man to himself, shows that he knows me.n's "making morning and gloom." This would thought before me.n puts it into words. This be simply a further instance of God'a he does sometimes by the stings of ooneoience, orea.tive power. The Vulgate gives, facien, sometimes by inspiring his prophets to matutinam nebulam; and it seems probable dechue men's secret motives e.nd the real (oomp. oh. v. 8; viii. 9) that the olauae state of thc-ir he.art (see Jer. xvii. 9, 10; e.nd means that the Lord turns the dawn into comp. I John iii. 20). Vulga.te, .dnnuntia,u darkness. Thie may refer to the eotion of homini eloquium suum, where ewqnium is clouds or an eclipse; or it may be said equivalent to oogitatio. The LXX., with metaphorically of prosperity and adversity, some ch11,nge of letters, he.e, 6;,ra.yyb,-\wv ,lr Treo.deth upon the high plaoes of the earth, 6'v8pcfnrour .-bv Xp,cr.-bv a.~-rov, "proelaiming An anthropomorphic representation of the unto men his Christ"-& rea,ding which might and majesty of God, who governs supports the misinterpretation of " his all things, and has the loftiest in perfect thought" as meaning God's thought, Christ subjection (oomp. Dent. xxxii. 13; xxxiii. being regarded as the Aoyos of God. 29; Joh ix. 8; Micah i. 3). The Lord, l\fanv of the Fathers have seen here a Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent, covenant prophecy of the Messiah. See Tirinus God, is he who in these things manifests and Com. a La.pide on this verse. That himself, and therefore hie threats are not ms.keth the morning darkness. Keil, after to be despised (oh. v. 8). In the wophet's Calvin, takes these words as a.syndeton for view the laws and powers of nature he.ve " the morning dawn a.nd darkness." So their soope in exeonting God's commands. the Septuagint, ,rou;,., 6p9pov ,c,zl 611,lx-''I",
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-3.-The woes of the women at ease. By a contemptuous and striking figure, the women of Samaria are styled the "kine of Bashan." They were as kine, unmindful of the past, unheeding of the future, their attention limited to the present, and living in it only the life of sense. They were as Bashan's kine, wandering in richest pastures, overfed, indulged, and pampered, and therefore waxed voluptuous and wanton. In explanation of the special reference to them, observe- !. THAT THE WOMEN OF A NATION A.RE ALWAYS MOBE OB LESS RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS SINS. This appears from the fact that : 1. They reflect the national character. Soft, and easily receptive of influence, whether good or bad, the female character is, to a greater extent than the male, a compound tincture of the prevailing qualities of the land and time. It is natural that, as reflecting the national sin, the women will be obnoxious to national punishment. 2. They form the national character. They have earliest, most constant, and most affectionate access to the young. They influence character at its softest and most pliant stage, and they approach it, moreover, on its softest side. Reflecting national character so truly, and impressing this eo inevitably on the rising generation, it is through tbem chiefly that good or evil becomes hereditary in society. "0 woman, nature made thee To temper man." The "tempering" is oftener for good than ill, converting into porcelain the common day, purifying and ennobling all she comes near. " Woman's empire, holier, more refined, Mould.a, moves, and sways the fallen yet God-breathed mind," But if she reirns as the devil's vicegerent, if the influences that go forth from her tend to the enthro~ement of corruption and wrong, she must be deposed as a matter of policy, and punished as a matter of justice (Isa. iii 16-24; xxxii. 9-13). II. A COURSE THAT INVOLVES EVIL IS AS GUILTY BEFOBE Goo AB A OOUBSE THAT INFLICTS IT. The evil a woman does outside her family circle is largely indirect. Of the women of Israel it appears that : 1. They wer, ae_lf-indulgent at the n,~cessary expense of the poor. "Which oppress the humble, which cruBh the needy. This would sometimes be done directly, but generally through the agency of the men. A luxurious mistress often makes a hard and oppreeaive master. Her extravagant demands wust be met by a.n increased income, and tha.t iii owy too likely to be sollilht hi exactions CB, IV. 1-13.] THE BOOK OF AMOS. 6i