‘A broken spirit drieth the bones’ (Prov. 17, 22).  The Holy Spirit everywhere forbids such melancholy, as, for instance, in Eccles. 11., 9:  ’Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth,’ and in the verse immediately following:  ’Remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh.’  Ecclesiasticus, likewise, says, chap. 30, 22-25:  ’The gladness of the heart is the life of man, and the joyfulness of a man prolongeth his days.  Love thine own soul, and comfort thy heart, remove sorrow far from the; for sorrow hath killed many, and there is no profit therein.  Envy and wrath shorten the life, and carefulness bringeth age before the time.  A cheerful and good heart will have a care of his meat and diet.’  Moreover, Paul says 2 Cor. 7, 10:  ’The sorrow of the world worketh death.’  Above all, therefore, you must firmly cling to this thought, that these evil and melancholy thoughts are not of God, but of the devil; for God is not a God of melancholy, but a God of comfort and gladness, as Christ Himself says:  ’God is not the God of the dead, but of the living’ (Matt. 22, 32).  What else does living mean than to be glad in the Lord?  Accordingly, become used to different thoughts, in order to drive away these evil thoughts, and say:  The Lord has not sent you.  This chiding which you experience is not of Him who has called you.  In the beginning the struggle is grievous, but by practise it becomes more easy.  You are not the only one who has to endure such thoughts, all the saints were afflicted by them, but they fought against them and conquered.  Therefore, do not yield to these evils, but meet them bravely.  The greatest task in this struggle is not to regard these thoughts, not to explore them, not to pursue the matters suggested, but despise them like the hissing of a goose and pass them by.  The person that has learned to do this will conquer; whoever has not learned it will be conquered.  For to muse upon these thoughts and debate with them means to stimulate them and make them stronger.  Take the people of Israel as an example:  they overcame the serpents, not by looking at them and wrestling with them, but by turning their eyes away from them and looking in a different direction, namely, at the brazen serpent, and they conquered.  In this struggle that is the right and sure way of winning the victory.  A person afflicted with such thoughts said to a certain wise man:  What evil thoughts come into my mind!  He received the answer:  Well, let them pass out again.  That remark taught the person a fine lesson.  Another answered the same question thus:  You cannot keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building their nests in your hair.  Accordingly, you will do the correct thing when you are merry and engage in some pleasant pastime with some one, and not scruple afterwards over having done so.  For God is not pleased with sadness, for which there is no reason.  The sorrow over our sins is brief