and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in

20 But Judah shall dwell for Zion.

LECTURE 1406.

What we may learn from these unfulfilled prophecies. The short book of the prophet Joel extends in point of time from the period at which he wrote even to the events of the last days. And there can be little doubt that this whole chapter relates to things which are yet to happen, briefly hinted at in the concluding verses of the chapter previous. The captivity of Judah and Jerusalem is to be succeeded by their restoration; their present state of depression by a renewal of glory; this either literally of the Jews who shall generally become Christians, or figuratively of the seed of Abraham according to the spirit, and of the spiritual Jerusalem. A great resistance to this glorious consummation will take place, on the part of the unbelieving and ungodly, whose treatment of God's people is described in figurative language taken from the cruel usage to which Jewish captives were subjected of old, by their enemies of Tyre and Sidon. But in vain will such resistance be made. God summons the opposing parties, and bids them gather themselves together, defying them to meet Him "in the valley of decision." And He assures his people, that He will secure them peace from all their enemies round about, yes, and even from those enemies within, that would make them to be at enmity with God. "Then shall Jerusalem be holy." Then shall it be true once more, and that for ever, that "the Lord dwelleth in Zion."

All this is to be regarded as prophecy unfulfilled, and therefore admitting only of a very general and uncertain interpretation. But it makes some things clear concerning the future which it is profitable for us to know at present. It shews us that God is faithful to his promises, even unto the end; and that having chosen a people to Himself, He will defend them to the end from all their enemies. It reminds us that in this world there will ever be a contest between the principles of evil and of good; so that we need not be surprised at being withstood, thwarted, slandered, or persecuted, in that which we undertake for the Lord's sake. It encourages us to cleave to Him through evil report and good report, with the full assurance of faith that He will never leave us nor forsake us. And whilst it enables us to be resigned under the prevalence of iniquity, and to regard its transitory triumph as the prelude to its dreadful end, it teaches us to rejoice in the thought, that many sinners will be saved through grace, cleansed, however foul before, by the same healing waters as ourselves.

God's judgments on the nations around Israel.

1 The words of Amos, who Ashkelon, and I will turn mine

8 And I will cut off the inha- 15 And their king shall go into bitant from Ashdod, and him captivity, he and his princes that holdeth the sceptre from together, saith the LORD. LECTURE 1407.

Against selfishness, oppressiveness, and cruelty.

The principal subject of the prophecies of Amos is the ruin soon about to overtake the kingdom of the ten tribes. He intro

duces it, however, with denouncing the judgments of the Lord upon the neighbouring nations of the heathen, as well as upon the kingdom of Judah. See ch. 2. 4. "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof." This expression is repeated in each instance. And in each instance it obviously signifies a large and unlimited number of offences. The nature of the chief offences of each kingdom is also specified. Damascus had "threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron," had very sorely oppressed this part of the land of Israel, and had very cruelly used its inhabitants. Gaza had "carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom," had handed on their Israelitish prisoners to the Edomites for destruction. Tyrus had done the like, forgetful of the brotherly covenant once established between Israel's king and theirs. See Joel 3. 4-6. Edom, that was near akin to Israel, forgetful of this brotherly relationship, had acted as a merciless enemy. And Ammon had perpetrated the most abominable cruelties, in order to enlarge the border of its own territories, by encroaching on those of Israel.

In the various crimes, charged upon these heathen nations, we have a sad representation of their temper, character, and manners, of the ambition, cruelty, and treachery, with which the conduct of their national transactions was disgraced. But it is no worse than we meet with in the history of the heathen world in general, or in the history of such Christian states, as have professed Christianity, but not practised it. To enlarge their borders, to increase their possessions, to aggrandize themselves at the expense of their neighbours, this we may regard as the mainspring of national policy in general throughout the world, as the principle which has stirred up wars, and presided at negociations for peace, which has been the secret object of treaties, and the scarcely concealed motive for faithlessly breaking them. The wrongs, the losses, the sufferings, the griefs, which men have by these means heaped upon each other, in all ages of the world, are past counting. How awful is the thought, suggested by this prophecy, that for all such iniquity God will call the guilty to account! How deeply does it concern us to examine and see what manner of spirit we are of, whether we harbour in our hearts, or practise in our private conduct, any such selfish, grasping, faithless, cruel principles, as those which are here denounced in states! If we do, let us take warning, that these are things for which God is sure to punish; unless we repent. If we have been used to feel or act thus wrongfully and oppressively, but have found grace to repent and to amend, let us take comfort from the thought, that God is graciously willing to forgive, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

PART VIII. O. T.

SS

Judgments denounced against Moab, Judah, and Israel.

1 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:

3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.

4 Thus saith the LORD; 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: 5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

6 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;

7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: 8 And they lay themselves down

upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed

that is full of sheaves.

14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. 16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.

LECTURE 1408.

The responsibility attached to our high privileges. The cruelty of Moab, in burning "the bones of the king of Edom into lime," is probably a distinct case from the burnt offering of the king's son, mentioned in the Second Book of Kings, 3. 26. That appears to have been an idol sacrifice,

this a wanton indignity inflicted on the remains of a vanquished king; a practice not uncommon amongst the heathen, either in ancient or modern times. And to the shame of professors of the Gospel it must be owned, that such things have been done even in Christian states, and under the sanction of a Christian church. The bodies of the dead have been taken out of their graves, and their bones burnt to lime in the flames, in order to gratify that persecuting spirit, which has found a pretext for the most horrible enormities even in the religion of Jesus Christ. So readily does the corrupt heart of man pervert the truth to the purposes of ungodliness, and turn the glad tidings of great joy, which ought to be such to all men, into an engine of the most oppressive spiritual despotism, and of the most cruel secular persecution!

Nor were the Lord's people of old more clear than their heathen neighbours from trangressions which provoked the just judgments of a righteous God. Judah is here called to account as well as Moab, Israel as well as Judah. Judah is charged with despising the law of the Lord, and not keeping his commandments, and with being led astray by lying vanities, namely, those of idol worship. Israel had the like sins to answer for, and the like privileges to aggravate the sinfulness of disobeying the will of the Most High. And several cases of the iniquity which prevailed in Israel are here mentioned: covetousness, such as led them to corrupt the administration of justice, and to grind the faces of the poor; profligacy, to such a pitch as to lead to incest; pledges retained beyond the time allowed by law, see Ex. 22. 26, and used for couches alongside of their idol altars, where also they used to "drink the wine of the condemned," consuming for their own pleasure the refreshment allotted to helpless criminals.

In re

"Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them;" that which chiefly aggravated the sin of the Israelites was the favour they had enjoyed with God. "And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness." Here are other great benefits commemorated." And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites.' turn for which, it appears that they had been used to seduce the Nazarites from their vows, and to forbid the prophets prophesying. No wonder that the Lord threatens to crush them beneath the burden of his wrath, (see Margin,) to deprive them of strength to fight, and of speed to fly, as well as of courage to resist. How then must we expect that it will fare with us, if we sin after the similitude of these transgressions? What must be the end of those Christians, who covetously oppress the poor, or who defile themselves and dishonour God by uncleanness of life, or who are guilty of any kind of idolatry? Privileges such as ours, we cannot be too often reminded of it, demand corresponding proficiency in holiness of life. To possess them, and not to profit by them, we cannot too seriously lay it to heart, will greatly increase our condemnation.