Amos 3

Amos 3:1-15

AMOS—OR —ANCIENT AND MODERN Amos 1:1 to Amos 9:15THE opening sentences of this Book give us briefly, and yet somewhat fully, the history of the Prophet whose name it wears. He belonged to the herdmen of Tekoa, and prophesied in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah, and Jeroboam, Son of Joash, sat upon the throne of Israel, and two years before the earthquake. There are few Prophets the date of whose living is so definitely fixed. It is known that Uzziah and Jeroboam were contemporary kings in the period 809 to 784 B. C. It is certain, therefore, that sometime in these twenty-five seasons, Amos spoke. Some have thought to fix it accurately by referring to the history of this earthquake, which was one of the most terrible visitations the country had ever known of its kind. Josephus assigned, as the immediate occasion of this earthquake, the act of pride on the part of Uzziah in offering incense, for which God smote him with leprosy, and says, “Meanwhile a great earthquake shook the ground and the Temple parting, a bright ray of the sun shone forth and fell upon the king’s face, so that forthwith the leprosy came over him.

And above the city, at the place called Eroge, the western half of a hill was broken off and rolled half a mile to the mountain Eastward, and there stayed, blocking up the ways, and the king’s garden.”But it ought to be said, in all candor, that those people who swear by Josephus, but doubt the inspiration of the biblical writers, have poor occasion for their conduct. This ancient Jewish historian is so often writing down legend, tradition, and even his own imagination, for history, that one dare not receive his statement concerning this earthquake as authentic, and the very year of Amos’ writing remains undetermined.The place of his residence is put past dispute, however. It was at Tekoa, a little village twelve to fourteen miles from Jerusalem, and six miles south of old Bethlehem, the very one whence Joab brought the wise woman to intercede for Absalom, and which the king Rehoboam made a fortified town.His humble station was also affirmed; not even the owner of sheep, but a hireling, who as opportunity offered, followed the herds; and when there was no employment in that avocation, turned to the gathering and selling of sycamore fruit or figs.The most of the Old Testament Prophets are the sons of honored fathers, descendants from famed families; but already God is beginning to manifest forth the fact, which finds so many illustrations in New Testament teachers, namely,“How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; “And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: “That no flesh should glory in His presence? (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). But in keeping with the humble station of this man, and his equally humble estimate of self, he spent only a single verse upon his personal history, as if the man were of little moment; while God’s message to the people was the subject of supreme concern.With what a sentence did he smite the ears of his auditors—“The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither”.It is not difficult to imagine him a successful street preacher, for these words were doubtless uttered in the alley-like avenues of Jerusalem. When he had finished that first sentence, every Jew within hearing of it would be riveted in attention, and ready to give eager ear to all that followed. It is interesting now to note, either the consummate genius of the speaker, or else God’s evident inspiration for both arrangement and expression of his thought.It seems to me that this Book, upon close study, falls naturally into four parts and considered as a sermon or discourse, is ideal in its arrangement.The first of these divisions has to do withTHE PROPHET’S Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:3 From Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:3 Amos speaks solely concerning the heathen round about. He denounces Damascus; he condemns Gaza; he excoriates Tyrus; he reproves Edom, he censures Ammon; and delivers sentence against Moab. What an introduction for a street discourse in Jerusalem! Every Jewish auditor would be delighted, for these were their hated enemies, and to have a man whose very mien and tongue told of his Divine appointment to the order of Prophet, utter such excoriations, would arouse the smouldering hatred which the Jews held against these into a flame of enthusiasm for the man speaking such words.Now, before passing from this subject, let us see some essential truths suggested in these sentences.First of all, The Prophet’s ministry is predetermined. His speech was no trick of the elocutionist to catch his auditors by condemning their enemies. Amos disclaims all originality and responsibility for these words, introducing his deliverance by the sentence, “Thus saith the Lord”.

There are people who seem to entertain an impression that a prophet has no right to interfere in any affairs of another, and no occasion to condemn even the bad doings of his neighbors. It is not unusual to hear it said, “You belong in the Church; and at the most your ministry should spend itself within the circle of her membership. You may have a right to instruct her youth, and even admonish her adults, but what have you to do with others? Those politicians who live and move in another realm; those science Professors who instruct Truth in skepticism, those liquor sellers who lure you to debauch, that realm of commerce, created for barter, not to speak of other confessedly unchristian circles—what business have you with them?They recognize no allegiance to your views, no obligation to your opinions; they regard your speech, concerning their conduct, a presumption. Why, therefore, persist in taking upon yourself a service which is despised by the very ones of whom you speak?Amos’ answer to all of this is sufficient! “Thus saith the Lord”.That is the answer of every true prophet. He is not spying out his neighbors’ sins, and speaking against them because the sermon brings him either pleasure or profit, but because God has said,“Preach the Word; he instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. “* * But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; “And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth, and shall be turned unto fables. “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry?” (2 Timothy 4:2-5). Only a few years ago some nominal Christians all over this country were voicing a certain amount of sympathy with the Boxer movement; and taking their cue from the cry of these murderers “Down with the foreign devils,” asked, “What right have we to force our views upon these people when they do not want them?”—a question which can be answered in two sentences. Christians never force their views upon any, only preach them; and their warrant for doing that is in His Word. He who created China and has never signed a quitclaim to His right in that land and that people, namely, Jesus Himself, says, “Go ye therefore, and teach ail nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”.God’s Prophets who call the Chinese to repentance, are there, commissioned of God Himself. Who will object to His conduct? Shall the creature take issue with the Creator?The Prophet’s message also is God-given. When Amos uttered these words concerning Damascus, and Gaza, and Tyrus, and Edom, and Ammon, and Moab, he was not speaking of himself, “But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael” and “I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza”, and “I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus” and “I will send a fire upon Teman”, etc., etc.

