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Maxims of Trade

[AM. VIII.

3. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place: they shall cast them forth with silence.

Lamentation for song, corpses hastily buried instead of crowds of rejoicing revellers. A sudden change is foretold, when the singer should break off with a shriek, and the mirth of the banquet be stilled at the sight of the foe. The palaces of King Jeroboam, the idol temple he had built, resounded now with gladness, but soon afterwards with cries and lamentations; then even these were hushed into silence by dread.) In this world's mutations how can I gain a steady heart, such as no sudden shock of adversity can shake from its base? What shall I do when all my wealth breaks down? Lord, Thou hast been our abiding-place; in Thee is stability and peace; Thy servants have a sure refuge.

4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5. Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6. That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Amos hated to see the poor cheated. He recurs again and again to the injustice they had to put up with, the exactions they underwent, the bad bargains they had to make. He had (like the Apostle S. Paul) a tender regard for those who have to earn their living by daily toil. When Christ the Lord was choosing His Apostles, He went to that class for them. When the Holy Spirit was building up a Church at Corinth He chose 'not many mighty, not many wise, not many noble,' but 'the poor of this world,' to make them rich in faith.' (The Prophet bids us treat the poor with respect and equity. Also, He bids us provide them with the sincere food of God's Word, genuine and in good measure. Hungry souls require to be fed with living Bread, as bodies with sound wheat.)

7. The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein ? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

Amazed at the injustice which reigns, earth swells like the flooded Nile, rises up and sinks again; solid earth quakes and becomes like water, as if impatient of the abuses which reign among God's people. I, too, tremble when I remember that I have to appear

VER. 14.]

A Famine of God's Word

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before the strict judgment of God. I have no merits of my own to allege, no excuse to make for a wasted life. I can but cry, 'Salva me, fons pietatis.'

9. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

(Sudden darkness for daylight, weeping instead of festal joy, sackcloth and shaven heads for garments of rejoicing, bitter tears instead of gladness. Such is the forecast. It came true within a few years in the desolation of Israel. Nor was it less truly fulfilled in the rejection of the Jews after they had themselves rejected the message of salvation. The darkening of the sun at Christ's

Passion was but a token of the inward darkness which had overspread the hearts of His own people.

11. 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: 12. And 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. 13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

These are the days of which the Prophet speaks-days when souls crave most anxiously for Living Bread and Water of Life, and cannot find it. In these days hungry souls swallow husks instead of bread, try to slake their thirst at poisoned fountains, or sources long dry. They miss the true and Divine nourishment on which their fathers lived. O Lord, open to them the treasures of thy Holy Word, which is still sufficient for all needs; let them not miss their way utterly in this life's desert. O that the dispensers of Christ's Word and Sacraments did more to recommend the treasure which they have in their hands.

14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

Let me not build my hopes on a false foundation; let me not substitute a god of my own fancy for Israel's Living Dread How can I stand upright amidst the manifold shocks and temptations

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Our Helper becomes our Destroyer

[AM. IX.

of life unless my hand is upheld by a Divine Guide? Foolish worshippers ran north and south, hither and thither, to the shrine of their favourite deity, hoping that those who sought his presence would be safe there. But my God is everywhere, is to be worshipped in the recesses of the faithful heart, is manifest for me once and for ever in His holy Gospel.

I

CHAPTER IX

SAW the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.

The Altar becomes the footstool of God's judgment throne. He stands above it in judgment, no longer sits there in mercy. The sacred building is no longer a protection and home for worshippers; nay, it falls in ruin over their heads and destroys them, just as the idol temple (Judges xvi. 30) fell on the heads of the Philistine revellers. The Lord, Who was His people's Refuge from danger, is now the Destroyer from Whom none can escape. What has caused this woful change? What mountains shall fall on us or hills cover us to hide from God's wrath when we have made Him our enemy? I am thankful that One has come preaching peace,' showing us how to propitiate Divine mercy, raising up again with living stones the fallen House of God.

2. Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: 3. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: 4. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

The underworld is mysterious, Heaven peopled with innumerable ranks of the blessed, Carmel full of woods and caves, ocean deep, the captives have been carried to far distant lands. (Yet none of these depths or heights or distances affords a shelter from God's judgments. O that I had a due fear of God! I fear the shadows of power here on earth, and forget my eternal Judge, everywhere present, Whose mercy I have treated with ingratitude, Whose com

VER. 10.]

The Lord sate above the Flood

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mands I have despised. Let me be merciful to the humble, truę to the meanest of my brethren, that I may find mercy when I need it.

5. And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 6. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

(

Here is a new Deluge, again overwhelming the habitable earth. God sits unmoved in His heavenly palace, which arches over this lower earth, but all things below are overwhelmed with confusion. Patience: I trust in the Eternal and Unchanging. He will, in due time, bring order again out of the troubled waters. Meanwhile, I am safe in the Ark, the flood cannot reach me there.

7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

God's Providence embraces all men, not merely the chosen people. If He brought Israel up from Egypt and settled them in Canaan, yet other nations have to tell of deliverances and vocations. Each nation has its responsibility, its opportunity. Woe to them if they prove unfaithful to it! (Amos beholds God sitting on His judgment throne and dealing with the seeming 'changes and chances' of history. His wisdom and justice dispose of all things. Yet He remembers His promise made to Israel; His word stands sure. When He pleases, Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God, Philistia will be His triumph, Syria join hands with Israel. He is Lord of all hearts that He has made.

9. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10. All the

F

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David's Tabernacle repaired

[AM. IX. sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

Such is Thy judgment, O Lord; Thy sieve lets all dust fall through, yet does not lose one of the grains of corn. In a time of great unsettlement, when new social forces are at work and men's minds are influenced by strong currents, I behold, and, lo, it is God shaking His sieve. Faith remains safe and is not moved, while doubting hearts lose their hold altogether. Happy is that good grain, firm and precious, ripened by God, made fit for His everlasting Home. Its worth and stability come only of His gracious choice. Tribulations cannot crush it, tempests cannot blow it

away.

II. 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: 12. 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.

David's house is restored, expanded, glorified. It stretches its shelter over subject realms; it proclaims the name of the Living God where He was previously unknown. In the beginning of this chapter we beheld (ix. 1) one edifice fall into ruin and destroy those who sought refuge in it; but here is a more gracious, more permanent erection. God Himself restores it and pledges His protection to it. S. James in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts xv. 16) used this verse to show that the calling of the Gentiles into God's heritage was part of the ancient promise. He viewed all nations as welcomed within the walls of Christ's Church, paying allegiance to David's Son and Lord.

13. 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. 14. And 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. 15. 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.

O happy land where all works of peace follow one another in due order, where the rich soil yields its fruit bountifully, where the