Amos 6:1-6

What is here said of Zion, in the days of the Prophet Amos, is equally applicable to the Church in all days. There is nothing more foreign to a state of grace, than a state of ease in the world. For when a soul is really and truly at ease in Christ, he must be at contention with the world. It was the character which the Lord gave Moab, that Moab had been at ease from his youth, and had settled on his lees; so that the old tang of nature was the same, and no change of heart had taken place. Jeremiah 48:1; Jeremiah 2:1. Whereas the Lord Jesus describes his people as being carried into captivity, and called upon as his followers to the taking up a cross, plucking out an eye, cutting off an arm. Luke 9:23. And the Apostle sets it down as a truth not to be questioned, that if any man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he must suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:12. We have therefore here a melancholy picture of sinners at ease, unawakened to a sense of sin, and unconcerned for their eternal salvation. And what makes the picture more melancholy is, that it is in Zion; that is, under the very roof of God's church. Reader! think how truly awful must it be to sit under the preaching of the gospel, and yet to be a total stranger to a work of grace in the heart. The Prophet describes in these verses the corresponding conduct of all such; ease, indolence, disregard, and a contempt of salvation. They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Alas! No--nor for the agonies of the Lord Jesus! Job hath given another such a description. Job 21:7. Reader! before you turn away from this awful account, for very awful it is, look round and see whether you cannot find the picture of the Prophet, and what the Man of Uz describes; but too sadly brought forth to the life, in the present day in which we live. Yea, bless God if in your own heart, and house, and family, no such features appear.