concreated in another. But measure, number, and weight are not such things; rather they are concreated in other things, since they are not beings subsisting by themselves and complete.
For much etc. Here is set forth the proof of divine power, first through its magnitude in itself; second, through the smallness of the creature: For as etc.
(Vers. 22.). For much indeed etc., as if to say: it is well evident that it was not from lack of power, because he punished them thus: for to avail much, that is, to be greatly powerful, belongs to you alone, and without the help of another, was always at hand, namely on account of the infinity of your power. "For the infinite is that of which, for one taking parts or quantity, there is always something beyond to take"; Luke 1: "No word shall be impossible with God"; always, that is, at all times or for eternity, according to that passage of Daniel 7: "His power is an everlasting power." And the strength, that is, the perfect power, because, according to the Philosopher, "strength is the ultimate degree of power in a thing"; of your arm, according to that passage of Isaiah 51: "Put on strength, O arm of the Lord"; who shall resist? As if to say: no one can; and this is because he is not acted upon by anyone.
(Vers. 23.). For etc., as if to say: truly it is so: for the whole world, that is, the totality of creatures, is thus before you, that is, in your disposition, or in comparison with you, as the turning of a balance, that is, that small amount by which the balance is inclined this way or that; whence it is called momentum from "moving," or because, just as it is easily and as if in a moment moved this way or that, so by divine power the world is moved at the nod of God; whence Isaiah 40: "Behold, the nations are as a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the turning of a balance"; and as a drop of the morning dew, that is, falling before the light, which descends upon the earth, which is easily dissolved by the face of the sun and cannot resist it. And it should be noted that he says the creature is as the turning of a balance etc., in respect to God as regards the ease of acting upon it; and as a drop of dew etc., as regards the impossibility of being acted upon by it; Isaiah 40: "All nations are as though they were not, so are they before him."
And you have mercy on all etc. Here is set forth the proof of divine mercy; and first he proves it through the effect of overlooking; second, through the effect of love: For you love; third, through the effect of preservation: But how could etc.; fourth, through the effect of pardon: But you spare.
(Vers. 24.). And you have mercy on all, that is, in all things you exercise the effect of mercy, according to that passage of the Psalm: "His mercies are over all his works"; likewise: "All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth"; likewise: "The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord". For you can do all things: whence all things are your handiwork and your works, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them". And you overlook, that is, for a time not punishing, the sins of men; he does not say of angels, because the sin of the angels was immediately punished: whence Isaiah 14: "How have you fallen, O Lucifer, from heaven, you who rose in the morning"? On account of repentance; whence Romans 2: "Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance"? Ezekiel 18: "If the wicked man shall do penance from all his sins, etc., he shall live and shall not die".
(Vers. 25.). For you love all things that exist, namely by approving and preserving their goods: whence Genesis 1: "God saw all things that he had made, and they were very good": the Gloss: "A good craftsman loves his own work"; but God did not make sin: whence John 1: "Without him was made nothing," that is, "sin," according to Augustine. And therefore he does not love sin but hates it, according to that passage of the Psalm: "You have loved justice and hated iniquity". And you hate nothing of those things which you have made, that is, rejecting none of them.
Against which it is said in the Psalm: "I have hated the unjust"; likewise: "You have hated all who work iniquity"; likewise Ecclesiasticus 12: "The Most High hates sinners".
But it must be said that he does not hate his handiwork, but the defect of his handiwork, just as a craftsman loves the statue which he has made, and yet hates some knot existing in it on the part of the material.
For neither hating, that is, unwillingly, did you establish anything, namely by creating it from nothing, or make it, by forming it from pre-existing matter: whence Boethius:
Whom no external causes drove to fashion the work of fluctuating matter, but rather the inborn form of the highest good, etc.
Whence Proverbs 16: "The Lord has wrought all things for himself".
(Vers. 26.). But how could anything, that is, any creature, endure, namely in its being: unless you had willed it, that is, unless you voluntarily preserved it by your goodness? as if to say: in no way: whence Gregory: "All things that exist would tend toward nothingness, unless they were sustained or held by the hand of the Creator". Or what had not been called by you, that is, unless you approved it by beholding it with your wisdom: Romans 4: "Who calls those things that are not," etc., would be preserved? as if to say: nothing.
(Vers. 27.). But you spare all, namely human beings, who are called every creature, according to that passage in Mark, last chapter: "Preach the Gospel to every creature"; you spare, I say, because it is proper to you according to that passage: "O God, whose property it is always to have mercy and to spare." Because they are yours, O Lord: Ezekiel 18: "All souls are mine"; who love souls: which is evident, because you laid down your soul for them; John 15: "Greater love than this no one has," etc.; whence Bernard: "You had a greater love, laying it down for your enemies."