Wesley Corpus

On Public Diversions "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it" Amos 3:6. It is well if there are not too many here who are too nearly concerned in these words of the Prophet; the plain sense of which seems to be this: Are there any men in the world so stupid and senseless, so utterly void of common reason, so careless of their own and their neighbours' safety or destruction, as when an alarm of approaching judgments is given, to show no signs of apprehension to take no care in order to prevent them, but go on as securely as if no alarm had been given Do not all men know that whatsoever evil befals them, it befalls them either by God's appointment; and that he designs every evil of this life to warn men to avoid still greater evils that he suffers these lighter marks of his displeasure, to awaken mankind, so that they may shun his everlasting vengeance, and be timely advised, by feeling a part of it,so to change their ways that his whole displeasure may not arise I intend, speaking on this subject, to show, First, that there is no evil in any place but the hand of the Lord is in it. Secondly. That every uncommon evil is the trumpet of God blown in that place, so that the people may take warning. Thirdly. To consider whether, after God hath blown his trumpet in this place, we have been duly afraid. I am, First, to show, in few words, that there is no evil in any place but the hand of the Lord is therein. No evil, that is, no affliction or calamity, whether of a public or of a private nature, whether it concerns only one, or a few persons, or reaches to many, or to all, of that place where it comes. Whatever circumstance occasions loss or pain to any man, or number of men, may in that respect be called an evil; and of such evils the Prophet speaks in these words.