Thy manner of acting? Such are the exclamations of the Prophet Jeremias, evoked by the consideration of only this last arrangement of Divine Providence. “Thou indeed, Lord, art just if I plead with Thee: but yet I will speak what is just to Thee,” with Thy permission I will ask Thee a question. “Why doth the way of the wicked prosper: why is it well with all them that transgress and do wickedly? Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit.”[1] Why is that? Why dost Thou decree that he who serves Thee truly should live in sorrow and affliction, while he who contemns and despises Thee passes his life in repose, joy, and pleasure? “How long,” asks David with astonishment, “how long shall the wicked, O Lord! how long shall the wicked make their boast? How long shall they utter and speak wrong things? How long shall all the workers of iniquity talk?”[2] How long shall they exult in honors and riches? The drunken glutton sits at table clad in purple, and enjoys himself although he is a great sinner; while the just Lazarus is poor and despised, and cannot obtain even the crumbs thrown to the dogs. Why is that so? Why is virtue laughed at and oppressed, and vice exalted and honored? Why does wickedness sit on a throne, and justice lie on the bare earth? Why is this, O Lord? What is the meaning of this decree of Thine?
Hence there will be a general judgment, that God may justify His wonderful decrees. But David decides the matter for himself without waiting for an answer from God. “I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labor in my sight;” but I will wait until I enter the holy place of God; then I shall know all about what I cannot now understand: “Until I go into the sanctuary of God: and understand concerning their last ends.”[3] It will all become clear to me at the last end of all things. So it is, my dear brethren; this is a reason why there must be a general judgment; namely, that the Lord God may publish and justify in the sight of heaven and earth the hidden decrees and dispositions of His Providence; that He may answer the questions and complaints that arise from the ignorance or wickedness of men, who do not now understand His arrangements; that He may show each one the weighty reasons
- ↑ Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum; verumtamen justa loquar ad te: Quare via impiorum prosperatur? bene est omnibus qui prævaricantur, et inique agunt? Plantasti eos, et radicem miserunt; proficiunt, et faciunt fructum.—Jerem. xii. 1, 2.
- ↑ Usquequo peccatores, Domine, usquequo peccatores gloriabuntur? Effabuntur et loquentur iniquitatem, loquentur omnes qui operantur injustitiam?—Ps. xciii. 3, 4.
- ↑ Existimabam ut cognoscerem hoc; labor est ante me, donec intrem in sanctuarium Dei, et intelligam in novissimis eorum.—Ibid. lxxii. 16, 17.
