The Goodness of God
Perhaps you do not yet believe the terrible truths I have just taught you.
But it is the most highly-considered theologians, the most illustrious
Fathers who have spoken to you through me. So then, how can you resist
reasons supported by so many examples and words of Scripture? If you
still hesitate in spite of that, and if your mind is inclined to the opposite
opinion, does that very consideration not suffice to make you tremble?
Oh, it shows that you do not care very much for your salvation! In this
important matter, a sensible man is struck more strongly by the slightest
doubt of the risk he runs than by the evidence of total ruin in other
affairs in which the soul is not involved. One of our brothers, Blessed
Giles, was in the habit of saying that if only one man were going to be
damned, he would do all he could to make sure he was not that man.
So what must we do, we who know that the greater number is going to be
damned, and not only out of all Catholics? What must we do? Take the
resolution to belong to the little number of those who are saved. You say:
If Christ wanted to damn me, then why did He create me? Silence, rash
tongue! God did not create anyone to damn him; but whoever is damned,
is damned because he wants to be. Therefore, I will now strive to defend
the goodness of my God and acquit it of all blame: that will be the subject
of the second point.
Before going on, let us gather on one side all the books and all the
heresies of Luther and Calvin, and on the other side the books and
heresies of the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians, and let us burn them. Some
destroy grace, others freedom, and all are filled with errors; so let us cast
them into the fire. All the damned bear upon their brow the oracle of the Prophet Osee, "Thy damnation comes from thee," so that they may
understand that whoever is damned, is damned by his own malice and
because he wants to be damned.
First let us take these two undeniable truths as a basis: "God wants all
men to be saved," "All are in need of the grace of God." Now, if I show
you that God wants to save all men, and that for this purpose He gives all
of them His grace and all the other necessary means of obtaining that
sublime end, you will be obliged to agree that whoever is damned must
impute it to his own malice, and that if the greater number of Christians
are damned, it is because they want to be. "Thy damnation comes from
thee; thy help is only in Me."
Perhaps you do not yet believe the terrible truths I have just taught you.
But it is the most highly-considered theologians, the most illustrious
Fathers who have spoken to you through me. So then, how can you resist
reasons supported by so many examples and words of Scripture? If you
still hesitate in spite of that, and if your mind is inclined to the opposite
opinion, does that very consideration not suffice to make you tremble?
Oh, it shows that you do not care very much for your salvation! In this
important matter, a sensible man is struck more strongly by the slightest
doubt of the risk he runs than by the evidence of total ruin in other
affairs in which the soul is not involved. One of our brothers, Blessed
Giles, was in the habit of saying that if only one man were going to be
damned, he would do all he could to make sure he was not that man.
So what must we do, we who know that the greater number is going to be
damned, and not only out of all Catholics? What must we do? Take the
resolution to belong to the little number of those who are saved. You say:
If Christ wanted to damn me, then why did He create me? Silence, rash
tongue! God did not create anyone to damn him; but whoever is damned,
is damned because he wants to be. Therefore, I will now strive to defend
the goodness of my God and acquit it of all blame: that will be the subject
of the second point.
Before going on, let us gather on one side all the books and all the
heresies of Luther and Calvin, and on the other side the books and
heresies of the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians, and let us burn them. Some
destroy grace, others freedom, and all are filled with errors; so let us cast
them into the fire. All the damned bear upon their brow the oracle of the Prophet Osee, "Thy damnation comes from thee," so that they may
understand that whoever is damned, is damned by his own malice and
because he wants to be damned.
First let us take these two undeniable truths as a basis: "God wants all
men to be saved," "All are in need of the grace of God." Now, if I show
you that God wants to save all men, and that for this purpose He gives all
of them His grace and all the other necessary means of obtaining that
sublime end, you will be obliged to agree that whoever is damned must
impute it to his own malice, and that if the greater number of Christians
are damned, it is because they want to be. "Thy damnation comes from
thee; thy help is only in Me."
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