god's voice to sinners.
Amos iii. 8. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, ivho can but prophesy ?
THERE is not any thing more strange and unrea- sonable than that utter disregard which is shewn to the word of God. If we see appearances in the sky, we can form some judgment of the weather : if we take notice of common occurrences in the world, we can draw plain and obvious conclusions from them. The prophet justly observes a, that if a lion roar, we
a ver. 4 — 6.
conclude he has taken, or is about to seize, his prey : if a bird be caught in a snare, we take for granted that the snare was laid with that design : if an alarm be given in the city, we suppose that there is reason for that alarm : or if any disastrous event have taken place, we consider it as ordered by an overruling Providence. Yet when God speaks in his word, we imagine that there is no occasion for it, nor any need to regard it. But it becomes us to attend with reve- rence to all his messages, whether of wrath or mercy. Whatever he has revealed to us by his servants the prophets, he will surely do : and they are commanded to make known his determinations, " whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear." Hence the pro- phet Amos, desirous at once to expose the obstinacy of the unbelieving Jews, and to vindicate his own faithfulness towards them, addresses himself to their consciences in this animated expostulation, this con- vincing apology.
To bring home his words to our own hearts, we shall consider,
I. What God hath spoken to us —
[There is no description of persons whose character God has not delineated, and whose end he has not determined. And it would be a pleasing task to exemplify this remark in the Divine declarations concerning the righteous: but God's voice in the text is compared to the roaring of a lion : on which account we must confine ourselves rather to his denunciations of wrath and vengeance which he will execute on the ungodly.
What then hath he spoken to profane sinners* ? Alas ! how numerous their classes ! how dangerous their self-deceptions ! how awful their endc! And is not such a declaration more terrible than the roaring of a lion ? Let us then hear and " feard."
To self-righteous Pharisees his voice is not less tremendous. In the parable addressed to those who " trusted in themselves that they were righteous," the preference given to the self- condemning sinner is strongly marked ; and God's determina- tion to " abase the self-exalting" is plainly declared e. Yes; before God, and angels, and men, shall such characters be abased in the day of judgment, when publicans and harlots
b 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. c See also Eph. v. 3— G.
d Deut. xxxi. 12, 13. ? Luke xviii. 9—14.