rich man and Lazarus (Luke xvi.). - 2 'We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways' (Wisd. v. 7). — Examples: Cain, Absalom, Achab, Antiochus. 3 'The souls of the just are in the hand of God' (Wisd. iii. 1). — Examples: Joseph, Tobias, Susanna, Daniel, St. Paul (2 Cor. vii. 4).
24. To what should the remembrance of God's holiness and justness animate us?
It should animate us, 1. Carefully to avoid all evil, and to become more and more holy; and 2. Not to pride ourselves in our pretended righteousness.
1. 'Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body into hell' (Matt. x. 28). 'I am the Lord your God: be holy, because I am holy' (Levit. xi. 44). 2. 'I am not conscious to myself of anything, yet I am not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord' (1 Cor. iv, 4).
25. What means 'God is good'?
God is good means that out of love He will do good to all creatures, and that He really bestows innumerable blessings upon us.
'Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which Thou hast made' (Wisd. xi. 25). 'Thus saith the Lord: Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee' (Isai. xlix. 15).
26. Which is the greatest proof of God's love and goodness?
That He delivered His own Son up to death for the salvation of us sinners.
'God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His Only-begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him' (1 John iv. 8, 9).
27. What means 'God is merciful'?
God is merciful means that He is disposed to avert all evil from His creatures, and therefore willingly pardons all truly penitent sinners.
'The mercy of God is upon all flesh' (Ecclus. xviii. 12. Comp. Jon. iv. 11). 'As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way
