Seeds of Sermons from the Minor Prophets. If the Bible as a whole is inspired, it is of vast importance that all its Divine ideas should be brought to bear upon the living world of men. Though the pulpit is the organ Divinely intended for this work, it has been doing it hitherto in a miserably partial and restricted method. It selects isolated passages, and leaves whole chapters and books for the most part untouched. Its conduct to the Minor Prophets may be taken as a case in point. How seldom are they resorted to for texts! and yet they abound with splendid passages throbbing with Divine ideas. It is our purpose to go through this section of the Holy Word; selecting, however, only such verses in each chapter and book as seem the most suggestive of truths of the most vital interest and universal application. Having passed rapidly through Hosea and Joel, two of the Minor Prophets, we come now to Amos. He, we are informed, was a native of Tekoa, a small region in the tribe of Judah, about twelve miles south-east of Jerusalem. Nothing is known of his parents. He evidently belonged to the humbler class of life, and pursued the occupation of the humble shepherd. From his flock he was divinely called to the high office of prophet; and though himself of the tribe of Judah, his mission was to Israel. He was sent to Bethel, into the kingdom of the ten tribes. He commenced his ministry in the reign of Uzziah, between 810 and 783 B.C., and therefore laboured about the same time as Hosea. In his time idolatry, with its concomitant evils and immoralities of every description, reigned with uncontrolled sway amongst the Israelites, and against these evils he hurls his denunciations. The book has been divided into three parts: "First, sentences pronounced against the Syrians, the Philistines, the Phoenicians, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Jews, and the Israelites, chapters i. and ii. Second, special discourses delivered against Israel, chapters iii. to vi. Third, visions, partly of a consolatory and partly of a comminatory nature, in which reference is had both to the times that were to pass over the ten tribes previous to the coming of the Messiah, and to what was to take place under His reign, chapters vii. to ix. His style is marked by perspicuity, elegance, energy, and fulness. His images are mostly original, and taken from the natural scenery with which he was familiar. No. LXXVIII. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"-AMOS iii. 2, 3. "You only have I known," says God, "of all the families of the earth." What does this mean? It does not mean that He was ignorant of all other people. God knows everything connected with each individual of all generations. Nor does it mean that He had not been "His kind to other people. Now it is a fact that some men are far more highly favoured by heaven than others. Some have more health, some more riches, some more intellect, some more friendships, some more means of spiritual improvement. We offer three remarks about specially favoured people. I. They are OFTENTIMES THE GREATEST SINNERS. Who of all the people on the face of the earth were greater sinners than the Israelites ? Yet they were specially favoured of Heaven. There was not a crime they did not commit; and they filled up the measure of their iniquity by crucifying the Son of God." EXPOSED ΤΟ 66 England is a specially favoured land, but where is there more moral corruption? The fountain of moral iniquity is as deep, as full, as noxious, as active, here as in the darkest and most corrupt parts of the earth. It is true that civilization has so decorated it that its loathsomeness is to some extent concealed; but here it is. The corpse is painted, but it is still a putrid mass. We offer another remark concerning this specially favoured people. II. They are SPECIAL PUNISHMENT. "Therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities." Men are not to be envied simply because they are endowed with special favours. Those very endowments, unless they are faithfully used, only augment responsibility, deepen guilt, and ensure a more terrible retribution. Where much has been given, much will be required. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, etc. Therefore "I will punish you." I who know all your sins, I who abhor all your sins, I who have power to punish you. We offer yet another remark concerning this specially favoured people. III. They should, LIKE ALL PEOPLE, PLACE THEMSELVES IN HARMONY WITH GOD. "Can two walk together except they be agreed ?" First: Agreement with God is essential to the well-being of all intelligent existences. No spirit in the universe can be happy without thorough harmony with the will and mind of God. Heaven is happy because of this harmony; Hell is miserable because of antagonism to the Divine Mind. Secondly: The condition of all sinners is that of hostility to the will of God. Indeed, enmity to God is the essence of sin. What then is the conclusion ? Reconciliation. "We beseech you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God." No. LXXIX. Subject: RETRIBUTION. "Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it ?"AMOS iii. 4-6. These verses suggest certain remarks on retribution. I. Retribution SPRINGS OUT OF THE NATURE OF THINGS. The lion roars in the forest for prey; the young lion cries in his den from an instinct of nature. They are hungry, and they roar; they crave for food, and they cry; this is natural. The lion is quiet till he sees his prey, but roars at the sight of it, and thereby inspires it with such terror that it is deprived of the power of escape. In like man ner the young lion which has been weaned and is just beginning to hunt for prey will lie silent in the den till it is brought near, when the smell of it will rouse him from his quiet. Poiset, in his travels, states that the lion has two different modes of hunting his prey. When not very hungry, he contents himself with watching behind a bush for the animal which is the object of his attack, till it approaches; when by a sudden leap he attacks it and seldom misses his aim. But if he is famished he does not proceed so quietly; but, impatient and full of rage, he leaves his den and fills with his terrific roar the echoing forest. His voice inspires all beings with terror, no creature deems itself safe in its retreat; all flee they know not whither, and by this means some fall into his fangs. The naturalness of punishment, perhaps, is the point at which the prophet aims in the similitude. It is so with moral retribution. It springs from the constitution of things. Punishment grows out of vice. Misery