the
same or even graver sins, shall escape with a lighter punishment.
Nor will the justice and truth of God, which hath decreed to
render to every man according to his deeds, be turned for our
sake into injustice and a lie, unless we hasten to make
satisfaction by at least bearing our trifling evil with
patience.[22]

And how many thousands are there in hell and everlasting
damnation, who have not committed the thousandth part of our
sins! How many virgins, youths, and those whom we call innocents,
are there! How many monks, priests, and married pairs! These
seemed all their life long to be serving God, and, it may be for
a single lapse, are now being punished for ever. For, it may not
be denied, the justice of God is the same in the case of every
sin, whatever it may be, and hates and punishes all sin alike, it
matters not in whom it is found. Do we not then see here the
inestimable mercy of God, Who hath not condemned us, though we
have so many times deserved condemnation? Pray, what are all the
sufferings life can bring, compared to eternal punishment, which
they indeed justly endure on account of one sin, while we go free
and unpunished for our many sins, which God hath covered! [Ps.
32:1] That we take no thought of these benefits of God, or but
lightly esteem them, that is ingratitude, and the hardening of
our unbelieving heart.

Moreover, we must include here the many infidels, Gentiles, Jews,
and infants, who, if to them had been granted the advantages that
we enjoy, would not now be in hell, but rather in heaven, and who
would have sinned far less than we. For this mirror also does
Christ set before us, when He says in Matthew xi: "Woe unto thee,
Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works,
which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say
unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the
day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the
mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I say unto you.
That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day
of judgment, than for thee." [Matt. 11:21 ff.] We see, therefore,
what praise and love we owe to our good Lord, in any evil
whatsoever of this life; for it is but a tiny drop of the evils
which we have deserved