Such would have been utterly meaningless had it originated at the mouth of the Prophet.There are many people who object to God’s fire, kindled against His enemies, consuming the wicked. But let us not quarrel with God’s Prophet.

This blaze was not born of his breath. When the minister reads from Revelation, “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”, don’t quarrel with John for the speech. Like Amos of old, his authority for the utterance is in the sentence “Thus saith the Lord”.When Hugh Latimer, one New Year’s day, went along with the bishop and nobles, who were carrying their presents to the king, with a Bible in his hand, and presented that as His gift, and the king opening it read, “Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” he was angry with Latimer; and, Herrick says, “It is a wonder that bluff and fiery King Hall did not take off Hugh’s head.”Possibly the reason is found in the fact that even that fiery king knew that these were not Latimer’s words, and whatever quarrel he had was with God. The man who delivers God’s message is not to be blamed; and the man who does not present it is not God’s Prophet! “How shall they preach except they be sent”?When Moses was called to be a Prophet for God he poorly apprehended the Prophet’s part. His answer was “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue”. And the Lord answered him, “Who hath made man’s mouth” * * Go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say”.

The man, who, like Amos, gets his message from God is God’s minister.This Prophet’s judgment represents Divine justice. When he says “For three transgressions”, and “for four”, of “Damascus”, “Gaza”, “Tyrus”, “Edom”, “Ammon”, “Moab”, “I will send a fire”, there is absolute justice in the sentence declared.

Damascus must suffer because they have “Threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron”; Gaza because they have “carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom”; Tyrus, for participating in the same, and forgetting “the brotherly covenant”; Edom because he “did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever”; Ammon because he “ripped up the women with child * * that they might enlarge their border”: and Moab because “he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime”. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”.Men did not object when houses, infected with the black plague, were burned. There are some infections that can only be consumed in the flame. And there are some sins which can never be removed away save by the fire of Divine judgment; and that judgment always represents Divine justice also.Not a few people have spoken to me concerning a sermon once delivered by my colleague, Dr. Frost, expressing their gratitude in that he made it clear that the innocent were never punished on account of the guilty; and that the guilty never suffered above their deserts; and that judgment was always tempered with mercy.I confess to surprise that these things should strike any as new truths; they are as old as Revelation itself. Aye, they are inseparable from the very character of God.John Watson, in his “Mind of the Master” tells us that “what has filled many honorable minds with resentment and rebellion is not the fact of separation, but the principle of execution; not the dislike of an assortment, but the fear that it will not be into good and bad.” And he continues, “But Jesus rested judgment on the firm foundation of what each man is in the sight of the Eternal. He anticipated no protest in His parables against the justice of this evidence; none has ever been made from any quarter.

The wheat is gathered into the garner. What else could one do with wheat?

The tares are burned in the fire. What else could one do with tares? When the net comes to the shore, the good fish are gathered into vessels; no one would throw them away. The bad are cast aside; no one would leave them to contaminate the good. The supercilious guests who did not value the great supper were left severely alone. If men do not care for Heaven, they will not be forced into it. The outcasts, who had never dared to dream of such a supper, were compelled to come. If men hunger for the best, the best shall be theirs.”That is the truth of God’s judgment everywhere.

