is] not certainly that we should not find fault with sinners, nor that we should consent to those who act wickedly; but that we should not pronounce an unfair judgment on the dispensations of God, inasmuch as He has Himself made provision that all things shall turn out for good, in a way consistent with justice. For, because He knew that we would make a good use of our substance, which we should possess by receiving it from another. He says, "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise."[1] And, "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was naked, and ye clothed me."[2] And, "When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."[3] And we are proved to be righteous by whatsoever else we do well, redeeming, as it were, our property from strange hands. But thus do I say, "from strange hands," not as if the world were not God's possession, but that we have gifts of this sort, and receive them from others, in the same way as these men had them from the Egyptians who knew not God; and by means of these same do we erect in ourselves the tabernacle of God: for God dwells in those who act uprightly, as the Lord says: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that they, when ye shall be put to flight,[4] may receive you into eternal tabernacles."[5] For whatsoever we acquired from unrighteousness when we were heathen, we are proved righteous, when we have become believers, by applying it to the Lord's advantage.
4. As a matter of course, therefore, these things were done beforehand in a type, and from them was the tabernacle of God constructed; those persons justly receiving them, as I have shown, while we were pointed out beforehand in them,—[we] who should afterwards serve God by the things of others. For the whole exodus of the people out of Egypt,
