The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 337

easily spoken ns the call which one man arldrcR~cs to another when he woulrl invit11 him from some diHtRnce to his side. Strange indeed it may appear to us that G•l<l"., people Israel had been Ao long loft in Egypt, and equally strange it is that the dear I y beloved of his soul nre often delivered into the hand of their enemies. "It is a str~n,;a night indeed to see a child of God, an heir of heaven, a co-heir with Jesus Christ, ,,r~e dearer to God than heaven and earth, subject to the power, the caprice, and lt1sts of wicked, base, ungodly men; yea, it may be, for a time slaves to Satan." IV. Goo's LOVE JB FREQUENTLY UNREQUITED LOVE. As God by his messengers called fame!, Israel turned his back upon those messengers and a deaf ear to their call. Nay, like disobedient children or stubborn servants, they actually turned in the opposite clirection. As G0tl's mercy was manifested in delivering them out of the furnace of affliction and then calling to obedience; so their stubbornness appeared in, and their sin was aggravated by, their refusal to hearken to that call, and still more by their running in a direction the right opposed. Thus we read in Jeremiah," They turned unto me the back, and not the face." V. Goo's LOVE IB TENDER LOVE, 1. It combines the tenderness of a parent with the carefulness of a nurse. When the way was dark and obscure, he guided them as by the pillar of cloud by day and th.e pillar of fire by night. Thus he pointed out the way and showed them the direction in which they were to walk. 'l'hus be taught them to go. When obstacles lay in the way and difficulties blocked it, he lifted them up by the arms and carried them over all hindrances. Similarly we read in Deuteronomy," In the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went." Now he took them by the hand and led them again; he lifted them up and carried them in the arms, ever conducting them in the right way. 2. So with us all more or less the path in life is untrodden; frequently we are at a standstill; often we are sorely perplexed to know which way we should go; often and often we go astray and wander from the way. Again, there are stumbling- blocks in the way, and we stumble and fall over them. What need we have to depend on Divine love all the way, ever praying," Lord, take us by the band and lead us; Lord, hold up our goings in thy paths that our footsteps slip not; Lord, keep our feet from falling, our eyes from tears, and onr soul from death" I 3. The way may be strait, as when Israel was hemmed in between mountains, the sea before them and Pharaoh's host behind; or it may be difficult, and so steep as well as strait; or it may be· dangerous, for in the way through the wilderness there is the place of lions' dens and the mountains of the leopards; but, notwithstanding all such drawbacks, we have reason to bless God for leading us forth by the right way. And when we are in greatest straits and the way is hardest, we have only to cry to God in our trouble; and as he Jed Israel of old, so will he lead us also forth by the right way. "They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them : I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a. Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstbom." 'l'hus God not only bears his people, but bears with his people; and commissions his ministering servants to do likewise, as he com- manded Moses, "Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the st1cking child." VI. Gon's LOVE IB RESTORATIVE. In spite of all God's love and co.re, we run into the way of danger through our own frowardness or folly. We stumble and fall, getting many a sore bruise and severe knock. Yet God in his love restores us; he heals us. As the child, when hurt, runs to the parent for sympathy-to the mother to kiss the wound and make it well; so, when unhappily we have strayed from the way, and got bruised and hurt and painfully wounded through our own wilfulness, we ~re enc_ouraged to return to God, and he will heal us. God might, indeed, if he dea~t w1Lh us m stnct justice, leave us to ourselves and to the sad consequences of our own sinful waywardness, and refuse to lead us any more. Not so, however. As he says by the Prophet Isaiah, "I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners." VII. Goo's LOVE IS PERSUASIVE MORALLY, NOT MECHANICALLY. He deals with us as a rational being, treating us neither as machines nor yet as "dumb driven cattle." The lower animal must sometimes be drawn or forced with a degree of violence ; bt1t God does not draw men in this way. In dra:viog them he use11 neither hanl conls nor HOSEA,  THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [on. xr. 1-12,