MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA TREATISE I. GOD. 27. THE JUSTICE OF GOD.
BOTTICELLI, Sandro
St Augustine in His Cell
1490-94
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA
TREATISE I. GOD
27. THE JUSTICE OF GOD.
I. There is in God a perfect distributive justice towards
all His creatures. In virtue of this He awards to every
being all that it requires according to its place in the divine
scheme ; He gives it the strength and the adaptability
necessary for the duties He has appointed it to do. To
man God assigns body and soul, reason and freedom, senses
and faculties, the means of maintaining life, subduing the
world, and making continual progress. Further, every one
receives the graces of his state, adapted to his special work
and special difficulties ; and by means of these he can infallibly accomplish the natural and spiritual duties of his
life, and at last attain to heaven. If we find ourselves deficient in such necessary grace, it is not because God is
inequitable and seeks to reap what He did not sow, but
either because we have not prayed and secured that grace,
or because we have forced ourselves into a position not
intended for us by God, where the requirements are beyond
our capabilities. Religion is God s great means of distribution ; it will supply everything that our special circumstances
demand. Never complain against the ordinances of God.
You are not qualified to criticize them. Unless you know
exactly what God has reserved for each man in the way
of duty and future reward, you cannot judge whether his
equipment is sufficient or not. Be persuaded that " God is
faithful and without any iniquity, just and right" (Deut.
xxxii. 4).
II. A second kind of justice avenging justice marks
God s dealings with unrepentant sinners. Terrible as their
punishment is, they receive less than their due. They reap
only that which they have sown, which they have brought
on themselves with their eyes open and with full deliberation. " He loved cursing, and it shall come unto him ; and
he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him "
(Ps. cviii. 18). Sinners refuse to place their happiness in
God, till at last they have so moulded their tastes and
character that they have no longer the capacity for finding
pleasure in Him. They introduce a permanent disorder into
their being, and this necessarily produces permanent evils.
The effect is strictly proportioned to the cause. The degree
and the kind of the guilt is the exact measure of the punishment. " By what a man sinneth, by the same also is he
tormented" (Wisd. xi. 17). "According to the measure of
the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be" (Dent. xxv.
2). The sinner shall fall into the pit that he himself digged.
Nothing can be more exactly just than this, and nothing
more terrible. Let your love and trust in God s mercy be
always mingled with fear of His avenging justice. This is
the beginning of wisdom.
III. Towards the just God exhibits remunerative justice.
It is not that God has any obligations towards us, or owes
any debt of justice for our services. We are unprofitable
servants, we have given Him nothing that was not already
His, our virtues are worthless before Him. But God has
given us a claim by His promises, and through Jesus Christ,
and so has made Himself our debtor. " Whosoever shall
glorify Me, him will I glorify" (1 Kings ii. 30). God will
render to us infinitely more than we have done for Him, but
still there will be some proportion between our services and
our reward. All the blessed will possess Him indeed, but it
will be in greater or less measure according to the capacity
which each one has created for himself by his goodness
when on earth. Never repine at your lot, or be troubled
about others receiving apparently less than they have merited.
God s accounts are not balanced till the next life. Trust in
that infinite justice, which after a short delay will rectify
all that is wrong, and give compensation for present inequalities.
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