The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 104

diligent nnd persevering. Hence the restlessness, the energy, the effort, so distinctiv 13 of human life. Religion does not destroy or repress natural characteristics; it hallows and dignifies them. Religion gives to human search a just direction and noble aim. I. 'l'HE REASONS IN MAN'S NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES wmca SHOULD LEAD fill,( TO BEEK THE LonD. 1. Man is so constituted that he cannot find a foll satisfaction in any earthly and created good. He returns from every such endeavour with the complaint, "All is vanity." "Our heart," said St. Augustine-" our heartr is restless till it rests in thee." 2. Especially do all human religions prove their insufficiency. Israel was learning this by aitter experience. "Seek not Bethel," etc., was the admoni- tion of the prophet to those who had been in the habit of resorting to idol-ahrinea. The gods of the heathen were known to the Jews as" vanities." II. THE REASONS TO BE FOUND IN GOD WHY RE SHOULD ENGAGE THE SEEKING POWERS OF MAN. 1. His own proper excellence is such that the soul that gains even a glimpse of it may well devote to the pursuit of Divine knowledge and favour all powers and all opportunities. 2. God alone is able to succour and to save those who set their affection and desire upon him. 3. God condescends to invite the children of men to seek him. By the mouth of the prophet he gives an express command and invita- tion. We may be assured that this language is sincere and trustworthy. 4. There is an express promise of incomparable preciousness addressed to such as are ready to respond to the heavenly call. "Ye shall live," is the authoritative assurance. By this we may understand that seekers after God shall be delivered from destruction, that they shall be made partakers of the Divine life, in all its spiritual energy and. happiness. lll. THE METHODS IN WHICH GoD MAY BE BOUGHT AND FOUND. 1. Observe where he is to be found : i.e. in his holy Word; in his blessed Son, by whom in this Christiae. dispensation he has revealed himself unto us, and who has said, " No man cometh unta the Father, but by me." 2. Consider how he is to be found: i.e. by penitence, in humility, through faith, with prayer; in a word, by the exercises special to the spiritual nature. 3. Notice when he is to be found: i.e. now, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."-T. Vers. 7-9.-The Lord of the universe. The herdsman of Tekoah was a true poet.. His eyes were open to the beauty and to the ~plendour of nature; and his heart felt the presence of the Unseen and Eternal in all the works of his hands, in all his provi- dential arrangements. More than this, the moral character and rule of the Omnipotent were very present and very real to him; be felt the force of the appeal made to the spiritual nature of man, and calling for a life of religious faith, of practical obedience. There is nothing strained or unnatural in the striking conjunction in this pai8age of poetic sensibility with ethical and religious exhortation. I. A REPRESE1''TATION OF DIVINE GREATNESS AND GLORY. 1. Seen in the creation of the starry host. The Pleiades and Orion are mentioned as two of the most noticeable and most splendid of the constellations of the midnight sky. 2. In the alternations of day and night, in sunrise and sunset, in storm and in eclipse. 3. In the grandeur of the sea, in the torrents of rain, in the floods which pour their waters over the earth; in a word, in all the processes of nature. 4. In the providential interpositions and the righteous rule of the Most High, who does according to his will among the inhabitants of the earth. ; II. AN INFERENCE AB TO HUMAN CONDUCT. The poet-prophet is more than a mirror to reflect the visible splendour, the awful forces of the universe. To him uature h:is a voice of authority, appealing to the understanding and to the conscience of the sons of men. There is a summons to the unrighteous and the irreligious to forsake their ways and to choose a better path. This summons will take a different form according to the character, the moral development, of those addressed. 1. There is what may be called the lower view-a God so great will not suffer iniquity to triumph, or injustic& and disobedieuce to go unpunished. All are in the hands of tho Almighty; and ho whose power is so evidently revealed in the heavens above and on the earth benenth will not fail to assert his authority over all the creatures of his power. Although wickedness may prosper for a season, the law of righteousness shall be maintained and vindicated. 2. 'l'h~re is a higher view-not inconsistent with the other, but presenting  1,04, THE BOOK OF .AMOS. [oH. v. 1-27.