re of the vices characteristic of a
prosperous state of society which is godless, and therefore selfishly
luxurious. First, civil justice is corrupted, turned into bitterness,
and prostrated to the ground. Then bold denouncers of national sins are
violently hated. Do we not know that phase of an ungodly and rich
society? What do the newspapers say about Christians who try to be
social reformers? Are the epithets flung at them liker bouquets or
rotten eggs? 'Fanatics and faddists' are the mildest of them. Then the
poor are trodden down and have to give large parts of their scanty
harvests to the rich. Have capital and labour just proportions of their
joint earnings? Would a sermon on verse 11 be welcome in the suburbs of
industrial centres, where the employers have their 'houses of hewn
stone'? Such houses, side by side with the poor men's huts, struck the
eye of the shepherd from Tekoa as the height of sinful luxury, and still
more sinful disproportion in the social condition of the two classes.
What would he have said if he had lived in England or America? Justice,
too, was bought and sold. A murderer could buy himself off, while the
poor man, who could not pay, lost his case. We do not bribe juries, but
(legal) justice is an expensive luxury still, and counsel's fees put it
out of the reach of poor men.

One of the worst features of such a state of society as Amos saw is that
men are afraid to speak out in condemnation of it, and the ill weeds
grow apace for want of a scythe. Amos puts a certain sad emphasis on
'prudent,' as if he was feeling how little he could be called so, and
yet there is a touch of scorn in him too. The man who is over-careful of
his skin or his reputation will hold his tongue; even good men may
become so accustomed to the glaring corruptions of society in the midst
of which they have always lived, that they do not feel any call to
rebuke or wage war against them; but the brave man, the man who takes
his ideals from Christ, and judges society by its conformity with
Christ's standard, will not keep silence, and the more he feels that 'It
is an evil time' the more will he feel that he cannot but speak out,
whatever comes of his protest. What masquerades as prudence is very
often sinful cowardice, and such silence is treason against Christ.

The third part repeats the exhortation to 'seek,' with a notable
difference. It is now 'good' that is to be sought, and 'evil' that is to
be turned from. These