od," and sometimes meant "sin." To determine its meaning in any
particular instance, we must consider the context. In the beginning
of the third chapter of Amos, punishment is threatened against the
people: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth;
therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities." When trouble
and distress come upon a people, they may be said to come from God
as the result of their disobedience. He vexes them in His "sore
displeasure."

There are various species of evil--as metaphysical evil, or the evil
of limitation; physical evil, or departure from type; moral evil, or
sin; and penal evil, or the punishment of sin. Looking at the
context, it is perfectly clear that the prophet has reference to the
last-mentioned. The people had broken God's laws, and were punished
by God for their misdeeds. It might take the form of pestilence or
famine, but whatever was its shape, it was a messenger from God. He
sent it because the people had done wrong. This interpretation is in
harmony with the usage of the word, and satisfies the moral
conscience.

The passage in Isaiah xlv. 7, "I make peace and create evil," has
obviously the same meaning, as it stands in contrast to "peace."
"Peace" is representative of blessings; "evil" is the synonym of
distress and sorrow. The prophet is supposed to allude to the
Persian religion, according to which there were two great beings in
the universe--viz., Oromasden, from whom comes good, and Ahriman,
from whom comes evil. It is very doubtful whether the prophet had
any such reference. Barnes says,--"The main object here is, the
prosperity which should attend the arms of Cyrus, the consequent
reverses and calamities of the nations whom he would subdue, and the
proof thence furnished that JEHOVAH was the true God; and the
passage should be limited in the interpretation to this design. The
statement, then, is that all this was under His direction."

PREDESTINATION AND THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST.--Acts ii. 23 is
appealed to. It reads thus: "Having been delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain." But how can these words
prove universal foreordination? It might be said, that if God
foreordained the bad deeds of the crucifiers, the principle is
established. True; but did He foreordain them? The words simply
declare that God had given up Christ, and that in so doing He had
acted in harm