Chapter XXXI.—“Howbeit, They Meant It Not.”

To this I answered, “Those, therefore, who do wrong are not guilty, because they wrong the just by the judgment of God.”  Then Peter said, “They indeed sin greatly, for they have given themselves to sin.  Wherefore knowing this, God chooses from among them some to punish those who righteously repented of their former sins, that the evil things done by the just before their repentance may be remitted through this punishment.  But to the wicked who punish and desire to ill-use them, and will not repent, it is permitted to ill-use the righteous for the filling up of their own punishment.  For without the will of God, not even a sparrow can fall into a girn.^11531153    See Luke xii. 6, 7; [Matt. x. 29, 30.—R.].  Thus even the hairs of the righteous are numbered by God.