I return again, for a moment, to Hosea. How God remembers, adverts to, all the points of contact, of every kind, between Himself and Israel—recalls the moments of grace on His part, faith even on Jacob's! This is true affection. Now Israel floated on, utterly insensible and forgetful, or using these memorials, as Beth-el, Gilead, etc., to connect idolatry with what memory clung to. But how wonderful this is! And how we forget the proofs of most loving grace we have had from God, and go on in idleness of mind! We ought to be, as a present thing, with Him. Then memory is, so to speak, not needed. But God has dealt, and His heart calls to mind when we grow cold and forget, because He loves. This is most noticeable in this and the preceding chapter.