Evil, says Nicetas here, has no positive existence, but is the negation of good. “The faculties of mind and body which are used in a sinful action are indeed things, and are the creatures of God; but the sin itself is not a thing, and consequently not a creature. God is indeed the Author of all that is, of every substance; but sin is not a substance, and is not. It is a declination from substance and from being, and not a part of it.” (Mozley, Treatise on the Augustinian doctrine of predestination.)