De occulto Dei iudicio in relapsis per nos non iudicandis; et fortis inueccio contra adquisitores

De occulto Dei iudicio in relapsis per nos non iudicandis; et fortis inueccio contra adquisitores

But some people wonder how it could be that many who have led a very harsh life seem to have completely abandoned the joys of the world, yet later they don't fear falling back into sin, and they aren't brought to an end with a good outcome. Let's refrain from judging hastily if we want to avoid making mistakes. It's not for us to know the hidden judgments of God. All things will be as they should be after this life. Feasts. All the ways of the Lord are just and delightful, true and right; He does not reject anyone without marvelous justice, nor does He spare anyone without great mercy, which is also just, when He chooses them for life. Therefore, we must consider that the abyss is like a garment wrapped around Him. Therefore, we must be cautious while we are on the path, and we should never presume carelessly; for no one knows whether they are worthy of love or hate, or what end they will reach when they leave this light. The good should be afraid of falling into evil, while the wicked can hope to rise from their own malice. If they persist in their desires and wickedness, they’re foolish to think they’re safe from mercy, since their iniquity hasn’t been forgiven. Sin is never forgiven until it is abandoned, nor can it be truly forgiven unless satisfaction is made first, and the sinner cannot fulfill this quickly if they do not acknowledge it. The powerful and wealthy secular people, who were insatiably eager to acquire possessions that belonged to others, grew in worldly greatness and power from their riches and goods, buying for a small price what was of great value according to transient substance, or being established in royal offices or those of the great, received numerous gifts without merit or reward, so that they might gain pleasures, indulgences, and honors, not me but blessed Job may they hear. They lead, he says, their good days in pleasure, but in an instant they descend into hell. Look, they lose everything in a single moment that they worked their whole life to acquire. When wisdom of this world, which is called foolishness before God, was dwelling among them, they recognized the wisdom of the flesh, which is hostile to God. Therefore, the powerful will suffer torment fiercely, because they know God, yet they do not glorify God but themselves, and they have become foolish in their thoughts, claiming to be wise. And those who have experienced the glory and pleasures of this world have reached the depths of the stinking abyss of hell. Indeed, among all those who are bound by the vices of the world, I believe there is little hope for salvation, just as there is for those whom the common people call the perpetrators of the earth. For when they pour out all their strength and youth in acquiring possessions through right and wrong, later in their old age they rest secure, holding on to what they have obtained unlawfully. But because the conscience is timid, wickedness bears witness to condemnation. When they cease from unjust demands, they shouldn't be afraid to use the good things of others as if they were their own. Perhaps if they were to give back everything that belongs to others, they would have little left for themselves; but because they are proud, they are ashamed to beg, or rather, they cannot bear to fall from their former honor. That's why they say they can't help themselves. Therefore, deceived by demons, they choose to escape worldly misery, so that they may endure eternal and infernal suffering without end. Therefore, while such people dominate the world and oppress others under their tyrannical power, we should not fear, but rather rejoice; for those who would become such are restrained by God’s beloved, as the psalmist testifies when he says: "Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases."^✦ For when he dies, he will take nothing with him; his glory will not descend after him, not even a drop of water will reach the tongue of the rich man burning in hell.^✦ For he loses all his glory when he dies, and only his sin, for which he will be tormented forever, descends with him to the dark earth.