Thesis.
SECTION XI: ON THE MERCY OF GOD
Thesis.
§ 216. As God is supremely good, so also He is supremely merciful. The goodness and mercy of God are not different in the nature of the thing; rather, according to our conception, goodness is distinguished from mercy as cause is from effect. Anselm, Proslog., c. 9: “Truly, in the highest and most secret place of Your goodness hides the spring from which flows the river of Your mercy.” Goodness is an absolute attribute, mercy a relative attribute, because it deals with misery in creatures, which it alleviates. God is good not only in Himself but also diffuses and communicates His goodness outside of Himself. With respect to this communication, it is called the kindness [benignitas] of God. This is either general or special. General kindness is that which extends to all creatures, which He has created and still preserves out of His grace and goodness. He grants them what is necessary to obtain their end; He directs them in their activities. Ps. 33:5: “The earth is full of the kindness of the Lord.” Ps. 36:[6]: “You will save man and animal, O Lord.” Special kindness is that by which He deals with the rational creatures that cleave to Him in love, namely, the holy angels and devout humans. Humans are considered either before the fall in the state of innocence or after the fall in the state of corruption. In the prior state, God embraced them with His paternal favor as His beloved children and promised them the inheritance of heaven, but under the condition of filial obedience and perseverance in goodness. In the latter state, God was led by His mercy toward the wretched human race, and He did not put that race—His own creation—far from His face, but decreed from eternity, because of His unspeakable love, to send His Son to humans as their Redeemer. In the fullness of time He did send Him and now offers His benefits to all in the Word and Sacraments. Therefore as many as hear the Word and by means of the Holy Spirit’s work conceive true faith in Christ from the Word, those He embraces with His special love and favor, frees them from evils, heaps blessings of every kind upon them, and finally writes them down as heirs of eternal life. Augustine, treatise 110 on John: “God loves everything He has made. Among those things, He loves His rational creatures more; and among those, He loves still more those who are the members of His only-begotten Son; and much more, the Only-Begotten Himself.” Although the wicked and impenitent have been excluded from this special love, the doors of grace are still open for them in this life until at the Last Judgment “the door will be closed to them” (Matt. 25:10) after they, with all the devils, have been hurled away from the face of the Lord into the pit of hell (v. 41). Furthermore, as we distinguish His kindness, so also we must distinguish the grace, mercy, and love of God into general and special.
The mercy of God is proved.
§ 217. There is testimony about God’s mercy (I) from the words of Scripture: (1) In which He is called “merciful and gracious” (Exod. 34:6), “His mercy is great” (2 Sam. 24:14), “eternal” (2 Chron. 5:13), “burning and kindled” (Hosea 11:8), etc. In James 5:11 He is called “very compassionate and merciful.” (2) In which His “grace” is celebrated (Gen. 6:9; Exod. 33:19; etc.). (3) His “clemency” (2 Chron. 36:16, etc.). (4) His “kindness and love of mankind” (Titus 3:4). (5) His “love and charity” (Deut. 33:3). (6) His “patience and long-suffering” because of which He is said to be “long” or “slow to the nostrils” (Exod. 34:6). (Those who have narrow nostrils more quickly sense the smoke rising from the heat of the heart and blow it out violently because of the narrowness of the passages. The broader the openings of the nostrils, however, the more cool air is taken in to cool the heart. Such people are by nature quite serene and gentle. It is to this metaphor that consideration is being given in this expression.) (7) In the Scriptures He is called our “Father.” (8) Finally, all the “works of God” bear witness to His kindness and mercy. (See our commonplace [1610 Loci Theologici, locus 3 (On the Nature of God)], § 137.)
For the sake of instruction, all these are thus differentiated with regard to effects and objects, because with regard to the principle of acting in God, all things are the same. “The grace of God” is His very kind will by which He freely [gratis] favors and confers benefit on His creation. “The mercy of God” is His very favorable will by which the wretchedness of man, which He benevolently alleviates, is in His heart. “The clemency of God” is His fatherly will by which even in His wrath He is mindful of His mercy and spares man, even if he deserve otherwise. “God’s love of mankind” is His friendly will by which He loves man more than the rest of His creatures, favors him, and takes His pleasure in him. “God’s love” is His beneficent will by which He embraces the creatures He has created, takes pleasure in them, and confers good things upon them. His “patience” is that by which God endures the rational creatures who sin against Him, moderates His wrath, postpones punishment, awaits their conversion, and does not pour out His entire anger.
