He ordereth all things in
heaven and earth; and, therefore, all things must, at last, go well.
'The old order changes, giving place to the new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.'
We must believe that, and trust in Christ. We must trust in him,
that he will not cut down any tree in his garden until it actually
cumbers the ground, altogether unfruitful, and taking up room which
might be better used. We must trust him, that he will cast nothing
out of his kingdom till it actually offends, makes men stumble and
fall to their destruction. We must trust him, that he will do away
with nothing that is old, without putting something better in its
place. Thus we shall keep up our hearts, though things do change
round us, sometimes mournfully enough. For Christ destroyed
Jerusalem. But, again, its destruction was, as St. Paul said, life
to all nations. He destroyed Moses' law. But he, by so doing, put
in its place his own Gospel. He scattered abroad the nations of the
Jews, but he thereby called into his Church all nations of the earth.
He destroyed, with a fearful destruction, the Holy City and temple,
over which he wept. But he did so in order that the Holy City, the
New Jerusalem, even his Church, should come down from heaven; needing
no temple, for he himself is the temple thereof; that the nations of
those which were saved should walk in the light of it; and that the
river of the water of life should flow from the throne of God; and
that the leaves of the trees which grew thereby should be for the
healing of the nations.
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