The psychological explanation is that great powers of
love are twin with great powers of hatred. The passionate love of
virtue is, in its obverse, an equally passionate hatred of vice. In
the same way the passionate love of our kind has for its obverse an
equally passionate hatred for the wrongs they endure. For this reason
justice and virtue are nowhere so secure as in the hands of men who
love their kind intensely. They are most insecure in the hands of the
cynic, who despises his kind, and therefore misapprehends their
conduct. For love, in its last analysis, is understanding, and where
there is understanding of our fellows there can hardly fail to be
wisdom in our method of treating them. That was the great secret of
Jesus in these examples which we have reviewed. He understood Simon
Peter. He understood the woman who was a sinner. He therefore knew
the only wise method of treating them. One with less pity might have
sent the harlot back to her shame, one with less love might have driven
Peter into permanent apostasy. But Jesus, in His understanding of the
human heart, knew the exact limit of reproof, the exact point at which
magnanimity became efficacious in redemption. Those who follow His
spirit will attain the same rare wisdom. They will never sacrifice
virtue to compassion, nor will they put virtue in opposition to
compassion.
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