And when He consumed these nations with the besom of destruction it was only because to continue them would be to condone sin by reproducing sinners, and stain the earth, calling into question His own wisdom by letting iniquity go unpunished. Say what you will of these judgments, you must commend their justice. Who art thou that repliest against God?But from the Prophet’s neighbors we turn toTHE PROPHET’S NATIONS Amos 2:4 to Amos 6:14 To be sure Amos belonged by birth to Judah, but both these nations were his, by kinship, and by Divine appointment of Prophet to them. He came out of Judah, but he spake to Judah and to Israel. What a change must have come over the audience when this man, with eloquent speech, flaming with the evident enthusiasm of a Divine commission, turned suddenly from his denouncement of neighbors, to a kindred condemnation of the favored nations.“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the Law of the Lord, and have not kept His Commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: “But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. “Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes” (Amos 2:4-6). Heathenism is not all with the heathen. You read the words of this Prophet from Amos 2:4 to Amos 6:14 and you will find the elect backsliders, and indulging in the abominations of their neighbors. It is a phrase employed too often, I fear, by those unwilling to go, or through their gold and silver to send, “Why be interested in the heathen or foreign lands when there are so many heathen at home?”Such speak better than they desire. The heathen are at home; aye, the heathen, here, were the very company who called themselves saints. And this Prophet’s descriptions are not ancient; they are up to date!No single discourse upon which my hand has fallen has been comparable in clearness of expression, and vigor of thought, to one, once delivered by my late loved friend, Dr. John O.

Rust, on “The New Heathenism,” and printed in the Presbyterian Quarterly, October, 1902, and reprinted in pamphlet form by Whittet and Shepperson, of Richmond, Va. Rust’s opening sentence is, “We are prone to think that we have left heathenism far behind us in the centuries of the past; or that it is banished from our shores to hide its shame in the remote and darkened corners of the earth; and one is almost stung into a feeling of resentment when the charge is made that there is a lively revival of heathenism at our very doors, here in enlightened America, in this blessed day of grace.”Then Rust continues to show that commercialism has carried many a so-called Christian into heathen practices. The poet has written:“It is success that colors all in life; Success makes fools admired, makes villains honest; All the proud virtues of this vaunting world Fawns on success and power, howe’er acquired.” Rust thinks Ӕ ?stheticism also has been chosen as a term with which to clothe our cultured heathenism. He says, “When the people get rich suddenly they wish to acquire culture quickly.” The consequence is that “elegant ladies and gentlemen, strong in the languor of luxury, lounge in dainty drawing-rooms, and cultivate an Attic difference to virtue, and a Roman contempt for enthusiasm of robust manhood.”Occultism has, within the last ten years, enjoyed a “ridiculous revival.” “Teachers whose chief qualifications are long hair and soiled linen, profess an acquaintance with the mysteries of philosophy which would appall the real learning of the world. Hypnotists reveal the deep secrets of psychology on a month’s tuition which has been hidden from the wisdom of the world for ages. And the amazing thing about it is that thousands of people listen to the babble of these fellows who will not heed the oracles of God. A certain statistician has computed that there has been an increase of 300 per cent in fools in this country in the last fifty years, and one is half inclined to believe the estimate.”Socialism represents an extreme reaction against the proud, arrogant and esoteric tendencies, and by its very consciousness of wrong, it is attempting to get its rights by an attack upon all society.Now I confess it was most interesting to me to take that address of Rust’s, and compare his words with those of the Prophet Amos. Commercialism cursed God’s people in the times of Amos also, and they were called to judgment because they “sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes”.Ӕ ?stheticism found then the same sensual expression which it is receiving today, “They [stretched] themselves upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar”. “They [drank] the wine of the condemned in the house of their god”.

By their increased riches, through the oppression of the poor, they bought unto themselves beds of ivory, and stretched themselves upon their couches, and ate the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall, and chanted to the sound of the viol, and invented to themselves instruments of music, defaming David, by saying they were the same as his; and setting aside the little glasses, emptied great bowls of wine.And, by anointing themselves with the chief ointment imagined that they were a sweet incense to God, forgetting to grieve for the affliction of Joseph, until the drunkards of Ephraim came to be a byword in the streets of Jerusalem.As to Occultism, they turned from the worship of the True God to such false shrines and sorcerers that a temple to Asherah was restored in Samaria; the gold and silver images to Baal were set up; the smoke of sacrifice to idols could be seen upon their mountain tops, and incense smelt in the shade of every grove until the word was Gilead was given to idols. They transgressed at Bethel, and multiplied transgressions at Gilgal.And then the socialism that always attends oppression!

Selfish and sensual living stirred in the breasts of the unsuccessful, and made it easy to bring against their divided forces nations that should afflict them from the entering of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.Beloved, what greater danger to the land in which we live than these same, before which the ancient people of God sadly fell? Is not the Church itself threatened by commercialism in which, as Rust puts it, “The evangelist has become the finangelist?” The denominations which twenty-five years ago existed on a creedal basis, today continue on a commercial basis. Are not our missionary treasuries pauper-stricken too often because even the people who wear the Name of God, have learned to love palatial residences, and expend upon person and pleasure the whole of their income. And, are not many being brought to the bar of judgment and condemned with the charge having been substantiated against them, by the Lord God Himself, “In tithes and offerings” ye have robbed Me?Let us see another thing to be inferred from the language of the Prophet Amos. Sonship does not insure against chastisement. The true father may witness the most evil deeds upon the part of his neighbor’s child without speaking a word of correction, or claiming the right of chastisement.

