Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-07

no doubt, in the pasture fields of Tekoah,
about the vices and idolatries of the North
ern kingdom, and Amos listened to it. And
! as he listened his heart burned within him.
| He was but poor obscure man, not pro-
| phet nor the son of prophet-apoor herds
man of Tekoah.' What had he to do with
the iniquities of the splendid and sinful
kingdom?
Somehow he felt that he had great deal
to do with it. 1t was when the word came,
away off in the deserts Of Asia Minor, about
the murder and butchery of the Roman
Colosseum, and young monk took it into
his head and heart and hands to stop it.
You know how he made his way on foot
over the long road to Rome, with fists
clenched, and the fire of God burning IN his
soul You know how he entered Rome,
leaped over the barriers into the arena, sep
arated the gladiators, and did actually
bring it about-though he gave his life in
the doing of it-that that internal butchery
went on there not day longer.
How Amos Was Called.
That was how Amos felt. God had called
him. ''The Lord took me-" he said, "as
followed the foeks, and the Lord said unto
me: Go, prophecy unto my people Israel"
Nothing could keep him back You do not
need to read this book of sermons through
to be assured that here is great preacher.
Give man a message from the living God;
a message which he is absolutely sure of,
and which men are in crying and dying
need of; a message which he cannot help but
utter. And you have a preacher; to such q
messenger men must listen.
You can tell plainly enough by reading
these sermons that Amos was countryman.
He got his illustrations from the fields. The
stars of the clear night which he watched in
the pasture land, the harvest wagon loaded
high with grain, the bird taken in the
snare, the plowing oxen, the basket of ripe
fruit-these most readily came into his
mind. Aplain countryman, sort of old
time Hebrew Burns, with the same tan on his
cheek and the same flame in his heart. A
poet, thinking in notable, strong poetry
But, above everything else, in dead earnest
great thoughts in him, great preacher.
Into the Very Heart of Sin.
His subject is judgment. Upon all The
sins of this sinful people waits the wrath Of
God Not new subject. Noah, they say,
'the eighth person., preacher of right
And not an old subject, either; that is, not q
subject of the past and out of date Needed
this day, and In this town.
Picture the preacher. The place il
Bethel. That was the capital of that king.
dom, the Paris, the London, of Israel The
King lived there with his court about him.
And the chief temple of the idolatrous 70.
Egion was erected there. The chief priest
had his seat there. Straight into Bethel,
into the very heart of it, advanced the
preacher, and took his stand there in the
public square, before the ivory palaces,
within hearing of wicked princes, and
wicked priests, and wicked people, and
lifted up his voice and preached-as you
was that. Who will deny the man that did
1t place among great preachers?
The Chief Priest Sent Him Awsy.
Day after day this plain farmer in his
country dress spoke the very truth of God
in the Bethel market place. Daily the
great city listened, crowding the streets.
Sometimes with threatening, sometimes
with tears, he pleaded Gods Indignation
against all the luxury and cruelty and
sensuality he saw about him, keeping
nothing back.
Finally the chief priest came. Amaziah,
his name was. A typical chief-priest, like
those we read of in the Gospels And he
turned the preacher out. But am mes
senger, the preacher said. This which 7
speak the living God has taught me. Yes,
yes, Is the answer, so you say. Anyhow,
go away. Whether God said 50 or not, that
is not what we want to hear. Go into
Judah, and preach to them. Go over to
Philadelphia, or Wheeling, to Jerusalem
or Jericho, and preach. They need it. But
in this town-not q word further.
To the sermon ended, and the sins contin-
ned. And the rejected preacher went back
to his sheep and his trees, and there wrots
down what he remembered of his preaching.
And 50 is preaching still, even unto US.
GEORGE HODGEl