(II) Although reason may conclude something about God’s general grace and mercy from their effects, nevertheless it is totally ignorant of that mystery concerning the special mercy offered to humans in Christ and because of Christ the Mediator. For this reason it is called “the secret of the Lord” (Ps. 25:14), “His amazing righteousness” (Ps. 65:[5]), “the mystery that was hidden for long ages” (Rom. 16:25), etc.
§ 218. (III) The fathers theologize very sweetly about God’s mercy. Ignatius, epistle 3, Ad Magnes. [c. 10]: “Let us not be insensible to His kindness. Were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. For if You, Lord, should mark iniquities, who will stand?”
Justin, Epist. ad Diognet., p. 386: “By His kindness, God wanted us to have faith and to consider Him as a nourisher, parent, teacher, counselor, physician, mind, light, honor, glory, strength, life.”
Chrysostom, on Psalm 14: “When God intends to express His love for us, He mentions the charity of hens, the care of fathers, the mercy of mothers, the love of bridegrooms, not because He merely loves to this extent but because there are no other signs and proofs of greater love among us than these examples. For Isaiah 49 teaches that He loves us even more dearly: ‘Although a mother may forget her children,’ etc.” Chrysostom again: “Just as it is foreign to us to do good, so also for God it is against nature to do evil or destroy” (homily 46, Oper. imperf.). De provid., vol. 5: “No human clemency can be conferred upon divine goodness, which, indeed, surpasses all natural affections.” And later: “It is necessary that the mercy and clemency of Him whose intelligence is not finite be limited by no end.” In his Orat. de Philogonio: “As a woman giving birth desires to bring forth her offspring, so also God desires to pour out His mercy.”
Ambrose, De poenit., bk. 1, c. 2, vol. 1, p. 153: “God is more indulgent in His mercy than persistent in His severity.”
Augustine, De nat. et grat., c. 32: “The mercy of God precedes us to heal us; follows us that, healed, we may be enlivened; precedes, to call us; follows, to glorify us; precedes, that we may live devoutly; follows, that we may live always with Him, because without Him we can do nothing.” De spiritu et anim., c. 6: “God’s mercy is greater than the misery of all humans.”
Cassiodorus, on Psalm 23: “Mercy follows to give protection but precedes to confer grace. For if it were merely to follow, no one would take possession of the grace that was given, and if it were merely to precede, none could preserve the grace that had been conferred. The traps that the devil sets from behind are very serious, and unless mercy follows, human frailty is easily deceived.”
Bernard, Serm. 5 in die nat., col. 60: “He is correctly called not the ‘Father of judgment and revenge’ but the ‘Father of mercies,’ not only because the Father appears to have mercy rather than to be angry and, like a father toward his children, is merciful to those who fear Him, but all the more because He takes the cause and origin of His being merciful from Himself, while He takes the cause and origin of His judgment and revenge more from us.” (Cf. Bernard, Serm. 2 de sept. pan., col. 181.)
Nicephorus, bk. 17, c. 3: “God always hones the sword of vengeance with the oil of mercy.”
Gerson, De remed. pusil.:
The mercy of God is so great that if a man were to have all the sins of the world on him, were to grieve that he had haughtily offended his good Lord God with them, and would firmly intend to abstain from them in the future, God—according to the utterly true opinion of Chrysostom—would never condemn such a man. God grieves, as it were, because according to His righteousness He should condemn the man because of the man’s unrighteousness. From this, man is the image of God, having been created so nobly and redeemed so expensively.
Savonarola, on Psalm 31: “As the infinite cannot be limited, thus neither can boundaries be set for the mercy of God.”
In the Qur’an the Turks use a substitute name and call God Rachamani, “the Merciful.” They say, “I have vowed to the Merciful,” that is, “I have vowed a fast to God.”
Antithesis.
§ 219. God’s mercy, grace, and love are undermined by: (I) The Stoics, who denied that one should attribute mercy [misericordia] to God because it is “mental anguish conceived from the misery of another” (Augustine, De civ. Dei, bk. 9, c. 5). From this it is said that “it makes the heart of him who grieves miserable by means of someone else’s evil.” Augustine, De mor. eccles. cath.: “In God, however, there can be no place for anguish or misery.”