But not so when his own children go into sin. His very love of them compels their correction; while his past favors give him that paternal prerogative, God makes that the basis of Israel’s chastisement.

He reminds the Children of Israel that He alone had brought them up from Egypt, saying, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”It is an Old Testament illustration of the New Testament assertion, “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth”. For those who have been the recipients of Divine favor in our day, the poet’s sentences speak this same truth.“But if your ears refuse The language of His grace, Your hearts grow hard, like stubborn Jews, That unbelieving race. “The Lord with vengeance drest, Shall lift His hand and swear, You that despised My promised rest Shall have no portion there.” Beastly conduct necessitates bitter correction. Sometime when you have looked upon people whose moral filth and sensual living was such that your whole nature reacted from the sight, you have been tempted to adopt the language of the street and call them “cattle”. Perhaps you did not know that it was also the language of Scripture, and that it is possible for men to go so deeply into sin that God looks upon their condition as that of a beast in an unclean stall.To these ancient Israelites He said,“Hear this Word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. “The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that He will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. “And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord” (Amos 4:1-3). These are rude words of the Prophet; but let us remember that they were not his words, but God’s instead. It is an awful thing for one to come to that moral condition where his conduct reminds God of the “cattle” of the field!Such a condition cannot be covered over by feasts, offerings and ceremonies. It is in vain for such to come to Bethel, which means the House of God, and to Gilgal to bring sacrifice every morning, and tithes after three years, and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish a free offering. As Joseph Parker says, “There is one thing wanting in all that elegant program, and for want of that one thing the whole arrangement dies in the air like a gilded bubble. What is omitted from this rehearsal? The sin offering, the trespass offering.

They will come with sacrifices every morning as donor to God; they will come with service and sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven; they will throw money into the treasury, and announce the sum in plain figures. But where is penitence? Where is contrition? Where is heart-wringing? Where is the tearing conscience, the presence of tormenting agony in the innermost life? Most worship is partial; many will have a little partial religion.

Some attention has to be paid to custom, to the habit, wont, and use of life; some mean coin must at least be thrown into the treasury, and thrown in with some ostentation; hymns must be sung, and fault must be found with the music, and judgment must be pronounced upon the rabbi, the priest, the teacher for the time being, and for a certain period there must be an odor of sanctity about what we say and do. All this trickery is possible; but it never reaches the Heaven of God.” And God only answers it all by saying,“Seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba * *. “Seek the Lord, and ye shall live * *. “Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His Name” (Amos 5:5-6; Amos 5:8). But to pass on in our study of this Book, we come uponTHE PROPHET’S Amos 7:1 to Amos 9:10 It would be a marvel indeed if such a man as this went on without opposition. They beheaded Paul; they killed James, the Just; they crucified Jesus, and Amos reveals no spirit of compromise. How then can he hope to pass on in peace?The Prophet cannot escape the opponent. There is an Amaziah for every Amos. He will send to Jeroboam, the king, saying,“Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the House of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. “For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land” (Amos 7:10-11). It is not pleasant to be pricked by the truth; to be irritated by an inspired word; to feel the lash upon the conscience, quickened by Sacred Scripture; and men always have opposed it, and they always will.Perhaps in modern times we have had no more faithful minister of the Gospel than was Charles Spurgeon. But he had to learn how to be slandered, he says, in order that he might be made useful to God. His statement is, “Down on my knees I have often fallen, with the hot sweat rising from my brow, under some fresh slander poured upon me; in an agony of grief my heart has been well-nigh broken; till at last I learned the art of bearing all and caring for none. * * If to be made as the mire of the streets again, if to be the laughing-stock of fools and the song of the drunkard once more will make me more serviceable to my Master, and more useful to His cause, I will prefer it to all this multitude, or to all the applause that man could give.”That was exactly Amos’ answer when told to prophesy no more at Beth-el, since it was the king’s chapel, and the king’s court. He replied, confessing his humble estimate of himself,“I was no Prophet, neither was I a Prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: “And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord send unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. “Now therefore hear thou the Word of the Lord”. It is the only answer one needs to make to his opponent; and it is the only answer one can make that carries with it any assurance of success. Do you remember that when David, the lad, after being scoffed by his elder brother, and scorned by Goliath, the giant, said to that Philistine, “Thou contest to me with a sword, and with a spear and with a shield: but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of Hosts”. Oh, beloved, whoever our opponents are, and whatever our opposition, that is the only Name in which we can stand; and that Name is sufficient!Speaking in that Name we cannot be silenced by secular powers. Amaziah, in his inability to meet Amos single-handed, tried the trick of the pious politician, namely, arraying the secular powers against this servant of the Lord. It is an old trick; it was done in the days of Elisha; and repeated in the days of the Son of Man. He was charged with opposition to Caesar; as were His Apostles with rebellion against the civil government.

