The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 173

noon." 2. How God mnkee a multitude to suffer on account of the iniquities of the few. " And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamenta- tions; end I will bring up ssckcloth," etc. CoNCLUSION. Avoid covetousness. It is the chief of the principalities and powers of darknc,ss. lt may be considered the great fountain whence all the streams of crime and misery flow forth. It is eternally opposed to the virtue and happiness of the universe, 'l'he fable of Mid&S in Grecian mythology is strikingly illustrative of this tremendous evil. Bacchus once offered Mid&S his choice of gifts. He A.Sked that whRtever be might touch should be changed into gold. Bacchus consented, though sorry that be bad not made a better choice. Midas went his way rejoicing in his newly acquired power which he hastened to put to the test. He could scarcely believe his eyes when he found a twig of an oak, which be bad plucked, become gold in his hand. He took up a stone, and it changed to gold. He touched a sod; it did the same. He took an apple from a tree; you would have thought he had robbed the garden of the Hesperides. His joy knew no bounds; and when he got home he ordered the servants to set a splendid repast on the table. Then he found to his dismay that whether he touched bread it hardened in bis hand, or put a morsel to bis lips, it defied his teeth. He took a glas~ of wine, but it flowed dowu bis throat like melted gold. In utter terror, fearing i-:tan•ation, he held up his arms shining with gold to Bacchus, and besought him to take ·back his gift. Bscchus said, "Go to the river Pactolus : trace the stream to its fountain-head; there plunge your head and body in, and wash away your fault and its punishment." Hence Midas learned to hate wealth and splendour.-D. T. Vers. 11-13.-Soul-famine. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord," etc. The Israelites now despised the message of the prophets, and by a just retribution, in addition to all their other calamities, they should experience e. total withdrawal of all prophetic communications. In whatever direction they might proceed, and whatever efforts they might make to obtain informa- tion relative to the issue of their trouble, they should meet with nothing but disap- pointment. The subject of these words is soul-fa.mine, and they suggest three general remarks. J. THAT THE PROFOUNDEST WA'!.TT OF BUllAN NATURE IS A 0O!il.MUNI0ATION FR0U TBB ETERNAL llln."'D. This is implied in the Divine menace of sending a worse famine than the mere want of bread and water. They were special communications from himselr, not the ordinary communications of nature, that Jehovah here refers to. And man has no greater necessity than this; it is the one urgent and imperial need. Two great ques- tions are everlastingly rising from the depths of the human soul. 1. How does the Ei,ernal feel, in relation to me as a sinner 1 Nature tells me how he feels in relation t,o me as a creature; bat nature was written oefore I fell. 2. How am I to get my moral nature restored 1 I have a sense of guilt that is sometimes intolerable; the elements of my nature are in eternal conflict; I have sadly terrible forebodings of the future. Now, the special Word of God can alone a.newer these questions. These are the problems of men the world over. God's Word is to the hum.an soul what food is to the body- that which alone can strengthen, sustain, and satisfy. But as the soul is of infinitely greater importance thsn the body, the Divine Word is more needed than material food. II. THAT THE GREATEST DISEASE OF HUMAN NA.TUBE IS A LA.OK OF APPETITE FOB THIS co!il.MUNICATION. Which is the greater want of the body-the want of food, or the want of appetite for food? The latter, I trow, for the latter implies disease. It is so with the soul The vast majority of souls have lost the appetite for the Divine Word. They are perishing, shrivelling up, for the lack of it. The desire is gone. They die, not for the want of the food, but for the want of appetite. As a rule, the ~tarvation of souls is not for the lack of food, but for the lack of appetite. The worst of this disease is (1) men are not conscious of it; (2) it works the worst ruin. Ill. THAT THE GREATEST MISERY OF BUMAN NA.TUBE I8 A QUICKENED APPETITE AND NO SUPPLIES. "They shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it." l. The appetite will be quuker.ed sooner or later. Sometimes-would it were ever su !-it is quickened here, where supplies abound. Hear Job's cry, "Oh that I knew on. u:. 1-16.] 'l'HE BOOK OF AMOS. 1,r;