We respond. This definition applies only to human mercy but not to all mercy in general. The definition is less correct in judging that it is called “mercy” because it makes the heart miserable and acquires mental anguish, because such a person should rather be called miserable than merciful. Rather, it is so called because it causes the misery of someone else to belong to one’s own heart and to labor to alleviate that misery. It is for this reason that the Hebrews call it 
, which is to say, the mercy of the womb—or 
, “the bowels of mercy” (Luke 1:78)—from the root 
(“loved, loved deeply,” is surrounded with love, just as the womb loves and fosters the fetus). The Greeks also call it 
, which signifies no anguish of heart.
§ 220. (II) The Papists, when they claim: (1) That God’s justifying and glorifying grace is not purely gratuitous but that the former requires congruous merit [meritum de congruo] on our part, while the latter requires deserved merit [meritum de condigno]. Against this, see Rom. 11:6. (2) That our satisfactions are required for the gratuitous grace of God and for the forgiveness of our sins. Against this, see Rom. 3:24. (3) That indulgences can be purchased with the aid of money. Against this, what we buy with money does not come to us freely from grace (Isa. 55:1; Acts 8:[20]). (4) That election was made on the basis of foreseen merits and that reprobation is partially absolute. Against this, see Eph. 1:4. (5) That all infants who die before Baptism are condemned without distinction. Against this, see Mark 10:14. In our De glor. Dei, disp. 1, §§ 30–36, we have shown in detail that each and every one of these hypotheses undermines God’s mercy. (6) That God’s grace, by which He justifies and saves us, is not the gratuitous favor of God but an infused quality. Against this, see 2 Tim. [1]:9. (See also our commonplace On Justification through Faith [Commonplace XIX], § 18.) (7) That God’s grace and mercy can remit sins even after this life, namely, in purgatory. Against this, see Acts 10:43. God’s mercy is eternal, but that effect of divine mercy, the forgiveness of sins, has been promised to us only in this life.
§ 221. (III) The Calvinists, when they claim: (1) That with an absolute decree God has reprobated some people—in fact, the larger part of the human race—out of pure hatred, without any consideration of their impenitence and unbelief, and that He never wills to be merciful to them. (2) That God wanted man to be miserable, that is, that He wanted Adam to fall and for this reason involved Adam and all His descendants in eternal misery so as to have an occasion for showing mercy. Against this fabrication we set the statement of Augustine: “Benevolence is malevolent if someone wants anyone to be miserable so as to have mercy on him” (Confess., bk. 3, c. 2). Also, in his commentary on Psalm 125 he writes: “Whoever wishes people to be miserable in order to show mercy has a cruel mercy. That is as if a doctor would wish many people to be sick so that he could practice his art. That is cruel medicine.” (3) That the universal promises of the grace and mercy of God offered to all in the Gospel apply only to a few, despite the fact that God is said to be “rich in mercy” (Eph. 2:4) and “has consigned all to disobedience that He may have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32). (See our De glor. Dei, disp. 5, § 20.)
(IV) The Photinians: (1) When they say that God’s mercy is not an essential property of God (Socinus, De Christo, part 1, c. 1; Catech. Racov., p. 266). (See our treatise On Justification through Faith [Commonplace XIX], § 48; De glor. Dei, disp. 10, § 10.) (2) When they claim there are many mortal sins that when people commit them they are not received into grace. In this way they restrict the mercy of God that is set forth in the promises of the Gospel. (See the aforementioned disputation.)
Questions about God’s mercy.
§ 222. (I) The question arises: In what way can mercy, love, patience, etc., be attributed to God since He is not subject to the mutability of emotions? We respond. All these are essential properties of God if we look at the principle of action rather than its effects, which do not infer any passion, alteration, change, or disturbance of the utterly simple essence of God but which do explain the acts of divine goodness. (The essential grace of God is called “first grace” and is nothing else but the paternal favor of God.55 The blessings that God confers upon us out of grace are called “second graces,” 
, or “gifts through grace.”) Anselm, Proslog., c. 8: “You are merciful, O God, according to us and not according to Yourself, according to our sense and not according to Yours. When You spit us miserable people out, we feel the effect of Your pity [miseratio], but You do not feel the emotion of misery [miseria].” Therefore all of these things must be cleansed of their imperfections and that pure and perfect thing that remains should be attributed to God. Thus mercy indicates both the compassion of a heart saddened because of the misery of another, as well as the prompt will to alleviate it with words and in reality. Remove the change of compassion and the anguish of the heart that stems from it, and leave the pure and perfect thing that remains to God, namely, the ready will to alleviate the misery of another. Accordingly, though mercy, long-suffering, charity, etc., are not for God the sort of emotions as they are for us, nevertheless they truly and really apply to God more than they do to us. The Scholastics say that those emotions are attributed to God not “as they occur with some change,” in which respect they are called passions and belong to the sensing appetite [ad appetitum sentientem], but as they are “acts of will.”
