steps had well nigh
slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the
prosperity of the wicked" [Ps. 73:2 f.]; and again, "Behold,
these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in
riches." [Ps. 73:12] And Jeremiah says, "Righteous art Thou, O
Lord, when I plead with Thee: yet let me talk with Thee of Thy
judgments: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?
Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" [Jer.
12:1] Why does He lavish and waste so many blessings upon them
except to comfort us thereby, and make us to know how good He is
to "such as are of a clean heart"? as it is said in that same
Psalm lxxii. If He is so good to the wicked, how good will He not
be to the good? [Ps. 73:1] Except that He does not vex the wicked
with any evil, yet afflicts the good with many evils, in order
that they may acknowledge His goodness to them not only in the
present blessings, but even in those that are hidden and yet to
come, and that they may say, with the same Psalmist, "But it is
good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord
God." [Ps. 73:28] Which is as though he said. Even though I
suffer certain things, from which I see that those men are free,
nevertheless I trust that God is far more good to me than He is
to them. Thus the blessings which we see the wicked enjoy become
to us an incentive to hope for those blessings which are not
seen, and to despise the evils which we suffer. Even as Christ,
in Matthew vi, bids us behold the foul of the air and the lilies
of the field, saying, "Wherefore if God so clothe the grass,
which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He
not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" [Matt. 6:26 ff.]
Hence, by this comparison of the blessings in which the wicked
abound with the evils that we suffer, our faith is exercised, and
our consolation is placed in God alone, which is the only holy
consolation. So doth He make all things work together for good
unto His saints. [Rom. 8:28]

The other blessing, which is more marvelous, is this, that the
evils of our adversaries become blessings to us, under the
providence of God. For though their sins are a stumbling-block to
the weak, to such as are strong they are an exercise of virtue,
and an opportunity for conflict and the amassing of greater
merit.[61] For, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for
when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life." [Jas.
1:12]