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. Thus even the hairs of the righteous are numbered by God.