38 However, all endeavors will avail butlittle unless our life be regulated conformably with the discipline of theChristian virtues. Let us call to mind what holy Scripture records concerningthe Jewish nation: "As long as they sinned not in the sight of their God,it was well with them: for their God hateth iniquity. And even . . . when theyhad revolted from the way that God had given them to walk therein, they weredestroyed in battles by many nations."(38) Now, the nation of the Jews borean inchoate semblance to the Christian people, and the vicissitudes of theirhistory in olden times have often foreshadowed the truth that was to come,saving that God in His goodness has enriched and loaded us with far greaterbenefits, and on this account the sins of Christians are much greater, and bearthe stamp of more shameful and criminal ingratitude.
Source: Sapientiae Christianae (Vatican.va)