HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-.Amos the herdsman. There must be some special reason why this prophet puts upon record the employments in which he spent his earlier years, and from which he was called to assume the office of the Lord's messenger to Israel. On the barren hills to the south of Bethlehem, where there is no tillage, and where tbe population must always have been scanty, Amos tended flocks of sheep or of goats, and at certain seasons of the year gathered the fruit from the wild sycamore trees. l. RUllAL AND MENIAL 00OUl'ATIONS WERE NO BARBIER TO THE ENJOYMENT OF DIVINE FAVOUll OB TO ELECTION TO SPECIAL AND HONOURABLE SERVICE. This lesson, taught by the career of A.mos, was taught again by the election of the apostles of the Lord Christ. The great of this world are often apt to regard men of lowly station with disdain, but God takes no heed of social and artificial distinctions. !I. THE SECLUSION OFA PASTORAL LIFE WAS A SUITABLE TRAINING FOB THE PROPHETIC VOCATION. A.s David, when guarding the sheepfolds and leading the flocks to water, enjoyed many opportunities for solitary meditation and for devout communion with God, so Amoe in the lonely pastures of Tekoah must have listened to the voice that speaks especially to the quiet and the contemplative, the voice of inepiratioa and of grace. III. THE RURAL SURROUNDINGS OF THE PROPHET AFFORDED HIM MUCH APPROPRIATE AND STRIKING IMAGERY. The rain and the harvest, the sheep and the lion, the bird and the snare, the fish and the hook, the cart and the sheaf, the earthquake, the fire, wd the flood, etc., are all pressed into the service of this poetic prophecy. God taught his servant lessons which stood him in good stead in after-years. IV. BY RAISING AMOS FROM THE HERDSMAN'S TO THE PROPHET'S LIFE GOD MAGNIFmD EIS owN GBA0E. The cultivated and the polished are liable to take credit to them- selves for the efficiency of their ministry. But when the comparatively untaught and those who have enjoyed but few advantages are raised to a position in which they do a great work for God, "the excellency of the power is seen to be of God himself."-T.
Ver. 2.-TM tJoice of terror. Thie imagery is evidently derived from the prophet's own experience. In the south-east of Palestine the lion was ~ fr~quent and form!dable visitor, which every herdsman had reason to dread. The maJest1c roar of the lung of OH, I, 1-15.] THE BOOK OF AMOS. 17
beasts is here employed to denote the judgments of the Lord upon the disobedient and rebellious, especially of Isrnel. I. OBSERVE WHENCE THE VOICE OF THREATENING PROOEEJlS. 1. It is the voice of the Lord-that voice which assumes now the accents of compassion and mercy, and again the tones of wrath, but which is always authoritative. 2. It proceeds from the sacred city which was the favoured abode of Jehovah. Ii. AND WHITHER THE VOICE OF THREATENING PENETRATES, From the habitations of the shepherds in the south, to the flowery Carmel in the north, this roar makes itself heard. That is to say, it fills the land. Judah and Israel alike have by disobedience and rebellion incurred Divine displeasure, and against both alike the denunciations of the prophet go forth. Ill. CONSIDER THE EFFECT WHICH THE VOICE OF THBEATENING SHOULD PRODUCI!:, l, Reverent attention. 2. Deep humiliation and contrition. 3. Repentance and prayer. 4, Such reformation as the heavenly summons imperatively demands.-T. Vere. 3-5.-17ie judgment on Damascus. The beauty of Damascus has been the admiration of travellers and the praise of poets. It is a mournful reflection that a city so magnificently situated, a"nd with associations so romantic, should so often have been the scene of human injustice, cruelty, and bloodshed. The " pearl girdled with emeralds "-as Damascus was gracefully designated-is beautiful without, but, as the text reminds us, has often contained a lawless and godless population. I. THE OFFENCE OF DAMASCUS. 1. In itself this consisted of atrocious cruelty. The records inform us that war frequently preva.iled between Syria. and Isoel. By Gilead in this passage we understand the land possessed by the Israelites on the east side of Jordan. The inhabitants of this pastoral territory were treated by the Syrial!s in a way fitted to awaken the indignation even of those who lived in times when savage cruelty was but the too common accompaniment of war. The unfortunate Israelites who were conquered in war seem to have been literally torn to pieces and mangled by the threshing-implements fitted with wheels and armed with teeth of iron. Thus was God's image defaced and God's Law defied. 2. The offence was aggravated by repeti- tion. Thrice, nay, four times, bad the Da.mascenes offended the Di'l'ine Ruler of men by their violence a.ad inhumanity. The sin was thus shown to be no mere outbreak of passion, but a habit, evincing a corrupt and degraded nature. II. THE PONISHIIENT OF DAMASCUS. 1. Observe upon whom it came. (1) Upon the king, the rulers and princes of the land. These were the leaders in tbo nefarious practicos here censured. Their ambition and unfeeling selfishness accounted for the sin; and upon them came down the righteous penalty. The annals of many a nation may prove to the reflective student of history that a righteous retribution visits those royal houses which have been infamous for selfish ambition, for perfidy, for tyranny, for self-indulgence. 'fbe King of kings asserts bis authority, and brings down the lofty from the throne, (2) The people of Syria shared iu the disaster, which thus became na.tional. They may have been misled by their rulers, but it seems rather to have been the case that there w,11,s sympathy between kings a.nd subjects, and tbnt the soldiers in the Syrian army delighted in the opportunity of venting their evil passions upon their prostrate foes. 2. Observe in what the punishment consisted. (1) Destruction (" a fire") came upon the royal house. (2) The splendid and powerful city was lnid open to the incursion of the enemy. The brazen "bar" which secured the city gate Wll,S broken. (3) The people were carried into captivity, the worst mis- fortune which could humiliate and distress a nation.-T.
Vere. 6-8.-~ judgment on Phi1istia. The great religious truth which is conveyed in this prophetic warning addressed to Philistia is this-national retribution is inevitable. I. NATIONAL BETBIBUTION IS NOT AVP:BTED BY WEALTH AND PROSPERITY. Philistia was a fertile plain, abounding in all material riches. The people not only possessed the produce of a fruitful soil; they were versed in the arts of life, being famous as artificers and craftsmen; and they enjoyed the fruits of commerce both by sea and land. There is danger lest a prosperous nation should trust in its riches. Yet history iells us that the wealthiest colJlmunities h1we been overtaken br the rightcoll!I judg- ments of God. 41108, a 18 THE BOOK OF AMO& [cH. 1.1-16.