The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 81

which had been appointed by Moses." The subject that the text teaches is-abounding, worship ,uith abounding sin. The sins of Israel, the frauds, violences, and namelees- iniquities, are referred to in the preceding chapters. Crimes ran riot amongst them at this period; and yet how religious they seemed to be I "Amoe has described how zealously the people of Israel went on pilgrimage to Bethel and Gilgal and Beersheba,. those places of sacred associations; with what superabundant diligence they offered sacrifice and paid tithes; how they would rather do too much than too little, so that they even burnt upon the altar a portion of the leavened loaves of the praise offeriug,. which were only intended for the sacrificial meals, although none but unleavened bread was allowed to be offered; and, lastly, bow in their pure zeal for multiplying the works of piety, they so completely mistook their nature as to summon by a publio proclamation. to the presentation of free-will offerings, the very peculiarity of which consisted in th&· fact that they had no other prompting than the will of the offerer" (Delitzsch). We offer two remarks on this subject. I. .Abounding worship often IMPLIES ABOUNDING BIN. This is the case when the worship is: 1. Selfish. More than half the worship of England ie purely selfish. Men crowd churches, attend to religious ceremonies, and contribute to religious insti- tutions purely with the idea of avoiding hell and getting to a happier world than this. They do not serve God for naught. Selfishness, which is bad everywhere, is never worse than when engaged in religion. 2. Formal. When religion is attended to as a. matter of form, when sentiments are expressed without conviction, services rendered without self-sacrifice, the insincerity is an insult to Omniscience. "God is a Spirit> and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." .Abounding worship is no proof of abonnding virtue and abounding godliness. Often, alas I the more worship in a community, the more corruption. II. .Abounding worship often SPRINGS FROM ABOUNDING BIN. It may spring from:.. 1. A desire to conceal sin. Sin is an ugly thing; it is hideous to the eye of conscience. Hence efforts on all hands to conceal. Nations endeavour to conceal the terrible, aboininations of infernal wars by employing the ministers of religion in connection. with their fiendish work. The greatest villains have often sought to conceal their villanies by worship. 2. A desire to compensate for evils. Great brewers build. churches and endow religious institutions in order to compensate in some measure for the enormous evil connected with their damning trade. 3. A desire to appear good•. The more corrupt a man is, the stronger his desire to appear otherwise; the more devil in a man, the more anxious he is to look like an angel. CONCLUSION. Do not judge the character of a nation by the number of its churches,. the multitude of its worshippers, or the amount of its contributions, or efforts to- proselytize men to its faith.-D. T. Vera. 6-11.-God's government of the tDOrld a chastisi'.ng government. "And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your citios, and want of bread in all your places," etc. In these verses the .Almighty describes the various corrective measures which he had employed for effecting a moral reformation in the character of the Israelites. At the end of each chastising measure which he describes, he marks their obstinate impenitence with the expression, "Yet have ye not returned unto me." As if he bad said, "The grand end of all my dealings ie to bring yon in sympathy, heart, and life back to me." The subject of the verses is this-God's government of the world is a chastising government; and three remarks are here suggested. L The chastisements employed are often OVERWHELMINGLY TERRIFIO. 1. He sometimes employs blind nature. Here is/amine. "I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places." The transgressors. under the Law God had threatened with famine (Deut. xxviii. 48). 'l'he Divine government hae often employed fami~e as a ruthless ~nd resi~tless messenger to cbast8ll mankind. In the days of Elisha the demon wielded his black sceptre for seven long years (2 Kings viii. 1). The eeconu is drought. "I have withholden_ tha rain from you, when there were yet thre~ months to the h~rvest: an~ I caused ~t to rain upon one city, and caused it no~ to rarn u.ron another city: one p1~c? was ramed upon, and the piece whereupon it rarned not withered. _So t~o or t!3ree_c1t~es wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied. Ra1D'-md1spensable to. OH. IV, 1-13.] THE BOOK OF AMOS. 81