Joel 2:1 Blow you the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble… The two sentences mean the same thing. To blow the trumpet is to sound an alarm. And the scene is the mount of God's holiness — the holy mountain where this alarm is to be sounded. I. WHAT ARE THE ENEMIES AGAINST WHORL AN ALARM MUST BE SOUNDED? 1. Ignorance. 2. Superstition. 3. Self-righteousness. 4. Conformity to the world. 5. Hypocrisy. II. REASONS WHY THIS OPPORTUNITY IS TAKEN FOR SOUNDING AN ALARM. (The clergyman was pleading on behalf of Sunday and national schools.) The children of the poor need education. The children of this generation will be the fathers and mothers of the next. III. OFFER SOME ENCOURAGEMENT. If you are disposed to listen to the alarm sounded, and endeavour to mind your ways. The first encouraging sign will be that you will learn to know your own state. Second encouraging sign, that you confess your sins. The next sign, your fairly setting to work, from this very hour, to see what can possibly be done for the everlasting good of these children. A most pleasing sign would be this, a looking up to God to do that for these little ones, which you have it not in your power to do for them. (T. Mortimer, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; |
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