It is most amazing how patriotic some men become, once the preaching of the truth reveals their personal sins, and those which they have in common with so-called statesmen, at one and the same time.They are not welcomed by the fallen, and sometimes are most bitterly opposed by men who have proclaimed themselves children of the King. Be it remembered, however, that the same Amaziahs who rise to charge God’s Prophets with treason will be compelled to listen, eventually, to the Divine sentence of the Lord,“Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the House of Isaac. “Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land” (Amos 7:16-17). And yet—The Christian’s courage will accord with the Divine commission. Amos only needs to answer, “The Lord took me as I followed the flock, and * * said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. When you have spoken in the language of Scripture, and are conscious that your purpose was to help and not hinder; to reform and not deform; to convert and not divert, then fear will flee away, and like Peter and the other Apostles of Jesus, you can answer the command of silence, “We ought to obey God rather than man”, and “We are His witnesses of these things.”S. E. Herrick, speaking of Savonarola, in the times when all Florence was ablaze, having been basely betrayed by their ruler, says that Savonarola remained the one calm spirit, and assigns as the reason, “He is the man who dwells unmoved in (The secret place of the Most High’, and ‘under the shadow of the Almighty’ ”Every man ought to dwell there who is consciously seeking the glory of God, and faithfully presenting the Truth of God. Paul seems to have entertained that opinion of the whole Christian life, when he wrote the Ephesians,“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with Truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; “And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace; “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:10-16). This Book concludes with thePROPHET’S Amos 9:11-15I want to make that also the conclusion of this chapter. This prediction is brief, but how blessed!“In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: “That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My Name, saith the Lord that doeth this. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. “And I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God” (Amos 9:11-15). Take the three points of this prediction and delight thyself in them.The restitution of the House of David is pledged.“That day will I raise up the Tabernacle”. That promise is found in a hundred forms in this Old Testament, and was made the occasion of James’ appeal to missionary endeavor, when, at the council of Jerusalem, he stood before the people saying,“Men and brethren, hearken unto me: “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His Name. “And to this agree the Words of the Prophets; as it is written, “After this I will return, and will build again the Tabernacle of David, which is fallen dawn”. Simeon did not see that Tabernacle rebuilt; James was not privileged to witness it; nor have we; and yet the Word of the Lord will not fail. The House of David is yet to be exalted in the earth.Dr. Gordon tells us, “There is a fragment of Jewish legend that has floated down to us, which represents two venerable rabbis as musing among the ruins of Jerusalem after its destruction. One is giving way to unrestrained lamentation, saying, ‘Alas! alas! this is the end of all. Our beautiful city is no more; our Temple is laid waste, our brethren are driven away into captivity.’ The other, with greater cheerfulness, replies: ‘True; but let us learn from the verity of God’s judgments, which we behold about us, the certainty of His mercies. He hath said, I will destroy Jerusalem, and we see that He hath done it.

But hath He not also said, I will rebuild Jerusalem, and shall we not believe Him?’” The latter rabbi was right! The same God who, by His might, said to His people, “I will sift the House of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve”; and speedily fulfilled the threat, also declared of one day in the future, “In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen”.

He will fulfil His promise. “And I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My Name, saith the Lord that doeth this” (Amos 9:11-12).There is your pledge of the gathering out of the Gentiles. “The heathen which are called by God’s Name.” Isaiah had long ago said, “The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising”. Jesus once reminded the multitudes of the promises of God concerning His Son—“In His Name shall the Gentiles trust”. But more explicit still is that other statement of His concerning the destiny of Jerusalem—“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”.Beloved, this is your age and mine; the period in which we who were aliens, by nature, are being grafted into the True Vine. Arthur T. Pierson has at some time expressed the thought that he never succeeds in winning a soul to the Saviour without entertaining the hope that this may be the last man needful to the filling up of the time of the Gentiles. But, oh, how such a suggestion ought to stir apprehension in the breasts of all Gentile-unbelievers, lest we approach the day of the Lord, and the time of our opportunity will be past!Finally:—The Prophet also predicts the return of the Jews to their own land.“I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God” (Amos 9:14-15). My brethren sometimes ask whether I see what appears clear evidences of the signs of the times; and if I do, there is something marvelous in this Zionist movement. Only a short time ago a clipping from your own paper here says that in the city of Milwaukee alone thousands of Jews have given their most ardent support to this Zionist movement to buy back again their own land, and make it the place of refuge to their persecuted people. So the movement has enlisted the Jews of St. Paul and Minneapolis. They do not see the significance of such a barter, but who knows but God is already beginning to fulfil literally those promises of His Word,“Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far * *. “And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favour have I had mercy on thee” (Isaiah 60:9-10). And again,“I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion” (Jeremiah 3:14). The first-fruits of that final restoration which is fully pledged, and made emphatic by a hundred repetitions, and when, according to Jeremiah, God will gather the remnant of His scattered flock out of all countries into which He has driven them, and bring them again into their fold. And they shall be fruitful and increase, for in those days He will raise up unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 23:5). “O then that I Might live, and see the olive bear Her proper branches, which now lie Scattered each where,

And without root and sap decay, Cast by the husbandman away, And sure it is not far! “For surely He Who loved the world so as to give His only Son to make us free, Whose Spirit, too, doth mourn and grieve To see man lost, will, for old love, From your dark hearts this veil remove.”

