And why? Just
because they are not dumb animals, which cannot be made better, but
God's children, who can be made better. If there were really no hope
of a sinner repenting and amending, I think God would not leave him
long alive to cumber the ground. But there is hope for every one;
because God the Father loves all; the loving heart of the Lord Jesus
Christ yearns after all; the Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the
Father and the Son, strives with the hearts of all; therefore God, in
His patience and tender mercy, tries to bring his foolish children to
their senses. And how? Often in the very same way, in which Ezekiel
says He tried to bring the Jews to their senses, by letting them go
on in the road of sin, till they see what an ugly pit that same road
ends in. If your child would not believe you when you warned and
assured him that the fire would burn him, would it not be the very
best way of bringing him to his senses, to tell him: "Very well; go
your own way; put your hand into the fire, and see what comes of it;
you will not believe me; you will believe your own feelings, when
your hand is burnt." So did the Lord to those rebellious Jews when
they would go after their fathers' sins. He gave them statutes which
were not good, and judgments by which they could not live, to the end
that they might know that He was the Lord.
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