The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-04-30
,sRAEL's DOOM FoREToLo.


him shall BE- taken even thos which he seemsoA
to have.-Luke 8:1a
CENTRAL TRUTH whatsoever man sowss1sS
that shall he also reap.
TME.-Between 3. Q. s1o7sa In the rcisnsR
Jeroboam II. OF Israel.
P1.AcI-Tho prophecies were spoken ~
Bethel the religious center. and Samaria, ~
capital.
CIRCuMsrANCEs.-Amos, denouncing Wo0s
against Israel for their sins, aroused the angeat
Of the leaders. Amaziah, the chief priest OF tn
golden calf worship at Bethel denounced AmoGs
as traitor and conspirator. because Of hA1e
threatenings; and he bnde the prophet go honnat
to Judah. Amos replied by still more carneg4
warnings, and q clearer vision Of Isracrs doonai
To-day's lesson is o portion Of this address. /
HELPS OVER HARD PLAcEs-l. "A baskct 81
summer fruit:" an object lesson. Israel wa
like this summer fruit: ~ 1t was ripe for dat
struction. (2) 1t was too late to grow anH
more (9) 1t would soon decay. B. Mot pA8o
by any more:" not overlook their sins; not paA4
without taking notice. s. "Cast forth with n
lence:" in great awe at the fearful judgment; &c
the silence Of death; there were none left even -
mourn. 8. when will the new moon" the feof
tivsl held on the FIRST Of the month, when busff
ness was loid aside mum. 2S:1l Kings 4:293S
BE gone:" they would not stop their greed I'm
gain, even for worship. "Set forth wheats'e
from the granary for sale. '"The ephah:" three
pecks and three pints. They cheated in Quan4
tity. ''Thc shekel great" the shekel weigho6
half On ounce, Troy, and was used rs weighs
fer weighing the uncoined silver with which th0
wheat was paid for, so that they cheated IN
price. g. 1.-THE needy for pair OF shoes:" sold
them for slaves, because they could not even,
pay for shoes. Z. "Tho excellency Of Jacobs
the Lord Himself; or all that Israel might have
Seen in glory and blessedness 8 Rise up -
food:" rather the river, like the overaowin8
Of the Nile. Cast outs" troubled. AND
drowned" and sink again like the upheavalH
Of IN tn 90
noon:" they would pass away suddenly. before
their time, In the midst OF their prosperity. 10.
'Sackcloth; badness" signs Of mourning. n,
'Seek the word Of the Lord" seek for prom
ises Of help in their great need. IL ''The sin,
OF Samaria" the golden calf nt Bethel, b.
which Samaria, the capital, sinned. DAMS
in the north, where the golden Golf was placed
1.-THE manner:" Of worship nt Beershcba, q
place Of idolatrous worship. Their idols woul6
fail them in their time OF need.
LESSON CoMMENrs.-Just as am
writing this, we hear of famine in
Dakota, owing to droughts. The dis
tress is something fearful, and the calla
for help from other parts OF that state
are loud. Yes, a famine is fearful
thing, and one which brings death and
| disease in it's train. But that is not the
kind Of famine of which the prophet
| speaks in this lesson. There are other
famines besides the famine of bread.
just suppose that in our land there
were famine of knowledge; that all
our colleges were closed, and that all
high schools were blotted out! Suppose
that all books were destroyed, and all
newspapers ceased to exist Suppose
that we lapsed into a state of real saw
agery, and that there were no educated
persons left in the whole land! What
an awful state Of affairs that would bet
It were better for us to cease to exist as
| q people, than for us to live on under such
a condition Of affairs. Yet this was not
the kind of a famine that the prophet
was foretelling. There is worse fam
inc than that. It is q famine Of tA4
Word of the Lord. This is the famine
that the prophet said would come to
Israel if they persisted in the way that
they were pursuing. He said that the
day would come when they should run
to and fro in all the earth, and should
seek the Word Of the Lord, but because
they had so long and persistently re-
jected, they should not be able to find it.
Has this prophecy been fulflled2
Well, to see the answer to that, we have
only to look ut the state of Israel to-
day. They are, as a nation, devoid OF
that which is the highest form of truth.
Nowhere in all the earth do they seem
to be able to find the truth, though it is
on every hand.
And are there no famines of the Word
of God excepting among the Jews? Are
they the only people who are starving
for lack of truth? Certainly not! Re-
lection of theWord Of God as we hear il
results in the same way in all places
and all times. There are in England
and in this land scientific men who have
famine of the Word Of God. They
have fed on the husls of Goddess skepti
cism until they are starving for lack o1
some spiritual food. The Word of God
has been rejected, and their souls have
become dwarfed as a result. Darwin
was such an one, and Huxley is another
When the year before he died Darwin
was asked as to his belief in the exist
ence of God, he wrote: "Can one trust
to the conviction of a monkeys mind?'
And Huxley stigmatizes man as fail
ure, and as "a wilderness Of apes
Surely such men are starving for lit
tie truth, and yet there arc large mum
bers of those in our times who are fol
lowing them, and calling them ''grea
men," Yes, If their teachings are fol
lowed, England and America will sool
have a horrible famine of the Word O
God. This means the baldest material
ism, and that means a civiliza
tion that must soon crumble to pieces
as Israel crumbled and failed.
But there are those among us who d.
not believe any such nonsense as is re
ferred to in the above lines. Yet, Il
spite Of our orthodox faith, we have
famine of the Word of God.
How Is 1t in your home and you
heart? Is there an abundance of tn
Word Of God there, or are you starvin
. for lack Of the truth? Well, there is
point beyond which, If we go, we shal
not be able to recover what we hav
lost. Israel went beyond that point
and now for centuries she has been su,
fering the consequences. So the sou
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