The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1892-04-29
SEEK HIM.
Nhy Want to Stay in This Clubhouse
World
When ,ho Kings Palaces Are Waiting
for IS Above-Sermon by Rev.
hewitt Talmage, DID.

w..
the seven stars and Orion"
n A country farmer wrote this text
|, Amos. ne Tekoa. He plowed the earth
and threshed the grain by new
X thrcshing machine just invented, as
formerly the cattle trod out the grain.
Uc Gathered the fruit of the sycamore
,rcc and sacrificed it with an iron comb
lust before it was getting ripe, as it
was necessary and customary in that
,vav 10 take from it its bitterness, He
was the son of "a poor shepherd, and
stuttcrcd but before the stammering
rustic the Philistines and Syrians and
PhTnjcians, and Moabites and Am
monites and Edomitcs, and Israelites
\ trcmblcd.
Moses was a law-givcr, Daniel was a
prince: Isaiah a courticr and David a
n king: but Amos, the author of my text
was a peasant, and, as might be sup
poscd nearly all his parallelisms are
4 pas toral his prophecy full of the odor
of ncw-mown hay, and the rattle of To-
Gusts. and the rumble of carts with
u shcavcs. and the roar of wild beasts de-
vourirg the flock while the shepherd
Y came out in their defense. He watched
the herds 10y day, and by night inhabited
n boOlh made out of bushes, SO that
& throuch these branches he could see the
& stars ali night long, and was more IA
miiiar with them than we who have
TIGHT roofs to our houses, and hardly
ever sec the stars except among the tall
brick chinncys of the great towns.
"a Ru, a. seasons of the year when herds
were in special danger, he would stay
out in the open field, all through the
darkness. his only shelter the curtain
of the nirht-heaven, with the stellar
cmnroidcrics and silvcrcd tasscls Of
3 lunar light.
What ii life of solitude, all alone with
4 his herds. Poor Amos! And at twelve
O'Clock at night, bark to the VOLTS
q bark and the lions roar, and the
bears crowl, and the owls te.whit-te-
who and the scrpent's hiss, as he I'M
Willingly steps too near while moving
through the thicliets! So Amos like
other AcrdSmcn, got the habit of study
ING the map of the heavens, because it
was so much of the time spread out be-
fore him. He noticed some stars adj
vancing and others rcccding. He as
ISOLATED their dawn and setting with
certain seasons of the year He had
z poetic nature, and he read night by
night, and month by month, and year
by year the poem of the consultations,
diyiucly rhythmic. But two rosettes
OF stars especially attracted his atten-
ton while seated on the ground or ly-
ing on his back under the open scroll
of the midnight heavcns-the Plciades
or Seven Stars, and Orion.
The former group this rustic prophet
associated with the spring, as it rises
about the first of May. The latter he
associated with the winter as it comes
to the meridian in January. The
PlciaGcs, or Seven Stars, connected
with all sweetness and JOY; Orion, the
& herald Ot the tempest. The ancientS
were the more apt to study the physiog-
nomy aud juXtaposition of the heaven
8 ly bodies because they thought they had
special influence upon the earth, and
4 perhaps they were right. If the moon
every few hours lifts and lets down the
tides of the Atlantic ocean, and the
electric storms of the sun, by all scien-
& tifc admission, affect the earth, why
not the stars have proportionate effect?
And there are some things which
make me think that it may not have
f been all superstition which connected
the movements and appearance of the
& heavenly with great moral events on
earth, Did not a meteor run on an
evangclistic errand on the first Christ
mas night and designate the rough
cradle Of our Lord? Did not the stars
in their course fight against Sisera?
Was il merely coincidental that before
the destruction of Jerusalem the moon
was cclipscd for twelve consecutive
nights? Did it merely happen SO that
new star appeared in constellation Cas-
siopcia. and then disappeared just be-
fore King Charles n, of France, who
was responsible for ST. Bartholomew
massacre, died? Was it without signif
icancc that in the days of the Roman
Emperor Justinian war and famine
were preceded by the dimness of the
sun, which for nearly year gave no
more light than the moon, although
there were no clouds to obscure II?
Astrology, after all, may have been
something more than a brilliant
hcathenism. No wonder that Amos of
the text having heard these two an
thems Of the stars, put down the stout
rough staff of the herdsman and took
into his brown hand, and cut and knot
ted fingers the pen of a prophet, and
advised the recreant people to return to
God, saying: Seek Him that maketh
the Seven Stars and Orion" This COM
mand which Amos gave 7S5 years b.
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