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GEMS OF CHINESE LITERATURE
of God; that He, in reward for their virtuous conduct, might watch over them, as a fond mother watches over her babes, for ever. Thus, although fools were not wanting to their posterity,―fools, able to drag an empire to the dust,―still, the evil day was deferred. This was indeed foresight of a far-reaching kind.
But he who, regardless of the favour of God, may hope by the light of his own petty understanding to establish that which shall endure through all time,―he shall be confounded indeed.
