Amos 5

(5.) The shop-thief, he steals in selling, (1.) who uses false weights and measures, and so steals from others what is their due. (Amos 5:8) Who make the Ephah small. The Ephah was a measure the Jews used in selling; they made the Ephah small, gave scant measure, which was plain…

The Stoic philosophers held, that all sins were equal. But this Scripture clearly holds forth, that there is a gradual difference in sin: Some are greater than others: Some are mighty sins (Amos 5:12), and crying sins (Genesis 18:21). Every sin has a voice to speak, but some sin…

Your wine is mixed with water. Second, giving scant measure (Amos 5:8). Making the Ephah small; Ephah was a measure which the Jews used in selling; they made the Ephah small, they scarce gave measure; I wish this be not the sin of many (Hosea 12:7).

Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. It is the passion of most to be angry with them that would reclaim them from sin (Amos 5:10). They hate him that rebukes in the gate.

King Saul being perplexed in mind, all his Crown-Jewels could not comfort him, 1 Samuel 28:15. — But if you love God, he can give you peace when nothing else can ; he can turn the shadow of death into the morning, Amos 5:8. He can drop in Christs blood, which is a cooling Julep;…

Israel has forgotten his maker, and builds temples, and (Hosea 12:11) their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. Erecting of ministries, or doing any ministerial work for their honor (Amos 5:26). You have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, th…

Peter says to Simon Magus, You are in the gall of bitterness: but withal he adds, Pray God that the thought of your heart may be forgiven you (Acts 8:21). See the like (Joel 2:14; Amos 5:15). And thus are ministers of the Gospel to temper and qualify their reproofs, and censures.

By the earth, we understand those regions which were known to the Jews, as we touched in another place. The sense then is, You shall be pressed with so many miseries, that you shall not know which way to turn: as also it is written in Amos, He which flies for fear of the Lion, s…

For the matters of life and death at that time were in the hands of such wicked and godless wretches, that it was needful to rebuke them very sharply. But instead of making any good use of these admonitions to come to amendment of life, they became so much the worse, and raged a…

The Lord threatens by the Prophet Amos, You have built you houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them. Also, he shall smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts (Amos 5:11 and 6:11). This falls out day by day, and yet the inordinate affectio…

It does sometimes happen, that wicked men are freed from their distresses, while God is still their enemy: but when they think that they have completely escaped, the same evils immediately return, or more numerous and heavier calamities overwhelm them, which make it manifest tha…

And Amos also cries out, woe to you that desire the day of the Lord: what have you to do with it? That day of the Lord is darkness and not light (Amos 5:18). Moreover, when Paul adds the word declaration, he gives to understand what day of wrath that is, namely when the Lord sha…

What-ever they speak of God, he is not in all their Thoughts, Psal. 10. 4. What-ever they do in Religion, they do it not to him, Amos 5. 25. They have neither heard his Voice at any time, nor seen his Shape, John 5. 37. knowing nothing for themselves, which is their Duty, Job 5.…

Solomon tells us in general (Ecclesiastes 3:7), there is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; let me advise this for one particular time or season, to keep silence, namely the extremity and height of trouble. The Prophet Amos (Amos 5:13) speaks of a time, wherein the pru…

From hence must the works of obedience proceed, if you would have them to be of Gods appointment, or finde acceptance with him. Without this God will say of all your Services, worship, obedience, as he did to the israelites of old; Amos 5:21, 22, 23, 24, 25. I despise all, rejec…

Though so many fell, yet I believe that five parts in six of the inhabitants of London were preserved; God might have taken away the five parts, and have left but one alive. Indeed it might have been said of London, as it was of Israel (Amos 5:2-3), The Virgin of Israel is falle…

10. The Lord does expect after such judgments that London should seek him: that they should not only turn from their evil ways, but also that they should turn to him that has smitten them, and seek the Lord of Hosts (Isaiah 9:13). We read (Amos 5:2), the virgin of Israel is fall…

I wonder where that bishop took his text. 2. The profane, who hate to be admonished, and had rather die than reform (Amos 5:10): They hate him that rebukes in the gate. These keep off Heaven by force.

