The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 22

the chirp of the grasshopper in the meadow, and now the patter of the rain as it falls after the king's mowings. In harvest-time, as we walk with Amos, we aee the laden cart pressed down with the weight of the sheaves, and hear the thud of the flail as it falls on the threshing-floor, and watch the corn beaten out flung into the sieve, and note that while the chaff is scattered "not the least grain falls upon the earth." Thea In the evening, when the land is quiet, and the heavens are glorioUB with stars, we hear Amos speak of him who "made the Pleiades and Orion," who makes the day dark with night, and then, in all the splendour of the Oriental dawn, turns the shadow of death into morning. What an example is he to UB I Let us re-echo the prayer of Keble- "Thou, who hast given me eyes to see And love this eight so fair, Give me a hear!; to find out thee, And see thee everywhere." IV. THAT Go» WOtlLD HAVE HOLY THOUGHTS ASSOOIATED WITH OBDINABY THINGS. We all know the power of association. Sometimes we hear a riddle or a joke which presents a text or hymn in a ludicrous aspect. We never hear the text or the hymn afterwards without being reminded of the grotesque thought. Hence such "jesting which is not convenient," and which is unhappily a staple ingredient of American humour, should be repressed by thoughtful men. Our endeavour should be in the opposite direction. Instead of making sacred things profane, let us rather make profane things sacred, so that the prophecy of Zechariah shall be fulfilled, "In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar." All things belong to God. He is present in the fields as well as in his house. He is near us iu our homes as well as in our temples; and the life we live as Christian men has sanctity, whether it be spent in the engagements of business or in the services of the sanctuary. Let us seek grace to follow in the footsteps of Amos, or rather in the footsteps of One infinitely greater than he; and then when we see the sower iu the field, or the merchant in his business, when we gaze on the lilies in the garden, or on the tl\rcs amid the corn, we shall have sweet thoughts of those higher truths which our Lord has associated with them. The voice from heaven still says, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."-A. R. Vere. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13; eh. ii. 1, 4, 6.-Great sufferings following great sins. "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn awl\y the punishment," etc. Amos, we are informed, was a native of Tekoah, a small region in the tribe of Judah, about twelve miles south-east of Jerusalem. Nothing is known of his parents. He evidently belonged to the humbler class of life, and pursued the occupation of tho humble shepherd and dresser or sycamore trees. From his flock he was divinely cnlled to the high office of prophet; and though himself of the tribe of J udnh, his misaion was to Israel. He was sent to Bethel, into the kingdom of the ten tribes. Ho com- menced his ministry in the reign of Uzziah, between B.o. 772 and 746, 11nd therefore laboured about the same time as Hosea. In his time idolatry, with its concomitant evils and immoralities of every description, reigned with uncontrolled sway 11moogst the Israelites, and against these evils he hurls his denunciations. 'l.'he book has been divided into three or four parts: First, senteuces pronounced against the Syrians, the Philistines, the Phcenicians, the Edoruites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Jews, and the Israelites (eh. i. and ii.). Second, special discourses delivered against Isrnel (eh. iii. to vi.). 'l'hird, visions, partly of a consolatory and partly of a comminatory nature, in which reference is had both to the times that were to pass over the ten tribes previous to the coming of the Messiah, and finally to what was to take place under his reign (eh. vii. to ix.). His style is marked by perspicuity, elegance, energy, and fulness. His images are mostly original, and taken from the natural scenery with which he was familiar. We may say that the whole passage, extending from eh. i. 13 to eh. ii. 8, illustrates the three following great truths: 1. The sins of all the peoplt. on the earth, whatever the peculiarities of their character or conduct, are under the cognizance of God. 2. That of all the sins of the people, that of persecution is peculiarly 22 THE BOOK OF A.MOS. [oa. 1. 1-15.