"the saints make use of all creation, and all things work together for them for good for the purpose of enjoying God. On the contrary, the wicked enjoy the whole creation and make use of it rather than of God, and so they pervert everything, not that God and the creature become something else, but they are perverted in the heart and regarded as something else than what they are. And this is what Eccl. 1:2 calls vanity. Again, in a similar way with regard to reward and punishment [anagogically], for the saints have pleasure in all things, as the psalmist says (Ps. 92:4): “Thou, O Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work.” On the contrary, the whole world will fight against those who have no understanding, and all things are perverted for them. Therefore even the evils of this life are holy, harmless, and chosen for the good, because they sanctify and increase their merits. They are harmless things, because they help rather than hinder. They are chosen things (that is, voluntary and agreeable), because they lovingly carry the cross of the Lord and joy-fully bear the sufferings of Christ. On the contrary, however, evils hurt the wicked much more, because through them they fall into blasphemies and curses and impatience, and they always become worse: they go from good to bad, and from bad to worse. Therefore all things are perverted for them, because when they have prosperity, they abuse it, and when they suffer adversity they complain."
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