On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology — trans. C. E. Rolt
The translator’s English as printed (C. E. Rolt). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
34. Thus evil hath no being, nor any inherence in things that have being. Evil is nowhere qua evil; and it arises not through any power but through weakness. Even the devils derive their existence from the Good, and their mere existence is good. Their evil is the result of a fall from their proper virtues, and is a change with regard to their individual state, a weakness of their true angelical perfections. And they desire the Good in so far as they desire existence, life, and understanding; and in so far as they do not desire the Good, they desire that which hath no being. And this is not desire, but an error of real desire.
35. By “men who sin knowingly” Scripture means them that are weak in the exercised knowledge1 and performance of Good; and by “them that know the Divine Will and do it not,” ? it means them that have heard the truth and yet are weak in faith to trust the Good or in action to fulfil it. And some desire not to have understanding in order that they may do good, so great is the warping or the weakness of their will. And, in a word, evil (as we have often said) is weakness, impotence, and deficiency of knowledge (or, at least, of exercised knowledge), or of faith, desire, or activity as touching the Good. Now, it may be urged that weakness should not be punished, but on the contrary should be pardoned. This would be just were the power not within man’s grasp; but if the power is offered by the Good that giveth without stint (as saith the Scripture) that which is needful to each, we must not condone the wandering or defection, desertion, and fall from the proper virtues offered by the Good. But hereon let that suffice which we have already spoken (to the best of our abilities) in the treatise Concerning Justice and Divine [udgment:! a sacred exercise wherein the Truth of Scripture disallowed as lunatic babbling such nice arguments as despitefully and slanderously blaspheme God. In this present treatise we have, to the best of our abilities, celebrated the Good as truly Admirable, as the Beginning and the End of all things, as the Power that embraces them, as That Which gives form to non-existent things, as That which causes all good things and yet causes no evil things, as perfect Providence and Goodness surpassing all things that are and all that are not, and turning base things and the lack of Itself unto good, as That Which all must desire, yearn for, and love; and as possessed of many other qualities the which a true argument hath, methinks, in this chapter
3 In the previous section D. has maintained that all people ultimately desire the Good. Hence it follows that all sin is due to ignorance; for could we all recognize that which we desire we would follow it. This raises the question: What, then, does Scripture mean by speaking of men who sin knowingly? To this D. replies that wilful sin is wilful ignorance. It is the failure to exercise the knowledge we possess: as when we know a fact which yet is not actually present to our minds. We know (having been taught it) the desirableness of the Good, but we can shut this desirableness out from our minds and refuse to dwell upon it. In such a case we refuse to exercise our knowledge.
34. Thus evil has no being, nor does it inhere in things that have being. Evil is nowhere qua evil; and it arises not through any power but through weakness. Even the devils derive their existence from the Good, and their mere existence is good. Their evil is the result of a fall from their proper virtues; it is a change with regard to their individual state, a weakness of their true angelic perfections. And they desire the Good in so far as they desire existence, life, and understanding; and in so far as they do not desire the Good, they desire what has no being. And this is not desire, but an error of real desire.
35. By “men who sin knowingly” Scripture means those who are weak in the exercised knowledge1 and performance of Good; and by “those who know the Divine Will and do not do it,”2 it means those who have heard the truth and yet are weak in faith to trust the Good or in action to fulfil it. And some do not wish to have understanding in order to do good, so great is the warping or the weakness of their will. And, in a word, evil (as we have often said) is weakness, impotence, and deficiency of knowledge (or at least of exercised knowledge), or of faith, desire, or activity with regard to the Good.
Now it may be urged that weakness should not be punished but, on the contrary, pardoned. This would be just if the power were not within man’s grasp; but if the power is offered by the Good that gives without stint (as Scripture says) what each needs, we must not condone the wandering or defection, the desertion and fall from the proper virtues offered by the Good. But on this let what we have already said (to the best of our abilities) in the treatise Concerning Justice and Divine Judgment1 suffice: a sacred exercise in which the Truth of Scripture rejected as lunatic babbling such subtle arguments as spitefully and slanderously blaspheme God.
In this present treatise we have, to the best of our abilities, celebrated the Good as truly Admirable, as the Beginning and the End of all things, as the Power that embraces them, as That Which gives form to non-existent things, as That which causes all good things and yet causes no evil things, as perfect Providence and Goodness surpassing all things that are and all that are not, and turning base things and the lack of Itself to good, as That Which all must desire, yearn for, and love; and as possessing many other qualities which a true argument has, I think, in this chapter
3 In the previous section D. has maintained that all people ultimately desire the Good. It follows that all sin is due to ignorance; for if we could all recognize what we desire, we would follow it. This raises the question: what, then, does Scripture mean by speaking of men who sin knowingly? D. replies that wilful sin is wilful ignorance. It is the failure to exercise the knowledge we possess, as when we know a fact that is nevertheless not actually present to our minds. We know (having been taught it) the desirableness of the Good, but we can shut this desirableness out of our minds and refuse to dwell on it. In such a case we refuse to exercise our knowledge.