The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 105

itself to natures more morally cultivated and advanced. Great as God appears in nat.ure, our conceptions of his excellence are enhanced when we reflect upon his glorious attributes and his righteous reign. The eternal law ,of righteousuess administered by Omnipotence demands our lowly reverence, deserves our grateful obedience.-T. ,- Vers. U, 15.-The great alternative. The coincidence between religion and morality is brought very strikingly before us in such passages as these. How different are such appeals as these, made by the prophet in the name of the Lord, from the requirements of merely formal religion! Tbe highest conception of good is revealed, the noblest standard of right is exhibited; and all the sanctions furnished by the authority and the loving-kindness of tbe Eternal are brought to bear upon human nature to induce to consecration and obedience. I. MAN's NATURE AND POSITION BENDER NECESSARY A HORAL CHOICE, 1. Man's emotional nature impels him to adopt an object of supreme love. Human affection may be diffused or it may be concentrated, it may be languid or it may be intense. But in any case it exists and acts as a principle of the moral life. 2. Man's voluntary and practical nature requires an object of supreme quest and endeavour. We seek what we love, we avoid what we hate. 11. THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE WHICH PRESENTS ITSELF TO )l(AN IS THE CHOICE BETWEEN GOOD il."D EVIL. This is a real and not a fictitious or conventional distinc- tion. It would be as reasonable to deny the distinction between straight and crooked, between light and darkness, as that between moral good and moral evil. The distinc- tion is vital and eternal, connected with the " nature of things," with the attributes and character of God, with the constitution of man. '£he choice between pleasure and pain, between worldly prosperity and adversity, is as nothing compared with this choice. The appeals of revelation, from the beginning to the end of the Bible, urge men to choose the good in preference to the evil. There are doubtless inducements to another choice ; but this remains the choice enforced by reason, by conscience, by God. Ill. HOWEVER IT HAY BE REPRESENTED OTHERWISE, THE FA.OT IS THAT THE PRACTICAL PREFERENCE OF GOOD CONDUCES TO MAN'S WELFARE, The inducements offered to adopt a life of selfishness and of pleasure are many and powerful ; there are " pleasures of sin for a season." The way of virtue and religion is a steep and rugged path. Yet it yields a deep and pure satisfaction not to be found in the ways, the broad and primrose paths, of sin. We are not called upon to balance pleasures. The voice of right, of God, is authoritative, and demands obedience without hesitation or calcula- tion. Yet God promises such as listen to and obey his voice that he will "be with " them, that he will be "gracious unto" them, and that they shall "live."-T. Vers. 21-23.-Ceremonialism disdained. Although the Jewish religion preecribed, as is evident especially from the Book of Leviticus, innumerable observances, elaborate ritual, frequent and costly sacrifices, still nowhere are there to be found more dis- claimers, more denunciations, of a merely ritual and ceremonial piety than in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Thie is but one of many declarations that the true and living God will not accept any tribute of the hands which may be offered in lieu of the homage of the heart. L THE 0UTWABD M:il.'IFEBTATIONB OF RELIGION WHICH Gon REJECTS. 1. Sacred assemblies are displeasing to him. He does, indeeJ, love the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob; yet the prophet is inspired to declare that God hates and despises the gatherings of his own people. 2. Solemn festivals are equally distasteful. These, indeed, have been prescribed in the Law; they are commemorative of great mercies, great deliverances; their neglect or omillsion is viewed with displeasure, Yet here God is indignant that these feasts should be celebrated. 3. The same detestation is extended to the burnt offerings, meat offerings, and peace offerings, which the Hebrews were instructed on proper occasions to present to their Divine King. 4. More remarkable still, sacred songs and strains of music are as discord in the ear of God. The very psalms in which the Divine attributes are celebrated and the Divine gifts acknowledged are no longer acceptable to him who inhabiteth the praises of Israel. 11. THE GilOUNDS UPON WHICH Goo BEJECTB THE OUTWAllD M:ANIFEBTATI0NB 01' .OH, V, 1-27,] THE BOOK OF AMOS. 105