Augustine of Hippo : You have wished to die by sinning; he wishes you to live by being converted. O foolish, irreverent and ungrateful sinner, you do not yield in this respect to God, who wishes to have mercy on you, who prefers to save you because of his own goodness than to destroy you because of your sins. — ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 2 Augustine of Hippo : Dearly beloved, if you are good, you must put up with the bad; if you are bad, you must imitate the good. The fact is, on this threshing floor grains can degenerate into chaff, and again grains can be resurrected from chaff. This sort of thing happens every day, my dear brothers and sisters; this life is full of both painful and pleasant surprises. Every day people who seemed to be good fall away and perish; and again, ones who seemed to be bad are converted and live. "God," you see, "does not desire the death of the wicked but only that they may turn back and live." — SERMON 223:2 Cassiodorus : One person prays to the Lord almost all his life, another is converted in middle age, another is saved at his life's end.… God with merciful patience awaits the hour of our conversion at any time, and so he bears with the guilty and awaits sinners with the words, "It is not my will that a sinner should die, but that he be converted and live." The only requirement is that in this life we confess all our sinning, for here we fail through human frailty. — EXPOSITIONS OF THE Psalms 55:10 Clement of Alexandria : He takes delight in the conversion of sinners, for he desires the conversion that follows their sins. Surely, he himself is the only sinless one. — The Instructor Book 3 Fastidius : See, then, how God instructs and incites you, so that you may be converted from your sins, late though it is, and come to salvation. See how he exhorts you, doomed to death as you are, so that you may live; and with what sweetness and gentle compassion he cajoles you, so that he does not deny a father's love even to the sinner. — ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE Jerome : Therefore it is the will of the Lord that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Wherever God seems to pronounce a severe and harsh judgment, He condemns not men, but their sins. — Commentary on Ezekiel Jerome : (Verse 23) In his righteousness, which he has worked, he will live. My righteousness will live not so much as mine, but as his. It is allowed for my righteousness to give good things to the good and bad things to the bad. Is it my will that the wicked should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live? (Ezekiel 18:23) Therefore it is the will of the Lord that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Wherever God seems to pronounce a severe and harsh judgment, He condemns not men, but their sins. — Commentary on Ezekiel John Chrysostom : For if it had not been His will that they should hear and be saved, He ought to have been silent, not to have spoken in parables; but now by this very thing He stirs them up, even by speaking under a veil. "For God willeth not the death of the sinner, but that he should turn unto Him and live." — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Matthew 45:2 John Chrysostom : I mean, surely I seek nothing else than a mere end of their wickedness and a stop to their evil? Surely I look for no accounting of past deeds if I see them willing to change? Do I not cry aloud each day, "Surely I have no real wish for the death of the sinner as for his conversion and life"? Do I not take every means to snatch from destruction those ensnared in deceit? Surely, after all, if I see them changing I will not hesitate?… Surely I do not bring you from nonbeing for the purpose of destroying you? It is not in vain that I prepared the kingdom and the countless good things beyond description, was it? Did I not also make the threat of hell for the purpose of encouraging everyone by this means also to hasten toward the kingdom? — HOMILIES ON Matthew 44:9 Tertullian : A petition for pardon is a full confession; because one who begs for pardon fully admits his guilt. So, too, penitence is demonstrated as acceptable to God, who desires it rather than the death of a sinner. — ON PRAYER 7