God’s Purpose and His Daily Care

For the purpose of God, by which he made man not to perish but to live forever, stands unshaken. When his goodness sees in us even the very smallest spark of good will shining out, which he himself has struck, as it were, from the hard flints of our hearts, he fans it, fosters it and nurses it with his breath. For he “wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” As he says, “It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” And again it says, “Nor does God want a soul to perish, but he calls it back,” meaning that one who is cast off should not perish altogether. [a]

For he is true and does not lie when he declares on oath: “As I live, says the Lord God, I do not will the death of a sinner, but that he should turn from his way and live.” For if he does not will that one of his little ones should perish, how can we imagine, without grievous blasphemy, that he does not will all men in general to be saved, but only some instead of all?

Those who perish, then, perish against his will, as he testifies against each one of them day by day: “Turn from your evil ways, and why will you die, O house of Israel?” And again: “How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!” And: “Why then has this people in Jerusalem turned away in stubborn rebellion? They have hardened their faces and refused to return.”

The grace of Christ, then, is at hand every day. Since it “wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” it calls all without any exception, saying, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.” But if he calls not all in general but only some, it follows that not all are heavy laden with either original or actual sin. Then this saying would not be true: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”; nor could we believe that “death passed on to all men.”

And so truly do all who perish, perish against the will of God, that God cannot be said to have made death, as Scripture itself testifies: “For God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.”

Hence it comes about that, for the most part, when we ask for the opposite of good things, our prayer is heard either slowly or not at all. And again, like a most kind physician, the Lord sees fit to bring on us, even against our will, for our good, what we think is opposed to it. Sometimes he delays and hinders our harmful purposes and deadly attempts from having their dreadful effects. While we are rushing headlong toward death, he draws us back to salvation and rescues us, without our knowing it, from the jaws of hell.