follows iniquity. Every sin carries with it its own pen< alty. It does not require the Almighty to inflict any positive suffering on the sinner. has only to leave him alone, and his sins will find him out. He II. Retribution IS NOT ACCIDENTAL, BUT ARRANGED. "Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no gin is for him Shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all ?" The bird is not taken in a snare by chance. The fowler has been there and made preparation for its entanglement and ruin. Every sinner is a bird that must be caught; the snare is laid in the constitution of things. Instruments were prepared by the providence of God for the capture of the Israelites, which would certainly do their work. ALWAYS III. Retribution SOUNDS A TIMELY ALARM. "Shall a trumpet be blown in a city and the people not be afraid?" Heaven does not punish without warnings. Nature warns, Providence warns, Conscience warns; there is no sinful soul in which the trumpet of alarm does not sound. IV. Retribution, HOWEVER IT COMES, IS ALWAYS DIVINE. "Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?" God is in all. He has established the connection between sin and suffering. He has planned and laid the snare. The everlasting destruction with which the sinner is punished comes from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power. No. LXXX. Subject: THE IRREPRESSIBILITY OF MORAL TRUTH. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy ?"-AMOS iii. 7, 8. These words mean, that although punishment for the guilty Israelites was natural, arranged, and withal Divine, yet it would come according to a warning made to them through the Prophets, and which they would feel compelled to deliver. The words suggest two remarks. I. GOD HAS MADE A SPECIAL REVELATION TO HIS SERVANTS. 66 He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." In all ages God has selected men to whom He has made communications of Himself. In times past He spake unto the fathers by the prophets. In truth He makes special revelations of Himself to all true men. "Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do ?" "The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." God has given to all men a general revelation. In nature without and within, in the material domain, and in the spiritual. But He makes a special revelation to some. The Bible is indeed a special revelation. 66 First: Special in its occasion. It is made on account of the abnormal moral condition into which man has fallen,-made in consequence of human sin and its dire consequences. Had there been no sin, in all probability we should have had no written revelation. The great book of nature would have sufficed. Secondly: Special in its doctrines. The grand characteristic truth is this, that God so loved men as sinners that He gave His only begotten Son for their redemption. This is the epitome of the Gospel. The other truth suggested by the text is, II. THAT THE RIGHT RECEPTION OF THIS SPECIAL REVELATION NECESSITATES PREACHING. "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken,who can but prophesy ?" The idea is, that the men who have rightly taken the truth into them can no more conceal it, than men can avoid terror at the roar of the lion. There are some truths which men may receive and feel no disposition to communicate, such as the truths of abstract science,which have no relation to the social heart. But Gospel truth has such a relation to the tenderest and profoundest affections of the spirit, that their genuine recipients find them to be irre. pressible. They feel like Jeremiah, that they have fire shut up in their bones; like the Apostles before the Sanhedrim, "We cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard." Like Paul: "Necessity is laid upon men to preach the Gospel." "Who can but prophesy?" None but those who have not received the truth. FAITH.—Faith may live in a storm, but it will not suffer a storm to live in it. As faith rises, so the blustering wind of discontented troublesome thoughts goes down. In the same proportion that there is faith in the heart, there is peace also : they are joined together. "In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” FAITH.-Faith in Christ can be no hindrance to critical and philosophic inquiries: otherwise He would Himself impede the progress of truth. The best token that rejuvenescence of the soul is going on in us is, that the Word of God becomes daily a richer mine to our intelligence.-Vater. Scientific Facts used as Symbols. Books of Illustration" designed to help preachers, are somewhat, we think, too abounding. They are often made up to a great extent of anecdotes from the senti mental side of life, and not always having a healthful influence or historic foundation. We find that preachers and hearers are getting tired of such. Albeit illustra tions are needed by every speaker who would interest the people, and are sanctioned by the highest authority. Nature itself is a parable. Hence we have arranged with a naturalist who has been engaged in scientific investigation for many years, to supply the Homilist with such reliable and well-ascertained facts in nature, as cultured and conscientious men may use with confidence, as mirrors of morals and diagrams of doctrines. Subject: The Conscience. HE hour of the day can be told between the tropics by the A motion of the magnetic needle as well as by the oscillations of the mercury in the barometer,—the mysterious march of the needle being equally influenced by the course of the sun, and change of place upon the earth's surface. There are regions of the earth where the seaman enveloped for days in a fog, without sight of the sun or stars, without all other means of ascertaining the time, can still accurately determine the hour by the variation of the dip of the needle, and know whether he be to the north or south of the port towards which he would steer his course. And does not every enlightened man carry with him an inward monitor which in like manner enables him rightly to steer his course amidst all the conflicting experiences and surging tempests of his daily life? Whether it be called conscience, matters not. We are not concerned about the name, when we are conscious of the power. That power we know exists, and is our safe regulator and unfailing guide in all our experiences on life's changeable sea. Subject: The Persecution of the Injured. T is a strange fact, that both animals and men enter heartily into the persecution of the injured. which induces animals to attack and even The motive destroy the wounded and disabled of their own species, arises from an |