§ 223. (II) The question arises: Does God love Himself and all things outside Himself? We respond. Because God is the highest good, therefore He loves Himself as the highest good. In man, love of self is full of vice and damnable because man is not the highest good. Instead, he ought to seek God, the highest good, and cleave to Him alone. Moreover, God loves Himself not as He is Himself but as He is the highest good, for if there were another greater and more excellent good, then He would not love Himself, as the Theol. Germanica discusses in detail. In the Godhead, the Father loves the Son as His own substantial image (Matt. 3:[17]; 17:5; John 3:35; 5:20; 17:24). The Son loves the Father as the one born of His heart before the ages (John 14:31). The Holy Spirit is the substantial love of the Father and the Son because He proceeds from both.
Furthermore, God loves not only Himself but also all creatures that exist. Wisdom 11:[24]–26: “You love all things that exist and hate none of the things You have made, for You did not make anything while hating. How would anything have continued to exist unless You had willed? How would anything not called forth by You be preserved?” Thomas proves this with this this reasoning: “To love is to want good for someone. But God wants something good for all creatures that exist, namely, actual existence. Therefore He loves all” ([ST,] p. 1, q. 20, art. 2). From this he later infers that God loves better things more, because He wills a greater good for them. On the part of the act of divine love, God loves all things equally, but on the part of the object, He is said to love better things more. However, because God willed good—that is, existence—for all other creatures in relation toward man or because of man (whom all things would serve), therefore the Scholastics distinguish between the love of benevolence and the love of concupiscence. The former they define as being “the love with which I want good for something because of the thing itself that is loved, without its relation toward something else.” With this love, they say, God embraces rational creatures: angels and humans. The latter they define as being “the love with which something is loved because of another thing that is loved,” that is, the love with which good is desired for something because of another, for whom something can be done for delight and usefulness. With this love, they say, God embraces irrational creatures. (See Biel, [Sent.] 3, dist. 27, q. 1.)
When a reciprocal and mutual love develops on the part of rational creatures, then they say that out of the love of benevolence the love of friendship is made. It is in reference to this that they take that statement of Christ: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him” (John 14:23). They also distinguish between the love of communication and of complacency. They call the love of communication that love by which God confers the goods of His nature, grace, and glory; and they call the love of complacency that love by which He loves His own good, which He has communicated to His creation. All these distinctions can be tolerated with a sound meaning, provided that in rational creatures no merit is claimed for divine love, which is purely gratuitous. For it is certain that that special love of God with which He embraces those who believe in Christ and who cling to Him by true love is distinct from that general love with which He embraces all humans.
Additionally, as they claim a double love in God, so also they claim a double hatred: the one of abomination, the other of enmity. They call the hatred of abomination that hatred by which an evil is detested [abominatur]. But now God detests sin as directly opposed to His nature and goodness. They call the hatred of enmity that hatred by which someone wills the evil of punishment for the one who does the evil of fault on the basis of his displeasure with the sinner, to the extent that he is a sinner. But God pursues sinners with this sort of hatred, to the extent that they are such, because of His own righteousness. Wisdom 14:9: “Equally odious to God are both the ungodly person and his ungodliness.” I say “to the extent that they are such” because in sinners God loves the nature He made the way a craftsman loves his handiwork. Augustine, Ad Simpl., bk. 1, q. 2: “God did not hate Esau the man but Esau the sinner.”
§ 224. (III) The question arises: Are we detracting from the mercy of God when we claim that the reborn cannot perfectly fulfill the Law? The Papists affirm this, but we showed the contrary in our treatise On the Law of God [Commonplace XV], § 198; and De glor. Dei, disp. 4, § 3.
