we draw upon ourselves unremitting punishment 666. I know that what has been said is burdensome, but it possesses much profit. We have a Master who desires only to get hold of a pretext, and immediately manifests all His philanthropy. For if by sinning and remaining unpunished we did not become worse, He would even have remitted the punishment for us; but He knows this clearly, that for us not to be punished while sinning harms us no less than the sins themselves. For this reason He imposes punishment, not demanding justice for what has past, but correcting what is to come. And that you may learn that this is true, hear what He says to Moses: "Let me alone, and being wroth I will destroy them." "Let me alone," He said, not that Moses was holding Him—for he spoke nothing to Him, but stood by in silence—but because He wished to give him a pretext for intercession on their behalf. For since they had sinned things worthy of punishment, and of unremitting punishment, and He did not wish to punish them but to show philanthropy—and yet this made them more slothful—He contrived both things: so that the punishment would not be brought upon them, and that they would not become more slothful from lack of punishment, having learned that it was not according to their own worthiness, but according to the protection of Moses, that they had escaped the wrath of the Master. This we also frequently do; and when domestics have committed offenses worthy of punishment, not wishing to punish them, nor yet to remove the fear of punishment, we command friends to snatch them from our hands, so that the fear remains flourishing within them, and they escape the blows from us. This, too, God did; and that it is true, is clear from the words themselves: "Let me alone," He says, "and I will be wroth." And yet, when no one lets us be when we wish to punish, we become wroth; but He says, "Let me alone and I will be wroth," so that you may learn that wrath is not a passion in God, but the punishment that befalls us is called by this name. When, therefore, you hear Moses saying, "If you will forgive their sin, forgive," be amazed at the Master before the servant, because He Himself provided him the pretexts for this philanthropy. And not here alone did He do this, but to Jeremiah and to Ezekiel He says this very same thing: "Run around and see in the streets of Jerusalem, if [there is anyone] doing judgment and justice, I will be propitious to them." Do you see philanthropy? From the virtue of one, many even of the wicked partake; but by the wickedness of the many, even if one be the righteous man in the midst of a great crowd, he is not borne away with them; but one man living rightly will be able to snatch a whole population from the wrath of God, but a whole city having been corrupted will not be able to drag down the one living well and destroy him. And this is clear from Noah: at any rate, when all were perishing, he alone was saved; and from Moses it is evident: at any rate, he alone was able to intercede for such a great crowd. And I have another greater proof of the philanthropy of God to speak of. For when He finds no living men having boldness [to intercede] to ask for those who have sinned, He has recourse to those who have departed, and through them He says He forgives the sins, just as He says to Hezekiah: "I will shield this city for my sake, and for David my servant's sake," who had already died. Knowing, therefore, that God moves and manages all things so that He may deliver us from punishment and retribution, let us offer Him many pretexts, confessing, repenting, weeping, praying, forgiving the wrath against our neighbors, correcting the poverty of our fellow men, being sober in our prayers, displaying humility, [and] remembering our sins constantly. B
For it is not enough to say that "I am a sinner," but one must also remember the transgressions in their kinds. For just as fire having fallen upon thorns destroys them easily, so also is the mind that constantly goes over the transgressions with itself; it easily destroys and quenches them. May God, who steps over iniquities, takes away injustices, and delivers us from sins, grant us the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for the ages of ages. Amen.