God's interposition by judgment is threatened on account of the nation's sins. The greatness of their privileges involved special responsibilities and chastisements (Amos 3:2). These sins are traced to their sources in the capitals of the two kingdoms. A metropolis is a centre of influence for good or for evil. This may be illustrated by the histories of both the Hebrew kingdoms. The northern kingdom had in succession three capitals:

(1) Shechem, where the apostasy of Israel began (1 Kings 12:25-33).

(2) Tirzah, the home of Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:17), the scene of civil strife (1 Kings 16:9, 17.18), and of the court of Omri of sinister memory (Micah 6:16), for half his reign.

(3) Samaria, the seat of monarchy for two hundred years. Among the sins specially charged by the prophets against Samaria we find pride (Isaiah 9:9), luxury and licentiousness (Isaiah 28:1 4; Amos 6:1-6), incorrigible treachery (Hosea 7:1), contemptuous disregard of God and his worship (Hosea 8:5; Amos 8:14), oppression of the poor (Micah 3.; Amos 4:1). In Judah the high places were an offence to God, which even good kings did not entirely suppress, so that Jerusalem may be said to have been responsible for them, and did not escape the infection (2 Chronicles 28:1-4, 23-25) nor the denunciations of the prophets (Isaiah 1; Isaiah 5; Isaiah 28:14-19). We are thus reminded of -

I. THE RESPONSIBILITIES ATTACHING TO A METROPOLIS. It is:

1. The seat of government, where kings and rulers live and exert great personal influence, and where laws are passed which, if bad, may corrupt the national conscience and deprave social life.

2. One chief centre of public opinion, where the most educated, and cultivated congregate.

3. The fountain of fashion.

4. The gathering place of the rural population, where the opinions and practices of the citizens may be speedily imbibed. Illustrate from the influence of Paris during the second empire, culminating in the craze for war, which brought ruin on the country in 1870; or from the influence of Constantinople and its pachas on the present condition of the Turkish empire. Such capitals are centres of corruption, like diseased lungs where the blood is deteriorated rather than purified.

II. LESSONS ARE SUGGESTED FOR ALL CLASSES OF RESIDENTS IN A METROPOLIS.

1. For the court, lest they be like Jeroboam, "who made Israel to sin."

2. For legislators. Illustrate from the demoralizing effects of many of our past licensing acts.

3. For editors of newspapers and other leaders of public opinion. It was these who were, to a large extent, responsible for the Crimean War.

4. For the leaders of fashion, who may foster habits of extravagance, of peril to health, or even of cruelty in matters of dress.

5. For men of business; the exchanges of the metropolis giving a tone to the commercial customs of the country.

6. For artisans, whose trades unions may help or injure their fellow workmen scattered in the provinces.

7. For preachers, whom many gather from all parts to hear, and who may give a tone to the preaching of the country.

8. For Church members. Heresy or worldliness in metropolitan Churches may soon spread among rural Churches maintaining a simpler faith and practice (cf. Matthew 5:14, 16; Romans 1:8). - E.S.P.

This is a highly figurative and sublime representation of the Almighty in His retributive work, especially in relation to Samaria and Jerusalem. He is represented as leaving His holy temple, coming out of His place, and marching with overwhelming grandeur over the high places of the earth, to deal out punishment to the wicked. "The description of this theophany," says Delitzsch, "is founded upon the idea of a terrible storm and earthquake, as in Psalm 18:8. The mountains melt (Judges 5:4, and Psalm 68:9) with the streams of water which discharge themselves from heaven (Judges 5:4), and the valleys split with the deep channels cut out by the torrents of water. The similes 'like wax,' etc. (as in Psalm 68:3), and 'like water' are intended to express the complete dissolution of mountains and valleys. The actual facts answering to this description are the destructive influences exerted upon nature by great national judgments." The reference is undoubtedly to the destruction of the king of Israel by Shalmaneser, and the invasion of Judah by the armies of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, by the latter of whom the Jews were carried away captive. The passage is an inexpressibly grand representation of God's procedure in relation to sin.

I. As it APEARS TO THE EYE OF MAN. The Bible is eminently anthropomorphic.

1. God, in dealing out retribution, appears to man in an extraordinary position. "He cometh forth out of His place." What is His place? To all intelligent beings, the settled place of the Almighty is the temple of love, the pavilion of goodness, the mercy seat. The general beauty, order, and happiness of the universe give all intelligent creatures this impression of Him. But when confusion and misery fall on the sinner, the Almighty seems to man to come out of His "place," to step aside from His ordinary procedure. Judgment is God's strange work. He comes out of His place to execute it.

2. God, in dealing out retribution, appears to man in a terrific aspect. He does not appear as in the silent march of the stars or the serenity of the sun; but as in thunderstorms and volcanic eruptions. "The mountains shall be molten under Him," etc.

II. As it AFFECTS A SINFUL PEOPLE. In God's procedure in relation to sin what disastrous effects were brought upon Samaria and Jerusalem!

1. God, in His procedure in relation to sin, brings material ruin upon people. Sin brings on commercial decay, political ruin; it destroys the health of the body, and brings it ultimately to the dust.

2. God, in His procedure in relation to sin, brings mental anguish upon a people. A disruption between the soul and the objects of its supreme affections involves the greatest anguish. The gods of a people, whatever they may be, are these objects, and these are to be destroyed. Conclusion — Mark well that God has a course of conduct in relation to sin, or rather, that God, in His beneficent march, must ever appear terrible to the sinner, and bring ruin on his head. It is the wisdom as well as the duty of all intelligent creatures to move in thought, sympathy, and purpose, as God moves — move with Him, not against Him.

(Homilist.)