godly shall perish;
[Ps. 68:5, 149:12] and many similar sayings. Should any one be
inclined, in foolish pity, to feel compassion for that bloody
generation, that killeth the prophets, yea, the Son of God
Himself, and for the company of wicked men, he will be found
rejoicing in their iniquity, and approving their deeds. Such a
one deserves to perish in like manner with them whose sins he
would condone, and will hear the word, "Thou lovest thine
enemies, and hatest thy friends." [2 Sam. 19:6] For thus Joab
said unto David, when he grieved too sorely over his impious and
murderous son.

Therefore, in this image, we ought to rejoice in the piety of all
the saints, and in the justice of God which justly punishes the
persecutors of their piety, that He may deliver His elect out of
their hands. And so you may see no small blessings, but the very
greatest, shining forth in the dead and damned; even the avenging
of the injuries of the saints, and of your own as well, if you be
righteous with them. What wonder, then, if God, by means of your
present evil, should take vengeance also on your enemy, that is,
the sin in your body! You ought the rather to rejoice in this
work of the high justice of God, which, even without your prayer,
is thus slaying and destroying your fiercest foe, namely, the sin
that is within you. But, should you feel pity for it, you will be
found a friend of sin, and an enemy to the justice that worketh
in you. Of this beware; lest it be said also to you, "Thou lovest
thine enemies, and hatest thy friends." Therefore, as you ought
joyfully to consent to the justice of God when it rages against
your sin, you should do even the same when it rages against
sinners, those enemies of all men and of God. You see, then,
that in the greatest evils may be found the greatest blessings,
and that we are able to rejoice in these evils, not on account of
the evils themselves, but on account of the supreme goodness of
the justice of God our Avenger.

CHAPTER V

THE FIFTH IMAGE

THE BLESSING ON OUR LEFT HAND

Here are our adversaries who are yet in this life; for in the
foregoing image we considered those who are already damned and
given over to devils. These we must regard with other feelings,
and find in them a twofold blessing. The first is this, that
they abound in temporal goods, so that even the prophets were
well nigh moved to envy thereby; as we read in Psalm lxii, "But
as for me, my feet were almost gone; my