eave your name for a curse unto my
chosen." [Isa. 65:13 ff.] In short, as I have said,[59] the
examples of those who die in their sins and are damned are
profitable unto us for admonition and instruction, as St. Gregory
also observes in his Dialogues;[60] so that

Happy are they who caution gain
From that that which caused another's pain.

This blessing, indeed, affects us but little, because it is so
common and well known; nevertheless, it is to be ranked among the
very highest blessings, and is comforted of no slight value by
those who have an understanding heart; and many are the passages
of Scripture that bear upon it, those, namely, which treat of the
wrath, the judgments, and the threatenings of God. These most
wholesome teachings are confirmed to us by the examples of those
wretched men; and their examples only then have their effect on
us, when we enter into the feelings of them that endure such
things, and put ourselves as it were in their very place. Then
will they move and admonish us to praise the goodness of God, Who
has preserved us from those evils.

But let us also compare them with God, that we may see the divine
justice in their case. Although this is a difficult task, yet it
must be essayed. Now, since God is a just Judge, we must love and
laud His justice, and thus rejoice in our God, even when He
miserably destroys the wicked, in body and soul; for in all this
His high, unspeakable justice shines forth. And so even hell, no
less than heaven, is full of God and the highest good. For the
justice of God is God Himself; and God is the highest good.
Therefore, even as His mercy, so must His justice or judgment be
loved, praised, and glorified above all things. In this sense
David says, "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the
vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked."
[Ps. 58:10] It was for this reason that the Lord forbade Samuel
to mourn any longer for Saul (I. Samuel xvi), saying, "How long
wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from
reigning over Israel?" [1 Sam. 16:1] As who should say, "Does My
will so sorely displease thee, that thou preferrest the will of
man to Me?" In short, this is the voice of praise and joy
resounding through the whole Psalter,--that the Lord is the judge
of the widow, and a father of the fatherless; that He will
maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor;
that His enemies all be confounded, and the un