things exist by His command, so that they are “from Him”; they are set in order by His word and are therefore “through Him.” Finally, all things have recourse to His judgment so that, while they long for freedom “in Him,” after corruption has been done away with, they appear to be recalled “to Him.” The Lord rightly declares that God alone is good,1 of whose goodness the whole world is a witness. He would not have created it if He were not good. For if “all things were very good,”2 it logically