in spite of all their deafness, to find a way to the sinners' ears and
hearts. In a bold transference to Him of men's ways, He is said to
have 'risen early' to send the prophets. Surely that means earnest
effort. The depths of God's heart are disclosed when we are bidden to
think of His compassion as the motive for the prophet's messages and
threatenings. What a wonderful and heart-melting revelation of God's
placableness, wistful hoping against hope, and reluctance to abandon
the most indurated sinner, is given in that centuries-long conflict of
the patient God with treacherous Israel! That divine charity suffered
long and was kind, endured all things and hoped all things.

Consider the punishment. The tragic details of the punishment are
enumerated with the same completeness and suppression of emotion as
those of the sin. The fact that all these were divine judgments brings
the chronicler to the Psalmist's attitude. 'I was dumb, I opened not
my mouth because Thou didst it.' Sorrow and pity have their place, but
the awed recognition of God's hand outstretched in righteous
retribution must come first. Modern sentimentalists, who are so
tenderhearted as to be shocked at the Christian teachings of judgment,
might learn a lesson here.

The first point to note is that a time arrives when even God can hope
for no amendment and is driven to change His methods. His patience is
not exhausted, but man's obstinacy makes another treatment inevitable.
God lavished benefits and pleadings for long years in vain, till He
saw that there was 'no remedy.' Only then did He, as if reluctantly
forced, do 'His work, His strange work.' Behold, therefore, the
'goodness and severity' of God, goodness in His long delay, severity
in the final blow, and learn that His purpose is the same though His
methods are opposite.