The voice of corrupt nature is, Depart from us: And what can the Almighty do for them? (Job 22:17). Or if they do desire it, it is but in a slight formal manner, as those in the prophet, that would see the Day of the Lord, yet they could not bear it (Amos 5:18). Woe to you that…

Divine Fear ingratiates us into divine Favor. Such as are Fearless of God, neither their Persons or Offerings find acceptance, Amos 5:21, 22. I despise your Feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn Assemblies; though ye offer me burnt-offerings, I will not accept them. Wh…

That is, get into favor with God before it be too late. So (Amos 5:6): Seek the Lord, and you shall live. This notes our general address for pardon and reconciliation.

If you would have the fruit of your holy calling, that which is the result of that religion you do profess, you must diligently seek him; so that in effect we never seek ourselves more than when we seek the Lord. Amos 5:6: Seek the Lord, and you shall live. It is the undoubted w…

In every command there are precepts and prohibitions, that we might own God, as well as renounce the Devil; and maintain communion with him, as well as avoid our own misery. (Amos 5:15) Hate the evil, and love the good. (Romans 12:9) Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that whic…

(Zephaniah 2:3) It may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's fierce anger. (Amos 5:15) Hate the evil, and love the good; it may be the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. In such cases the soul is divided between the expectation of mercy, and the…

The Israelites that were not drowned in the Red Sea, were stung to death by fiery serpents. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him (Amos 5:19). When you avoid one judgment, you may meet…

Third, it reproves those who hunger and thirst after unrighteousness; here I shall indict three sorts of persons. First, it reproves such as thirst after others' lands and possessions; this the Scripture calls a mighty sin (Amos 5:12). Thus Ahab thirsted after Naboth's vineyard.

Noah's sacrifice was a perfume (Genesis 8:21): the Lord smelled a sweet savor. The sighs of a wicked man are an unsavory breath; his solemn sacrifice is dung (Malachi 2:3); there is such a noisome stench from a sinner's duties that God will not come near (Amos 5:21): I will not…

Why should anyone be angry with Christ's ministers for reproving, when by their office they are physicians and by their love they are fathers? But how few are they who will take a reproof kindly (Amos 5:10): they hate him who rebukes in the gate. People do not love reproof becau…

There is a threefold injustice in matters of dealing. 1. Using of false weights, Hosea 12:7. The balances of deceit are in his hands: men by making their weights lighter, make their sin heavier, Amos 5:8. They make the Ephah small: the Ephah was a measure they used in selling; t…

This is indeed a sign of grace, and shows you are a lover of the word. A corrupt heart loves the comforts of the word, but not the reproofs, Amos 5. 10. They hate him that rebukes in the gate. —Igne micant oculi— Like venomous creatures, that upon the least touch spit poison, Ac…

We are Cadent, if not Morient; we do not want for sin; there is a Spirit of wickedness in the Land. Ours are mighty sins, Amos 5.12. bloody sins, Hosea 4.2. The sins of Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, are translated into English; we have many Sodoms among us, and may fear to have…

2nd Commandment: You shall make to yourself no graven image, etc. He breaks this commandment: who represents God in an image (Exodus 32:6-8); who worships God in or at images, as crucifixes and such like (2 Kings 18:4); who kneels down before an image; who is bodily present at M…

3, of mitigating or removing temporal calamities: stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah, etc. If so be they will hearken and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the plague which I have determined to bring upon them beca…

So he went on, and called to him that was before; but he knew not what to answer, for that he also thought himself to be alone. And by and by the day broke: then said Christian, “He has turned the shadow of death into the morning.” (Amos 5:8). Now morning being come, he looked b…

When these two kinds of duties are spoken of together, the latter are evermore greatly preferred. As in (Isaiah 1:12-18; Amos 5:21 etc.; Micah 6:7-8; Isaiah 58:5-7; Zechariah 7, ten first verses; Jeremiah 2, seven first verses; Matthew 15:3 etc.) Often, when the times were very…

And which is the sum of all uncleanness, sin in the heart is compared to the fire of hell (James 3:6). So that the pure eyes of God loathe to see, and his nostrils to smell it (Zechariah 11:8; Amos 5:21). It makes all those that have eyes open and judgments rectified to abhor it…

They think because they are the seed of Abraham, and dwell in the land of promise, and have my worship, and oracles, and sacrifices, not in their hearts, but only in their lips and hands, which are but the skirts of the soul, that therefore doubtless they are clean; but whatever…