22. Death, which restores the elect to light, takes away from the reprobate the light, namely, the glory of the present life. — For the death of the flesh, which restores the elect to their own light, takes away from the reprobate their light. For the light of the proud is the glory of the present life. That light is then withdrawn from him, when through the destruction of the flesh he is summoned to the darkness of his own retributions. There then is the uplifted arm broken, because the loftiness of the heart, violently seized beyond the order of nature, is scattered by the mass of the divine justice that oppresses it, so that, because it had perversely raised itself for a brief time, it may, through the weight of judgment, recognize itself broken forever. But none of us could recognize what would follow after death, unless the Author of our life had come even to the punishment of our death.
For unless He Himself had mercifully sought the lowest things, He would never have justly recalled us, lost after His image, to the highest. Whence it is also rightly added: