The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-03-31
AT THE TABERNACLE.
THE DIVINE ASTRONOMY AS DE-
SCRlBEC BY THE PROPHETS.

In lie CncEarRipe Volume c. the Skies
1t Is Written That GCd IL q God Of
Infinite Order and without Variable
ness or Shadow of Turning.
BROOKLYN, March 2O.-In this SER
mon DR.. TalmaSe trayerses wild realms
of thought 10 teach useful everyday les
sons, bassed on the text, Amos v, 8,
"Seek him that makcth the Seven
Stars and Orion"
Amos of Tekoa. He plowed the earth
and thrashed the grain by a new thrash
ing machine just invented, az formerly
the cattle trod out the grain. lie gath
cred the frui! of the sycamore tree and
scariiied it with an iron Comb just before
il was getting ripe, as it was necessary
and customary in that way TO take from
i. the bitterness. He was the son of a
poor shepherd and suffered, but before
the stammeling rustic the Philistincs
and Syrians rud PhGnicians and Moab
ties and Ammonites and Edomites and
Israelltes trembled.
Moses was lawgiver, Dauicl was a
prince, Isaiah courtier and David a
king; but Amos, the author of my text,
was a peasant, and, as might be sup
posed, nearly all his parallclisms are
pastoral, his prophecy uil of the odor
of new mown hay, and the rattle of
locusts, and the rumble Of carts with
sheaves, and the roar Of wild beasts de-
vouring the, flock while the shepherd
came out in their defense. lie watched
the herds by day, and by night inhabited
q booth made out Of bushes, so that
through these he could see the stars ali
night long, and was more familiar with
them than we who have tight roofs TO
our houses and hardly ever see the
stars, except among the tall brick chin.
neys Of the great towns. But at sea.
sons of the year when the herds were in
special danger, he would stay out in the
open field all through the darkness, his
only shelter the curtain of the nlghl
heaven, with the stellar emhrolderies
and silyered tassels of lunar light.
What life of solitude, all alone with
his herds! Poor Amos! And at IL
O'Clock at night hark TO the VOLTS bark
and the lions roar, and the BEARS growl
and the OWLS te-whit-te-who, and the
too near while moving through the thick.
the habit Of studying the map Of the
beavers, because 1t was so much Of tho
time spread out before him. He noticed
some stars advancing 9nd others rcced
ing. He associated their dawn and set.
ting with certain seasons OF the year
He had poetic nature, and fe read
night by night, and month by month";
and year by Year, the poem OF the con,
stellations, divinely rhythmic. But two
rosettes OF stars especially attracted his
attention while seated on the ground OF
living OH mis- back under the open scroll
Of the midnight hcavons-thc Pleiadcs
Or Seven Stars, and Orion. The former
group this rustic prophet associated will
the spring, as it rises about the first o
May. The latter lie associated with tht
winter, as it comes to the meridian il
January. The Plciades, or Seven Stars
connected with all sweetness and Joy
Orion, the herald OF the tempest. Th'
ancients were the mole apt to study th'
physognomy and iuxtaposition Of th'
heavenly bodies, because they though
they had a special influence upon th
earth, and perhaps they were right.
the moon every few hours lifts and let
down the tides of The Atlantic ocean
and the electric storms of the sun, b'
all scientific admission, affect the earth
why not the stars have proportional
effect?
Astrology, after all, may have beer
something more than q brilliant hcathcn
ism. No wonder that Amos OF thl
text, having heard these two anthem!
of the stars, put down the stout rougl
staff of the herdsman and took into hi:
br& wn hand and cut and knotted fingers
the pen of a prophet and advis ed the re
cent people Of his time to return to God
saying, Seek him that makcth TIT
Seven Stars and Orion" This com
mand, which Amos gave 785 years B
G., is Just as appropriate for us, $50.
A. d.
In the first place, Amos saw, as We
must see, that the God who made tho
Pleiades and Orion must be the God O.
order. 1t was not so much star here
and a star there that impressed the in
spired herdsman, but seven in Ole grOul
and seven in the other group. lie saw
that nigt after night and season after sea
son and decade after decade they hat
kept step of light, each one in its owr
place, sisterhood never clashing ant
never contesting precedence. From
the time Hesod called the Pleades the
"seven daughters Of Atlas" and VirSi
wrote in his Eneid of STORMY Orion
until now, they have observed the order
established for their coming and going;
order written not in manuscript that
may be plgeonholcd, but with the hand
OF the Almighty on the dome of the sky,
50 inat all nations may read it Order.
Persistent order. Sublime order. Om-
nipotent order.
What sedative to you and me, to
whom communities and nations some
times seem going pellmcll, and world
ruled by some tiend at haphazzard and
in all directions maladministration The
God who keeps seven worlds in right
circuit tor six thousand years can certain
ly keep all the affairs of individuals and
nations and continents in adjustment
We had not better fret much, for the
PEASANTS argument Of the text was
right. If God an take care OF the seven
worlds of the Pleiades and the four chief
worlds of Orion he can DrObablv take