Amos, too, when he went his way, felt that his words had made an
impression. He thought they had fallen, like seeds, upon fertile soil.
Would these seeds take root? Would they grow and flourish? Would they
bear fruit when the crisis for Israel came?

But first a crisis for Amos came, when he had to fight for his life.




CHAPTER IV.

_Treason and a Fight._


For some time, now, Amos had been preaching his new and formerly
unheard-of ideas, to the effect that God prefers rather that man be
just to his fellowmen than that he offer sacrifices; that Israel had
become weakened because of its indulgence in luxuriant living, on the
one hand, and because of the oppression and ill treatment of the poor
and needy, on the other; that God would be with the people against
their enemies only when the people turned away from their idolatrous
worship and sought God, by doing good and hating evil.

And he had been rewarded with laughter and jeers and derision on the
part of the people he tried to save!

Any other man would have given up long ago; not so Amos. His rebuffs,
however, made him somber and morose.