Amos 3:3

SOME OF THE MARRIED ESTATE Amos 3:3DR. Talmage says, “A church within a church, a republic within a republic, a world within a world, is spelled with four letters ‘h-o-m-e’. If things go right there, they go right everywhere. If they go wrong there, they go wrong everywhere. The doorsill of the dwelling house is the foundation of church and state. A man never gets any higher than his own garret, or any lower than his own cellar. In other words, domestic life overarches and undergirds all other life.” And, if Talmage spake the truth, and I believe he did, it is worth our while to give consideration for the next thirty minutes to this subject,—“Some Safeguards of the Wedded Estate;” for only in proportion as those safeguards are understood and utilized can there be a true husband, a noble wife, and a house worthy the title of “home”. It is reported that in the ancient time when men worshiped Juno, the Goddess of Wedlock, they brought sacrifices to this Goddess in connection with every wedding. From the beasts or birds offered on that altar the gall was always removed and cast behind the altar, to signify that in the future relations of the young couple there was to be nothing of bitterness, but instead sweetness and love should characterize their married life.The pagans of that past time had the right idea of the marriage relation, and if their high thought is to be translated into the practice of the present-day Christians, those who are about to enter the wedded estate need to agree upon its greater safeguards, and at all hazards conserve them every one even to the end of life.In the time allotted for this discussion, I will make mention of but three such safeguards, hoping that if there are others that ought to be set before you, your own thought upon the subject will supply the lack.IN WEDDING, CONSULT BOTH HEART AND HEADIn the previous discourse I have touched upon this matter. I return to it now because I believe it worthy of the greatest emphasis.Some lovers consult their heads and ignore their hearts. This is especially true of all such as regard marriage a matter of merchandise, and propose never to enter into that relation until they can command either exalted honors or exceeding riches in exchange. At this point women are weaker than men, for while there are a few of the stronger sex who search for money fortune in their fiancee, the lively interest of ambitious mothers and aspiring daughters has resulted in bringing many of the fairer sex to so regard this holy institution.Dr. Parkhurst says, “The man of wealth, and we do not know what else, practically says to the poor, but handsome girl, ‘You give to me your beauty and I will give you a share of my money.’ We have most of us read ‘Dombey and Son.’ She consents to be labeled ‘Personal Property,’ and he balances the account with ‘Hard cash, architectural luxuries, and bric-a-brac;” and he further adds. “There is another style of matrimonial dicker that is coming in vogue among our ambitious American women of the moneyed-classes.

There are a good many rich girls in America who have never kept their genealogical record, or if they have, take no particular interest in consulting it, and find more amusement in contemplating their own or their father’s assets; then per-contra, on the other side of the sea there are a good many languid male scions of nobility, whose original royal blood has been diluted down to the vanishing point of attenuation, but who find in that feeble dilute more satisfaction than they do in their still more attenuated bank account. Limp nobility, anxious for his exchequer, meets oppulent commonality concerned for her pedigree, and propose not to marry one another, but to wed their respective commodities,—his blood and her dollars, and go before the priest and decorate the occasion with orange blossoms and stringed instruments in order to throw over the whole the glamour of regularity.”We perfectly appreciate that the most of our young women auditors or readers will never have a proposal from an English lord and possibly not one from a French count, but the principle is the same when you marry a worthless man because his father happens to have a fortune, or proffer your hand to a numskull because his parents move in good social circles.

You may reason yourself into such a marriage relation, but when your head took you there, your heart refused to go.Then again, there are some who consult their hearts and lose their heads. A man whose office it is to join people in wedlock has little question as to the truth of this statement. Sometimes these people are in very tender years, and have not very well-developed heads to lose. Sometimes they are old enough to know better, but have become fascinated and bedizened. Some years since I was called upon by a boy who was eighteen years old and a member of my church, and asked to speak the words that would seal his fate forever with that of a handsome woman of thirty-three, and a divorced woman at that. They were both my personal friends, but I did not believe that judgment had been consulted in this arrangement and I declined to marry them.

