The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 67

Vers. 4, 5.-0orruption and religiosity in unholy alliance. Here the prophet turns from the women of Israel, and addresses the people at large. His language is that of strong irony. What he bids the people do is the thing he knows they have been doing and wi!J go on doing, notwithstanding the imminence of the punishment he predicts. He means, by a sarcastic co-ordination of their acts of hollow worship with those of their sin-stained lives, to bring them to see themselves as Gcxrandothers saw them. l. MORAL CORRUPTION AND A ZEAL FOR· RELIGIOUS FORMS MAY EXIST· TOGETHER. (Ver. 4.) Here it would seem as if the multiplication of transgressions and of obser..- -rnnces went pari passu together. 1. The observance ef religious forms involves nothing in the way of spirituality. 'l'aste is wanted, and feeling and judgment, but . that is aU. Enjoyment in the formal a.cts of worship may be an mstheticism which is altogether apart from spirituality. The sensuous delight in music,- oratory, .attitu- ,J.inizing, millinery, upholstery, and other ecclesiastical impedimenta is just as abundant a.nd as much at home in the theatre as in the church, and is the same non,spiritual thing wherever found. 2. Worship may even be made so sensuous as to become the -u,inister ef lu,xury. Other things being equal, the largest congregations gather where the adjuncts of worship are most elaborate and most gorgeous. Many confessedly attend the hoUBe of God exclu,;ively for the mUBic and singing, never waitin~ to hear the gospel preached, or consenting to do so only for appearance' sake. A.nd I.he thing is perfectly intelligible. A. musical and ornate service is decenter than a mUBic-hall, and pleasanter than their own room, and makes an agreeable break in their idle. Sunday afternoon. So far from such an observance involving or tending to produce spirituality of feeling, it leaves this out in the cold, and makes its appeal entirely to sense. It has no more bearing on the religious life than theatre-going, or club-going, or ra.ce-going, or ll.llY other mode of raising the sensational wind. 8. E.i:ternal religioU8 observance .quiets the conscience, and so ,mootlu the }lath ef the self-indulgent. Even after the sii:µul life has far advanced, his conscience gives the sinner trouble. Failing to prevent the sin, it suggests the performance of some compensatory work. To sin, and then do penance, is easier than to crucify the flesh and be se1•arate from sin. A.nd one of the commonest &alves for an accusing conscience is diligence in the oxternals of religious observe.nee. It looks and feels like worship, and it makes no demands on the religious faculty. Rather, by substituting an emotional exercise for one of the conscience and heart, it deadens the moral sense, and lulls the transgressor into a dangerous complacency. II. MEN WHO BE8T Il!I', FOBM8 ARE PRONE TO MULTIPLY THEM. This is a logical necessity. If the form be everything, then the more of it the better. Besides, the Mensation produced by observing it gets sta.le after. a tim_e, and, in order to keep it e.t its first strength and freshness, there must be a contmual mcre~se of the dose. Isr~el illUBtre.ted this principle in two degrees. 1. They were particular about ceremonial ebtiervwnces. Tuey offered the slain sacrifices, the praise olferings, the free olferings, oOB. IV, 1-13.] TlIE BOOK OF AMOS. &7