Jerome : Except that our belief in Christ raises us up to heaven and promises eternity to our souls, the physical conditions of life are the same for us as for the brutes. — LETTER 108.27 Jerome : "All things come alike to all; the same fate awaits the righteous and the wicked, the good and the clean and the unclean, the one who brings a sacrifice and the one who does not. As is the good man so is the sinner, as is the one who swears, so is the one who fears an oath. "These things which in themselves are neither good nor bad but are called 'in-between' by the wise, (since equally things happen to both the righteous and the wicked), they perturb each single man, especially as to why they should happen thus, and therefore do not think they are being judged, while there will be a distinction between all things in the future when they have been done, yet now all things are confused. But he says: "there is one outcome for the just and the unjust", he means either the outcome of hardships or of death, and therefore they do not know the kingdom of God nor His hate. Those who bring sacrifice and those who do not, and others in contrast who are not listed here must be seen in a spiritual understanding, according to that verse which says, "sacrifice to God with a troubled spirit" [Ps. 50, 19.]. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes