We must believe that even when he destroys, he does so
with regret; that when he cuts down the tree which cumbers the
ground, he grieves over it; as he grieved over his chosen vine, the
nation of the Jews.
It is a comfort to remember this as we watch the world change, and
the fashions of it vanish away. Great kingdoms, venerable
institutions, gallant parties, which have done good work in their
time upon God's earth, grow old, wear out, lose their first love of
what was just and true; and know not the things which belong to their
peace, but grow, as the Jews grew in their latter years, more and
more fanatical, quarrelsome, peevish, uncharitable; trying to make up
by violence for the loss of strength and sincerity: till they come
to an end, and die, often by unjust and unfair means, and by men
worse than they. Shall we not believe that Christ has pity on them;
that he who wept over Jerusalem going to destruction by its own
blindness, sorrows over the sins and follies which bring shame on
countries once prosperous, authorities once venerable, causes once
noble?
They, too, were thoughts of Christ. Whatsoever good was in them, he
inspired; whatsoever strength was in them, he gave; whatsoever truth
was in them, he taught; whatsoever good work they did, he did through
them.
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