Note, 1. Bad men hate their best friends: The blood-thirsty, all the
seed of the old serpent, who was a murderer from the beginning, all
that inherit his enmity against the seed of the woman, hate the
upright; they seek the ruin of good men because they condemn the wicked
world and witness against it. Christ told his disciples that they
should be hated of all men. Bloody men do especially hate upright
magistrates, who would restrain and reform them, and put the laws in
execution against them, and so really do them a kindness. 2. Good men
love their worst enemies: The just, whom the bloody men hate, seek
their soul, pray for their conversion, and would gladly do any thing
for their salvation. This Christ taught us. Father, forgive them. The
just seek his soul, that is, the soul of the upright, whom the bloody
hate (so it is commonly understood), seek to protect it from violence,
and save it from, or avenge it at, the hands of the blood-thirsty.