On the law of God. How the law must be removed, and yet must be fulfilled.

Preface

No time has ever been so evil that God has not done something for mankind for which he cannot be thanked enough. Again, there has never been such prosperity in this world that some evil has not had to be feared. Not that God himself is so inconstant or takes pleasure in such unrest. Rather, everything carnal is so perverted that it always misuses what is at its disposal, even the very best things that God shares with it. Therefore the Lord always mixes his sweetness with salt for all his friends, as long as they stay in this world, so that the sweetness stays fresh, and his friends do not get lazy and dull.

Some people, even the majority, complain that die world is now filled with evil. This is indeed true. For although the world has always been an evil tree, it has never borne so much evil fruit as in our time. All history books and chronicles show the truth of this. But still, however much there is to complain about, there is much more that God should be thanked for if one does not look at things with a jaundiced eye. For, to say nothing of the secret work of God, if God has awakened the whole world only to ask what is the truth and to worry about error, all the treasures and values of the whole world cannot be compared to this.