nds over more, and the lines
become more deeply bitten in her face, as the days come and go. And if
you talk with her, and she will talk with you, she will say, "Oh, yes, I
know other mothers' boys go wrong; some of them going wrong all the
time; but to think of _my Jim_--that I've nursed, and loved so, and done
everything for--to think that my Jim--" and her voice chokes in her
throat, and she refuses to be comforted. _She grieves at her heart._ Ah!
that is the picture of God in that Genesis chapter. He saw that the
world He had made and lavished all the wealth of His love upon had gone
wrong, and it grieved Him at His heart.

This world is God's prodigal son, and He is heartbroken over it. And
what has He done about it. Ah! what has He done! Turn to Mark's twelfth
chapter, and see there Jesus' own picture of His Father as He knew Him.
In the form of a parable He tells how His Father felt about things here.
He sent man after man to try and win us back, but without effect, except
that things got worse. Then Jesus represents God talking with Himself.
"What _shall_ I do next, to win them back?--there is My son--My only
boy--Jesus--I believe--yes, I believe I'll send Him--then they'll _see_
how badly I feel, and how much I love them; that'll touch them surely;
I'll do it." You remember just how that sixth verse goes, "He had yet
one, a beloved Son; He sent Him _last_ unto them, saying, they will
_reverence_ my Son." And you know how they treated God's Son, His love
gift. And I want to remind you to-night that, speaking in our human
way--the only way we can speak--God suffered more in seeing His Son
suffer than though He might have suffered Himself. Ask any mother here:
Would you not gladly suffer pain in place of your child suffering if you
could? And every mother-heart answers quickly, "Aye, ten times over, if
the child could be spared pain." Where did you get that marvelous
mother-heart and mother-love? Ah, that mother-heart is a bit of the
God-heart transferred. That is what God is like. Let me repeat very
reverently that God suffered more in giving His Son to suffer than
though He had Himself suffered. And that is the God of the Old
Testament! Let me ask: Is _He_ to blame? Has He not done His best?

Let it be said as softly as you will, and yet very plainly, that those
awful words, "damned" and "cursed," whatever their meaning may be, are
true of your friends. Then add: It is not so because of God's will in
the matter