Are we detracting from it through our hypothesis regarding the necessity of Baptism? The Calvinists affirm this, but we demonstrated the opposite in our treatise On Holy Baptism [Commonplace XXIII], § 237; and De glor. Dei, disp. 9, § 10.
Are we detracting from it through our hypothesis about the necessary satisfaction of Christ for our sins? The Photinians affirm this, but we showed the opposite in our treatise On Justification through Faith [Commonplace XIX], § 49; and De glor. Dei, disp. 10, § 38.
§ 225. (IV) The question arises: Is the love of God purely gratuitous? We affirm this, because it is the unowed, gratuitous favor of God that precedes all our love. But now grace is not grace in any way, unless it be gratuitous in every way. For this reason the apostle declares in clear words: “In this is charity, not that we loved God but that He loved us …. He loved us first” (1 John 4:10, 19). Rom. 5:8: “God commends His charity, that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.” Augustine, treatise 102 on John:
Does He love us because we love, or do we rather love because He loves? Let the same evangelist answer from his own Epistle: “We love because He first loved.” On account of this, therefore, it happened that we loved because we were loved. To love God is completely the gift of God, because He, in order to be loved, gave; He who was not loved, loved. We who are displeasing are loved so that He may be in us, from which we may become pleasing. For we do not love the Son unless we also love the Father. The Father loves us because we love the Son when we have received from the Father and the Son the gift to love the Father and the Son. For He pours charity into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, through which Spirit we love both the Father and the Son, and which Spirit we love along with the Father and the Son.
Bellarmine says the opposite on the basis of Prov. 8:17; John 14:21; 11:27 to prove that our love makes us beloved to God (De grat. et lib. arbitr., bk. 1, c. 6). To this we respond that those passages do not describe the meritorious cause of divine love but rather: (1) The sign and token of it, for those who love God have an internal witness that God loves them, because God is “love itself” (1 John 4:8). Therefore He cannot but love those who love Him. (2) Its object, for those who love God enjoy that love of God salutarily. (3) Its effect. Day by day, those who love God receive greater blessings that descend from the love of God, and thereby they find out that God loves them for Christ’s sake. (4) Its levels according to the order divinely arranged. For the love by which God embraces those who truly believe in Christ and love Him from faith is a special love. No one receives it without the Holy Spirit first kindling true faith in him through the Word, a faith that is active through charity.
§ 226. (V) The question arises: Are the love, grace, and mercy of God completely absolute?56 The Calvinists answer affirmatively and apply to this the words of the apostle: “I have mercy on whom I have mercy” (Rom. 9:15). We respond, however, that God’s mercy is free but not simply absolute. Therefore one must distinguish between the general and special grace or love. The general love is absolute; therefore with it God loves all equally. However, the special love of God is founded on Christ’s merit; therefore with it God loves only those who are true believers in Christ. That is, with it He embraces those who by faith apply Christ’s merit to themselves. This is something we prove elsewhere in greater detail against the Calvinists and Photinians.
The practical use of the doctrine of God’s mercy.
§ 227. (I) Consoling. The consideration of God’s mercy should be set against: (1) The greatness of our sins. God’s mercy is infinite; therefore it is of greater weight than the greatness of our sins. Chrysostom, homily 2 on Psalm 50:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy. You have told me it is great; teach me how great it is. How great it is I do not know; that it is great I do know. I am incapable of grasping how great it is; I do not know the quantity of its greatness; it is not comprehended with a word. On the other hand, I see the great fruit of Your mercy, for were it not extended to an immeasurable extent, only a few would be saved …. What is sin in comparison with the mercy of the Lord? Blades of grass that could never compare to the blowing wind.
In Mic. 7:19 God’s mercy is compared with “the depths of the sea” into which our sins are hurled so that they may never again come into the sight of God. The same Chrysostom says: “God’s clemency surpasses the wickedness of man. Imagine if a spark should fall into the sea. It will not be able to survive or be seen, will it? As great as a spark is in relation to the sea, so great is the wickedness of man compared to the pity and clemency of God. In fact, the contrast is not this great but even greater, for though the sea may be large, it still has a measure, but God’s compassion has no measure” (De poenit., homily 3). Look at the mirror of God’s mercy as set forth in Luke 15. (a) The father runs to meet; this is prevenient mercy. (b) He embraces; this is accepting mercy. (c) He kisses him; this is unifying mercy. (d) He gives him clothes; this is clothing mercy, namely, the righteousness of Christ. (e) He gives him a ring; this is adorning mercy, the gift [charisma] of the Spirit. (f) He gives him shoes; this is fortifying mercy. (g) He brings out the calf; this is feeding mercy, which feeds with spiritual things, etc.