Within recent months I have, on two separate occasions, spoken words that united girls of a tender age to men old enough to be their fathers, if not their grandfathers, and men who had no fortune whatever, except it were misfortune, to bestow upon their brides. I finished each ceremony sick at heart, because I could see nothing but disappointment and sorrow in store for these, possibly affectionate, but certainly feeble-minded girls.Three weeks after the marriage of the first couple they were practically separated; I am not familiar with the present state of the second, but confidently expect to hear at some time of a kindred result.

It is little wonder that divorce in America is increasing more rapidly than the population—reckoned proportionately.A few years since, Prof. Schurmann, of Cornell University, addressing himself to the growing of divorce evil, said, “I, for one, know of no remedy except to set ourselves against growing selfishness, growing intolerance, growing impatience, and a growing immorality, which threaten to undermine us.” But there is a remedy in common sense, and if only people would put to proper employment the little with which God has possessed most folks there would be less misery in this relation.At a certain crossing of the Reading and Philadelphia Railroads, there is a sign which says, “Stop! Look! Listen!” It is full of suggestion for the matrimonially inclined. Stop! long enough to consider some of the essentials of a happy marriage. Look! long enough to be sure that what you have seem to see is genuine.

Listen! until you have heard all that is to be said about him, or about her, and know whether he is worthy, whether she is noble!The wise wed only after finding head and heart agree. There are elements that enter into character that are so admirable that one’s mind must admire them, and so beautiful that one’s affections naturally go out to them.

When you find these, you do well to fall in love. And when such traits characterize both parties to the marriage contract, sixty summers may be spent together and still the love of the old couple is as fresh and warm as it was on the marriage day. I am not speaking a mere imagination for within a week I have looked upon such a man and such a woman.It is related that Sir Walter Farquhar called upon Mr. Pitt in an excited state of mind and reported to the Premier his disappointment that his daughter had formed an attachment for a young gentleman who was qualified by neither rank nor fortune to be his son-in-law. Pitt asked, “Is the young man you mention of a respectable family?” “He is,” replied Sir Walter. “Is he respectable in himself?” “He is.” “Has he the manners and education of a gentleman?” “He has.” “Has he an estimable character?” “Yes.” “Why, then, my dear Sir Walter, hesitate no longer. Your daughter is doing well.”And so is every young woman who marries such a man.

In him, the head and heart may be agreed, and with him the walk of life will be upward and onward.A HOME VERSUS A HOTEL IS AN When I say this, I do not mean to speak disparagingly of the hotel, as an institution of our modern civilization.While the ancients got on without such houses, they are a commercial necessity, a social and domestic convenience, for the age in which we live. So long as our present methods of rapid travel are in vogue; so long as the spirit of commerce makes men migratory; so long as hundreds of the unmarried and the childless need a place for sleeping and eating, and some social life, the hotel will remain and ought.

There are few institutions that modern civilization could so poorly afford to part with as a good boarding-house and a high class hotel.But for married people, the home is a better place. It meets one of the demands of a man’s best nature. When, as I go my rounds in pastoral work, I come upon young people who are paying for a house by the most rigid economy, and I hear them say, with radiant faces, “One day we hope to cancel every debt against it and call this our home,” I am proud of them, and feel that their ambition is a holy one. I know that the husband in that house at least is not spending his evenings in the smoking-room of some hotel, nor visiting frequently the liquor attachment, which is the one greatest stain upon that institution. I know that that wife is not wholly absorbed with the question of dress, with the thought of some new conquest; and that all her plans do not run to the preparation for the opera, theater, the ballroom and the big reception.A home is often a harbor into which young people go that they may escape the storms of social dissipation that sweep over many a public house “with the force of the Atlantic Ocean when driven by a September equinox,” sending many a wife astray from virtue and sinking many a husband in the quicksands of sin.I like to think of the story told by Wendell Phillips, that first orator and statesman of his time. It illustrates what home and wife meant to that noble man.

He had been lecturing in a town near to Boston. His ‘address finished, he started for the train, only to find that it had gone, and there were to be no more until morning.

His friends tried to discourage his return home. They said, “You will be obliged to take a carriage and twelve miles in this raw, sleety November night is a dreadful undertaking.” “But,” replied Wendell, “at the other end of the journey I shall find Anne Phillips and home.”The home is the only place for parents and children. Carlos Martin said, “Every thoughtful observer of life knows that the fireside is the earliest and most influential of schools. The nursery is the child’s university. When the nature is uninscribed and plastic, the home writes the first and most lasting impression. ** **. Happy the boy or girl whose hearts throb with the memory of a happy home.“Beyond doubt that, which we call home has more weight in the word when it centralizes itself in a house one owns—a haven small or great where the babies are rocked in the cradle; the half grown boy and girl do their romping; while in the same house the same children grown to be young men and women make merry with their friends, and out of which they marry.”It is a fact, as Dr.

