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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput II: De uarietate rerum humanarum, cui non potest dici deesse iudicium dei, quamuis nequeat uestigari.

Nunc autem et mala aequo animo ferre discimus, quae patiuntur et boni, et bona non magni pendere, quae adipiscuntur et mali; ac per hoc etiam in his rebus, in quibus non apparet diuina iustitia, salutaris est diuina doctrina. nescimus enim quo iudicio dei bonus ille sit pauper, malus ille sit diues; iste gaudeat, quem pro suis perditis moribus cruciari debuisse maeroribus arbitramur, contristetur ille, quem uita laudabilis gaudere debuisse persuadet; exeat de iudicio non solum inultus, uerum etiam damnatus innocens, aut iniquitate iudicis pressus aut falsis obrutus testimoniis, e contrario scelestus aduersarius eius non solum inpunitus, uerum etiam uindicatus insultet; inpius optime ualeat, pius languore tabescat; latrocinentur sanissimi iuuenes et qui nec uerbo quemquam laedere potuerunt, diuersa morborum atrocitate adfligantur infantes; utilis rebus humanis inmatura morte rapiatur, et qui uidetur nec nasci debuisse, diutissime insuper uiuat; plenus criminibus sublimetur honoribus, et hominem sine querella tenebrae ignobilitatis abscondant, et cetera huiusmodi, quae quis colligit, quis enumerat? quae si haberent in ipsa uelut absurditate constantiam, ut in hac uita, in qua homo, sicut sacer psalmus eloquitur, uanitati similis factus est et dies eius uelut umbra praetereunt, nonnisi mali adipiscerentur transitoria bona ista atque terrena, nec nisi boni talia paterentur mala, posset hoc referri ad iudicium iustum dei siue etiam benignum, ut, qui non erant adsecuturi bona aeterna, quae faciunt beatos, temporalibus uel deciperentur pro malitia sua, uel pro dei misericordia consolarentur bonis, et qui non erant passuri aeterna tormenta, temporalibus uel pro suis quibuscumque et quantuliscumque peccatis adfligerentur, uel propter inplendas uirtutes exercerentur malis. nunc uero, quando non solum in malo sunt boni et in bono mali, quod uidetur iniustum, uerum etiam plerumque et malis mala eueniunt et bonis bona proueniunt, magis inscrutabilia fiunt iudicia dei et inuestigabiles uiae eius. quamuis ergo nesciamus quo iudicio deus ista uel faciat uel fieri sinat, apud quem summa uirtus est et summa sapientia, summa iustitia, nulla infirmitas, nulla temeritas, nulla iniquitas, salubriter tamen discimus non magni pendere seu bona seu mala, quae uidemus esse bonis malisque communia, et illa bona quaerere, quae bonorum, atque illa mala maxime fugere, quae propria sunt malorum. cum uero ad illud dei iudicium uenerimus, cuius tempus iam proprie dies iudicii et aliquando dies domini nuncupatur, non solum quaecumque tunc iudicabuntur, uerum etiam quaecumque ab initio iudicata et quaecumque usque ad illud tempus adhuc iudicanda sunt, apparebunt esse iustissima. ubi hoc quoque manifestabitur, quam iusto iudicio dei fiat, ut nunc tam multa ac paene omnia iusta iudicia dei lateant sensus mentesque mortalium, cum tamen in hac re piorum fidem non lateat, iustum esse quod latet.

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The City of God

Chapter 2.--That in the Mingled Web of Human Affairs God's Judgment is Present, Though It Cannot Be Discerned.

In this present time we learn to bear with equanimity the ills to which even good men are subject, and to hold cheap the blessings which even the wicked enjoy. And consequently, even in those conditions of life in which the justice of God is not apparent, His teaching is salutary. For we do not know by what judgment of God this good man is poor and that bad man rich; why he who, in our opinion, ought to suffer acutely for his abandoned life enjoys himself, while sorrow pursues him whose praiseworthy life leads us to suppose he should be happy; why the innocent man is dismissed from the bar not only unavenged, but even condemned, being either wronged by the iniquity of the judge, or overwhelmed by false evidence, while his guilty adversary, on the other hand, is not only discharged with impunity, but even has his claims admitted; why the ungodly enjoys good health, while the godly pines in sickness; why ruffians are of the soundest constitution, while they who could not hurt any one even with a word are from infancy afflicted with complicated disorders; why he who is useful to society is cut off by premature death, while those who, as it might seem, ought never to have been so much as born have lives of unusual length; why he who is full of crimes is crowned with honors, while the blameless man is buried in the darkness of neglect. But who can collect or enumerate all the contrasts of this kind? But if this anomalous state of things were uniform in this life, in which, as the sacred Psalmist says, "Man is like to vanity, his days as a shadow that passeth away," ¹ --so uniform that none but wicked men won the transitory prosperity of earth, while only the good suffered its ills,--this could be referred to the just and even benign judgment of God. We might suppose that they who were not destined to obtain those everlasting benefits which constitute human blessedness were either deluded by transitory blessings as the just reward of their wickedness, or were, in God's mercy, consoled by them, and that they who were not destined to suffer eternal torments were afflicted with temporal chastisement for their sins, or were stimulated to greater attainment in virtue. But now, as it is, since we not only see good men involved in the ills of life, and bad men enjoying the good of it, which seems unjust, but also that evil often overtakes evil men, and good surprises the good, the rather on this account are God's judgments unsearchable, and His ways past finding out. Although, therefore, we do not know by what judgment these things are done or permitted to be done by God, with whom is the highest virtue, the highest wisdom, the highest justice, no infirmity, no rashness, no unrighteousness, yet it is salutary for us to learn to hold cheap such things, be they good or evil, as attach indifferently to good men and bad, and to covet those good things which belong only to good men, and flee those evils which belong only to evil men. But when we shall have come to that judgment, the date of which is called peculiarly the day of judgment, and sometimes the day of the Lord, we shall then recognize the justice of all God's judgments, not only of such as shall then be pronounced, but, of all which take effect from the beginning, or may take effect before that time. And in that day we shall also recognize with what justice so many, or almost all, the just judgments of God in the present life defy the scrutiny of human sense or insight, though in this matter it is not concealed from pious minds that what is concealed is just.