he punish me? Could I have
resisted his will? LAUR.--I confess that I am brought to a pause here as
you are. I have made the Gods appear on the scene, Apollo and Jupiter, to
make you distinguish between divine foreknowledge and providence. I have
shown that Apollo and foreknowledge do not impair freedom; but I cannot
satisfy you on the decrees of Jupiter's will, that is to say, on the orders
of providence. ANT.--You have dragged me out of one abyss, and you [369]
plunge me back into another and greater abyss. LAUR.--Remember our
contract: I have given you dinner, and you ask me to give you supper also.

412. ANT.--Now I discover your cunning: You have caught me, this is not an
honest contract. LAUR.--What would you have me do? I have given you wine
and meats from my home produce, such as my small estate can provide; as for
nectar and ambrosia, you will ask the Gods for them: that divine nurture is
not found among men. Let us hearken to St. Paul, that chosen vessel who was
carried even to the third heaven, who heard there unutterable words: he
will answer you with the comparison of the potter, with the
incomprehensibility of the ways of God, and wonder at the depth of his
wisdom. Nevertheless it is well to observe that one does not ask why God
foresees the thing, for that is understood, it is because it will be: but
one asks why he ordains thus, why he hardens such an one, why he has
compassion on another. We do not know the reasons which he may have for
this; but _since he is very good and very wise that is enough to make us
deem that his reasons are good_. As he is just also, it follows that his
decrees and his operation do not destroy our freedom. Some men have sought
some reason therein. They have said that we are made from a corrupt and
impure mass, indeed of mud. But Adam and the Angels were made of silver and
gold, and they sinned notwithstanding. One sometimes becomes hardened again
after regeneration. We must therefore seek another cause for evil, and I
doubt whether even the Angels are aware of it; yet they cease not to be
happy and to praise God. Boethius hearkened more to the answer of
philosophy than to that of St. Paul; that was the cause of his failure. Let
us believe in Jesus Christ, he is the virtue and the wisdom of God: he
teaches us that God willeth the salvation of all, that he willeth not the
death of the sinner. Let us therefore put our trust in the divine mercy,
and let us not by our vanity and o