(Vers. 23.). For etc., as if to say: truly it is so: for the whole world, that is, the totality of creatures, is thus before you, that is, in your disposition, or in comparison with you, as the turning of a balance, that is, that small amount by which the balance is inclined this way or that; whence it is called momentum from "moving," or because, just as it is easily and as if in a moment moved this way or that, so by divine power the world is moved at the nod of God; whence Isaiah 40: "Behold, the nations are as a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the turning of a balance"; and as a drop of the morning dew, that is, falling before the light, which descends upon the earth, which is easily dissolved by the face of the sun and cannot resist it. And it should be noted that he says the creature is as the turning of a balance etc., in respect to God as regards the ease of acting upon it; and as a drop of dew etc., as regards the impossibility of being acted upon by it; Isaiah 40: "All nations are as though they were not, so are they before him."
And you have mercy on all etc. Here is set forth the proof of divine mercy; and first he proves it through the effect of overlooking; second, through the effect of love: For you love; third, through the effect of preservation: But how could etc.; fourth, through the effect of pardon: But you spare.
(Vers. 24.). And you have mercy on all, that is, in all things you exercise the effect of mercy, according to that passage of the Psalm: "His mercies are over all his works"; likewise: "All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth"; likewise: "The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord". For you can do all things: whence all things are your handiwork and your works, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them". And you overlook, that is, for a time not punishing, the sins of men; he does not say of angels, because the sin of the angels was immediately punished: whence Isaiah 14: "How have you fallen, O Lucifer, from heaven, you who rose in the morning"? On account of repentance; whence Romans 2: "Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance"? Ezekiel 18: "If the wicked man shall do penance from all his sins, etc., he shall live and shall not die".
(Vers. 25.). For you love all things that exist, namely by approving and preserving their goods: whence Genesis 1: "God saw all things that he had made, and they were very good": the Gloss: "A good craftsman loves his own work"; but God did not make sin: whence John 1: "Without him was made nothing," that is, "sin," according to Augustine. And therefore he does not love sin but hates it, according to that passage of the Psalm: "You have loved justice and hated iniquity". And you hate nothing of those things which you have made, that is, rejecting none of them.
Against which it is said in the Psalm: "I have hated the unjust"; likewise: "You have hated all who work iniquity"; likewise Ecclesiasticus 12: "The Most High hates sinners".
But it must be said that he does not hate his handiwork, but the defect of his handiwork, just as a craftsman loves the statue which he has made, and yet hates some knot existing in it on the part of the material.
For neither hating, that is, unwillingly, did you establish anything, namely by creating it from nothing, or make it, by forming it from pre-existing matter: whence Boethius:
Whom no external causes drove to fashion the work of fluctuating matter, but rather the inborn form of the highest good, etc.
Whence Proverbs 16: "The Lord has wrought all things for himself".
(Vers. 26.). But how could anything, that is, any creature, endure, namely in its being: unless you had willed it, that is, unless you voluntarily preserved it by your goodness? as if to say: in no way: whence Gregory: "All things that exist would tend toward nothingness, unless they were sustained or held by the hand of the Creator". Or what had not been called by you, that is, unless you approved it by beholding it with your wisdom: Romans 4: "Who calls those things that are not," etc., would be preserved? as if to say: nothing.
(Vers. 27.). But you spare all, namely human beings, who are called every creature, according to that passage in Mark, last chapter: "Preach the Gospel to every creature"; you spare, I say, because it is proper to you according to that passage: "O God, whose property it is always to have mercy and to spare." Because they are yours, O Lord: Ezekiel 18: "All souls are mine"; who love souls: which is evident, because you laid down your soul for them; John 15: "Greater love than this no one has," etc.; whence Bernard: "You had a greater love, laying it down for your enemies."