took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel."

Nevertheless, away he went. There was no help for it. Even if the Lord had spoken to him, as he said, he might not be permitted to repeat even the Lord's words when they took the form of a denunciation of society and of the church.

This is one of the most significant of the dramatic scenes of the Old Testament, for here meet the men, the prophet and the priest, who represent the two everlastingly opposing forces whose contention fills the pages of history.

The priest is a conservative, he stands for the maintenance of things as they are; he is an institutionalist, holding an office which is both political and ecclesiastical, a churchman who is a counselor of the king; he is a friend of the rich. The prophet is a radical, he would change or destroy things as they are for the sake of things as they ought to be; he is an individualist, in whose opinion the state is a good state, and the church a good church, only when they do good, if they do ill they ought to be rebuked and reformed; the prophet is a friend of the poor, on whom the illdoing of the church and of the state falls most heavily. It was in the spirit of the prophet that Samuel rebuked King Saul, and Nathan rebuked King David, and Elijah rebuked King Ahab.

The priest was an official person, appointed and ordained; he was dependent upon precedent, careful to walk in the old paths; his formula was "It is written," -written in the ancient books. The prophet was

almost always an unofficial person, a layman. There were official prophets, "schools" of them, in attendance at court, often allies of the priests. Most of the prophets whose names we know had nothing to do with them. The great prophets were like Micaiah (I Kings 22) of whom Ahab said, “I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." There were four hundred official prophets who made it their business to say whatever the king liked to hear, of whom Micaiah said that the spirit by which they spoke was a lying spirit. It was prophets such as these of whom Amos was thinking when he said proudly, "I am no prophet, neither am I a prophet's son." The formula of the true prophet was "Thus saith the Lord."

It may have been in consequence of the silencing of Amos by the priest that he wrote his book. It was the first collection of written sermons, the first example of a new and inestimably important way of teaching religion.

II

The book of Amos is dated by its reference to Jeroboam II (7:11). The book of Hosea is dated a few years later by its clear sight of the approaching fall of the house of Jehu, of which Jeroboam II was the last successful king (1:4), and by its allusions to the corruption and anarchy in the midst of which that dynasty came to an end.

There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. They swear, and lie, and kill, and steal, and commit adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood. (4:1, 2.)

They have devoured their judges; all their kings have fallen; there is none among them that calleth unto me. (7:7.)

Hosea became a prophet by the illumination of a bitter experience. The account of it is given with some obscurity in his first and third chapters. His wife was unfaithful to him. She deserted him and their three little children, two sons and a daughter. After degrading experiences, forsaken by her false friends, she was offered for sale as a slave. Her husband, finding her in that situation, bought her and took her back to their ruined home.

The Lord said unto me: "Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love flagons of wine." So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and seventeen bushels of barley. And I said unto her: "Thou shalt abide with me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee."

Out of this experience there came to Hosea that which is called in theology a revelation. In his book appeared a new truth, one of the most important that has ever been made plain to the mind of man, the truth of the love of God.

Remember that the Bible, if the parts of it which existed in Hosea's day could have been gathered together, would have consisted of Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers (JE), Joshua and Judges (without the morals), and so much of Samuel and Kings as gave the history down to Jeroboam II, with the book of

Amos. In the Bible thus far the providence of God was taught, the justice of God, the righteousness of God, and the indignation of God against sinners. Hosea was the first man to perceive clearly and to declare plainly that the love of God continued without fail through the sin of man, and through the punishment by which that sin is followed.

This was revealed to Hosea by his own experience. He said to himself, "My love for my wife, who has deserted me and sinned against me, is according to the love of God toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods." The man said, in effect, "What I am at my best is a disclosure of what God is, who has made me in his own image; for God must be at least as good as I am. And here in my heart is this unfailing love. There must be the same unfailing love in the heart of God." The revelation was more certain than that of any vision or of any words spoken from the sky, for there it was in the evident and abiding constitution of human nature, and its basis in reason was plain to any thoughtful person. Since the idea of God has flashed into the mind of primitive man, no more important revelation had been made. To this day it constitutes the most significant difference between the religion of the Bible and all the other religions of the world.

Hosea is as stern in denunciation of sin as is Amos, but in his book the divine indignation is spoken in the spirit of fatherly love. "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel?" If the people will but repent and return, and cease to do evil,

the unchangingly loving God will receive, and forgive, and bless them. The story of the Prodigal Wife is like the story of the Prodigal Son.

O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him:-"Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy." I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Leb

anon.

But Israel did not return to the Lord. Therefore, instead of entering into these blessings they were punished, as Hosea prophesied. The kingdom fell, because of its iniquity, at the hands of the invading As syrians.

III

During the early ministry of Isaiah the peril from the east became so menacing that Israel joined with its neighbor and old enemy, Syria, to resist the invaders. They called to their aid the kingdom of Judah. "Come," said King Pekah of Samaria and King Rezin of Damascus to King Ahaz of Jerusalem, "let us unite our forces and hold the Assyrians back." When Ahaz