us. Why so? “You have seen the goodness and mercy of God. The shaking and trembling of the earth is a voice that cries out to our hearts, that being led to repentance by fear we may avoid a far worse punishment.”[1]
Hence we should thank God for them, as the holy Fathers teach. With a similar reasoning St. Jerome shut the mouths of the Manichæans. These heretics advanced so far in error and malice that they did not hesitate to accuse God of cruelty and tyranny, and they tried to support this blasphemous assertion by the words of the Prophet Amos: “Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?”[2] See! they exclaimed, what sort of a God is that who causes so much evil in the world by plagues and pestilences, that carry off thousands; by unfruitful seasons, that cause many to be in want of proper nourishment; by wars, that devastate cities and countries, and reduce the inhabitants to the verge of poverty and despair? All these and similar hardships come from God, who persecutes poor mortals; and besides He boasts that He is the Author of them. What tyrant ever acted more cruelly to his unfortunate subjects than this God does to His creatures? O wicked, ignorant, and conceited heretics, cries out St. Jerome, what are you saying? What you call cruelty in the Creator we refer to the multitude of His mercies.[3] There is no evil, misfortune, trouble, or whatever else you may call it in the world, that does not come from the Lord. True; infallibly true! But what then? Do you think that God should allow your sins to remain unpunished? Should the God of infinite holiness look on calmly while the world is being turned into a nest of adulterers, drunkards, thieves, and murderers? Where is the righteous ruler in the world who does not ordain just punishment for the vices of his people? It is you, you, O wicked people, who, if there were no other sinners besides yourselves, would force the good and merciful God to have recourse to such chastisements. And besides your sins, what a mass of wickedness is not committed daily in the world? Is it any wonder then that the godless world should be chastised by so many calamities? Let us rather return humble thanks to the Lord whenever He visits us in that way. The punishments are hard indeed, but at the same time they are a wholesome medicine which we can and ought to use for the amendment of our lives and to gain heaven, lest being hardened in sin we should be hurled