Parkhurst said, that most of the poor, and very many of the well-to-do children of the present time, are growing up to receive little lasting impression from the home. “They never live long enough in one place to give chance for a time exposure,” and the blessed memories that the country-bred boy has of the house in which he lived, the stable and the farm; the family that filled the first, and the live stock that fed in the second, has no counterpart in his experience. And, truly, the loss to human life is larger than any man can measure.

There is an inspiration in the very memory of the old-fashioned home, that turns the prose-writer into a poet. Witness these lines from the pen of my friend and brother Louis M. Waterman, whose mission is to preach, and tell me if that memory has not made him a poet: “I have looked on marble mansions Crowned with turrets and with domes; I have reveled in the beauty Of earth’s rare, palatial homes; But not one of these seem shining With a glory that shall last, Like that dear old home of childhood, My fair palace of the past.

“Never once guessed I its glory While as yet I lingered there, For on every side were houses That to me seemed far more fair; But long years of tears and trials Have a halo o’er it cast, Till I see now, O how plainly, ’Tis a palace of the past!

“In that home I dwelt in grandeur That a king can never know, For my mouth was filled with laughter And my heart had not a woe! And in arms of love enfolded I was dowered with riches vast, For affections were the treasures Of that palace of the past.

“What a retinue of servants Waited on my bidding there: Clad each one in lovingkindness— Either robe than princes wear! How those hands would haste to help me, And those feet would follow fast To supply each childish craving In my palace of the past.

“And those faces that bent o’er me In that happy home once mine, Lo, they gleam like stars at midnight, And forever shall they shine! Time has touched all those that linger, And o’er some death’s veil is cast, But to me they are immortal In my palace of the past.

“And one face above all others Must with peerless luster glow— Yea, a sweeter nobler vision On this earth I ne’er shall know! Bound that face like circling jewels All bright memories are massed, For my Mother was the Princess Of my palace of the past!

“O thou haunt of happy childhood, Shrined for aye within my heart, More art thou than recollection— Thou a holy prophet art: For when God unveils that mansion Where all hope shall be surpassed, Lo, on Heav’nly heights, transfigured, See: my palace of the past!” FOR YOUR TRUST TO HOLY LIVINGThere is no walking together unless two be agreed at this point, namely, that happiness comes from holy living. When I employ the word holy, I don’t mean so much saintly as I mean righteous.Honesty is one element of holy living. Young people are much tempted in these days to dishonesty in the very beginnings of their married life. If, as is the lot with most, they are at once poor and proud, the temptation is greatly increased. They are likely to move into a house requiring higher rent than they should pay, and to wear clothes whose cloth is superior to their exchequer. Unpaid bills, loss of credit, charge and counter-charge of extravagance, hot discussion and eventual divorce are sometimes the result.Plutarch tells us that Helen was covetous and Paris was luxurious.

On the other side Ulysses was prudent and Penelope chaste. Happy, therefore, was the match between the latter, but the nuptials of the former brought an Illiad of miseries as well upon the Greeks as upon the Barbarians.Ruskin tells us that the word “wife” in its derivation means “weaver,” and he says, “You must either be house-wives or ‘house-moths’.

Remember that. In the deep sense you must either weave men’s fortunes and embroider them, or feed upon and bring them to decay. And the husband, or wife, whose habits make honesty in the payment of debts impossible percipitates upon the home an avalanche of unhappiness.”But to compass in one sentence the whole subject of holy living, including every element that enters into it, let me say this, agree to have Christ in the house.His presence brings the great benediction, His counsels the greatest wisdom, His power the greatest victories, while His love is happiness and Heaven.Julius Caesar is said to have calmed the fears of a boatman who was rowing him in a storm by saying, “So long as Caesar is with you in the boat, no harm can happen.” It was a piece of egotism on that emperor’s part to so speak; but it is the very truth with reference to the Son of God who is able in the midst of any storm that may sweep one’s life to say, “Peace, be still”, and to have His words followed by a great calm. And that husband and wife, that father and mother who give Christ His rightful place in the home, will find that Christ will prepare for them and theirs a Home in Heaven.Louis Albert Banks, was riding over the mountains of Oregon one day when a stranger came out of a cottage and asked if he was a minister, saying, “There is a woman dying within.” Banks entered the humble home and found a family of children and grandchildren about the bed of an old woman. She was more than 90 years of age. For twenty years she had been blind and now she was passing over.

As the minister knelt beside her, she related how seventy-five years before, in the old country, she had sought Christ and found pardon for her sins. Since that time, she had wandered over much of the world and buried many of her loved ones and her friends, but God had always been with her.

And then as the tears rolled from the sightless eyes over her wrinkled cheeks, her old face glowed with a tender light as she whispered, “I will soon be over, and I will see Jesus, and I will hold all of my loved ones in my arms again.” She had given Christ place in her home on earth, and she knew perfectly that Christ would give her place in His Home on high, and make that Home the more Heavenly by bringing back to her arms her long-lost, yet Christ-saved, loved ones.