easy. So long as the thing is done, it does not matter
very much how it is done." So they did every thing in a careless,
slovenly manner. They neglected their duties or carried them out in a
bare formal manner. If we come back to the comparison of a wall, it
was just as though masons engaged on one put in any sort of stones, any
how, and did not trouble whether they built it in line and upright,
whether some of the stones stuck too far out, and some were too far in.

Then God appears to Amos and says, "I will not again pass by them any
more; there has been too much of this sort of work. I will not
overlook it, I will try it with the plumbline of My justice, and the
bad work shall be pulled down, the jutting stones knocked away, and the
crooked wall made straight."

This vision applies to you quite as much as to the Jews. You have got
a set task: you have to build up the wall of the Lord, that is, day by
day you have to work at your salvation, and put in at least one stone
so as to raise the work, and what you build must be good, and upright,
and in line. You have a prayer to say, say it well, say it with
devotion. Then it is a stone put on the wall in its right place, and
it is a good stone of the right quality. You have quarrelled with a
neighbour, you have made it up, heartily and bear no more malice, that
is a good stone;--forgiveness of injuries--a capital stone that won't
let the water through. Lay it level, and lay it upright. You have a
chance of showing a kindness to someone who needs, do it quietly and
without fuss or show. That will stand. It was otherwise with the
Pharisees. When they did their alms, they made a noise and called
attention to it. That was like putting a stone in the wall that stuck
a long way out, so that all might see it. When the Lord comes with His
plumbline, He will knock it off with His trowel, and it will go all to
pieces like a bit of slate, and be no good at all. You come to church,
and you take my sermon home. What will you do with it? Toss it away
on your road home, and make no use at all of it? I hope not; build the
lesson I am giving you tight into your lives, and it will raise your
wall, and you can lay other good lessons on top of it. What do you do
with your Sunday? Is it wasted in lounging about, ferreting rabbits,
idle talking? If it be so, then it will add nothing to the wall of
your salvation. It will be like a mere lump of earth put in where
there s