a most troublesome and insolent person. No
wonder that the smooth priest Amaziah begged him to begone and talk in
that way somewhere else. He saw plainly enough that either Amos must
leave Samaria, or he must leave it. The two could no more work together
than fire and water. Amos wanted to make men repent of their sins, while
Amaziah wanted only to make them easy in their minds; and no man can do
both at once.

So it was then, my friends, and so it will be till the end of this wicked
world. The way to please men, and be popular, always was, and always
will be, Amaziah's way; to tell men that they may worship God and the
golden calf at the same time, that they may worship God and money,
worship God and follow the ways of this wicked world which suit their
fancy and their interest; to tell them the kingdom of God is not over you
now, Christ is not ruling the world now; that the kingdom of God will
only come, when Christ comes at the last day, and meanwhile, if people
will only believe what they are told, and live tolerably respectable
lives, they may behave in all things else as if there was no God, and no
judgments of God. Seeking the righteousness of God, say these preachers
of Amaziah's school, only means, that if Christ's righteousness is
imputed to you need not be righteous yourselves, but will go to heaven
without having been good men here on earth. That is the comfortable
message which the world delights to hear, and for which the world will
pay a high price to its flatterers.

But if any man dares to tell his fellow-men what Amos told them, and say,
The kingdom of God is among you, and within you, and over you, whether
you like or not, and you are in it; the Lord is King, be the people never
so unquiet; and all power is given to Him in heaven and earth already;
and at the last great day, when He comes in glory, He will show that He
has been governing the world and the inhabitants thereof all along,
whether they cared to obey Him or not:--if he tell men, that the
righteousness of God means this--to pray for the Spirit of God and of
Christ, that they may be perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect,
and holy as Christ is holy, for without holiness no man shall see the
Lord: if he tell men, that the wrath of God was revealed from heaven at
the fall of man, and has been revealed continuously ever since, against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, that indignation an