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 and wrath,
tribulation and anguish will fall upon every soul of man that doeth evil;
and glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good:--when a man
dares to preach that, he is no more likely to be popular with the wicked
world (for it is a wicked world) than Amos was popular, or St Paul was
popular, or our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave both to Amos and to St Paul
their messages, was popular.
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