(2) The multitude of our miseries. Our miseries are many, but God’s mercy is immense and infinite. Ps. 103:8–9: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. He will not always quarrel nor will He keep His anger forever.” Ps. 55:[22]: “He will never permit the righteous to be moved.” When we are surrounded by the floods and winds of adversities in the sea of this world, let us retreat to that most tranquil and serene harbor of divine mercy, which never experiences storm. When we flee from our enemies and are terrified, let us take refuge in the bosom of divine grace, which fosters and embraces us “as a mother her sons” (Isa. 66:13).
(3) The uncertainty of our perseverance. Ps. 117:2: “The mercy of God is strengthened and confirmed upon us forever.” Therefore it will neither abandon nor desert us. God’s grace and mercy, by which He embraces us, is eternal. Therefore “nothing will be able to separate us from it” (Rom. 8:[38–39]). As He has chosen, called, and justified us out of His purely gratuitous grace, thus He will glorify us out of His purely gratuitous grace. It is He who “is at work in us both to will and to do according to His good will” (Phil. 2:13).
(4) The bitterness of death. God’s sweet mercy will be able to render even death itself sweet, for because His mercy is eternal, therefore He will not leave us in the dust of the earth but will call us back again to life. In every anguish, even in death itself, He will hear our prayers and groans; He will take us up, save us, etc. Jer. 31:3: “I have loved you with a perpetual charity. Therefore I have drawn you close.” In the bosom of divine mercy and charity, like an infant “in the bosom of his mother” (Isa. 46:[3]), we shall go to sleep peacefully in death.
§ 228. (II) Exhorting: (1) To glorify God. Ps. 106:1: “O sing to the Lord because His mercy is forever.” Luke 1:46, 50: “My soul magnifies the Lord … His mercy is from generation to generation.” Just as there is no moment when man does not enjoy God’s mercy, so there ought to be no moment when he does not remember Him and give Him due thanks for His kindness.
(2) To love our kind Father. He is love; therefore our love should be brought to Him. He is our Father; therefore let us embrace Him with filial love. O my God, my Love, grant that I may desire You and love You, by whom I am loved so greatly that not only did You expend what is Yours for me, but even Yourself! You have preceded me in love; You are the cause of my love! O Love, You who burn forever and are never extinguished, O substantial Charity, kindle me with Your fire, Your love, Your sweetness, Your desire, that I may be completely filled with the sweetness of Your love and, glowing with the fire of Your brightness, may love You, etc. “O harsh and stubborn sons of Adam, who are not softened by such great kindness, such a flame, such an enormous heat of love!” (Bernard, Serm. 2. Pent., col. 163).
(3) To imitate the mercy of God. Luke 6:36: “Be merciful even as your Father is merciful.” It is not fitting for children of the merciful Father to be harsh and merciless. God’s mercy should be both the cause and model of our own. It is sincere, serious, gratuitous, active; our mercy ought to be the same.
(4) To stir up and strengthen confidence within ourselves: Confidence in the cross. 2 Sam. 24:14: “It is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great, than to fall into the hand of man.” Confidence in prayers. Ps. 25:6: “Remember Your mercy, O Lord, and Your kindnesses, which are from forever.” Ps. 51:[1]: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to the greatness of Your divine mercy.” Cf. Heb. 4:16. Confidence in conversion. Joel 2:13: “Return to your God, for He is gracious and merciful.” Confidence in time of temptation. Job 10:12[–13]: “You have granted me life and mercy …. Although You hid these things in Your heart, yet I know that this is with You.” Ps. 77:[7–9, 11–12]: “Will the Lord extend Himself forever? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has He forgotten to be merciful? … I shall remember Your wonders from the beginning and I shall meditate on all Your works.”
(5) To kindle love for our neighbor. 1 John 4:11: “If God has so loved us, we ought also to love each other.” Out of love God gives Himself wholly to us, and we out of love should expend ourselves wholly for our neighbor. What you give a man, you give to God, because “man is the likeness of God” (Lactantius, Instit., bk. 6, c. 18). But if we love God, we should also love him whom God has provided for us to love.