The Globe-republican., 1892-04-07

the wagon. and our yoke OF oxen ran
away with US and along labyrinthine
road through the woods, so tina: I
thought every moment we should be
dashed to pieces, and I made . terrible
outcry Of fright, and my father turned to
me with face perfectly calm, and said:
de Witt, what are you crying about?
l guess we can ride as fast as the oxen
can rum" And, my hearers, why should We
be affrighted and lose our equilibrium in
the swift movement Of worldly events,
especially when we are assured that it is
not yoke of unbroken steers that are
drawing US on. but that order and wise
government are in the yoke?
In your occupation, your mission, your
sphere. do the best you can, and then
trust to God; and if things are all mixed
and disquieting, and your brain is hot
and your heart sick, get some one to 20
out with you into the starlight and point
out to you the Pleiades, or, better than
that, get into some observatory, and
through the telescope see further than
Amos with the naked eve could-namely,
200 stars in the Pleiades, and that in
what is called the sword of Orion there
is nebula computed to be two trillion
two hundred thousand billions times
larger than the sun. Oh, be at peace
with the God who made all that and con-
trolls all that-the wheel OF the constella-
tions turning in the wheel of galaXies
for thousands of years without the
breaking of cog or the slipping of
band or the snap of an axle. For YOUR
pIacidity and comfort through the Lord
Jesus Christ l charge you, seek Him
that maketh the Seven Stars and Orion. {"
Again, Amos saw, as we must see, that
the God who made these two groups of
the text was the God of light. Amos
saw that God was not satisfied with
making one star, or two stars, or three
stars, but He makes seven; and having
finished that group of worlds. makes an
other group|grOup after group. To
the Pleiades He adds Orion. It seems
that God likes light so well that He
keeps making it. Only one being in the
universe knows the statistics of solar.
lunar, stellar, meteoric creations, and
that is the Creator Himself. And they
have all been lovingly christened, each
one a name as distinct as the names of
your children. HE telleth the number
Of the stars; He calleth them all by their
names" The seven Pleiades had names
given TO them, and they are Alcyone.
Merope, Celeno, Electra, Sterope, Tay-
gete, and Maia.
Again, Amos saw, as we must see, that
the God who made these two archipela-
goes of stars must be an unchanging
God. There has been no change in the
stellar appearance during this herds
mans lifetime, and his father, shep-
herd, reported to him that there had
been no change in his lifetime. And
these two clusters hang oyer the celestial
night that they shone on the Edenic bow
ers; the same as when the Egyptians
built the pyramids. from the top of which
to watch them; the same as when the
Chaldeans calculated the eclipses; the
same as when Elihu, according to the
book Of job, went out to study the aurora
borealis; the same under the PtOlemaic
system and Copernican system; the same
from Calisthenes to Pythagoras, and
from Pythagoras to Herschel. Surely,
changeiess God must have fashioned
the Pleiades and Orion! Oh, what an
anOdyne amid the ups and downs of life,
and the f1ux and reflux of the tides of
prosperity, to know that we have
changeless God. the same yesterday.
to-day and forever
Again, Amos saw, as we must see, that
the God who made these two beacons of
the oriental night sky must be God of
loye and kindly warning. The Pleiades
rising in n.idsky said to all the herds
men and shepherds and husbandmen,
'COme out and enjoy the mild weather
and cultivate your gardens and fields"
Orion, coming in winter, warned them to
prepare for tempest. All navigation
was regulated by these two constella-
tions. The one said to shipmaster and
crew, "Hoist sail for the sea and gather
merchandise from other lands" But
Orion was the storm signal, and said,
"Reef sail. make things snug or put into
harbor for the hurricanes are putting
their wings out" As the Pleiades were
the sweet evangels of spring, Orion was
the warning prophet of winter.
Oh, now get the best view of God I
ever had! There are two kinds of SER
mons l never want to preach-the one
that presents God so kind, so indulgent.
so lenient, so imbeciie that men may do
what they will against Him and fracture
His every law and put the pry of their
impertinence and rebellion under His
throne, and while they are splitting in
His face and stabbing at His heart He
takes them up in His strong arms and
kisses their Infatuated brow and cheek.
saying, 'Of such is the Kingdom of
Heaven" The other kind of sermon |
never want to preach represents God as
all fire and torture and thundercloud, |
and with redhot pitchfork tossing the !
human race into parOxysms of infinite |
agony. The sermon that l am now |
preaching believes in God of loving. |
kindly warning. the God of spring and |
winter, the God of the Pleiades and |
Orion.
You must remember that the winter is |
just as important as the spring. Let one |
winter pass without frost to kill vegeta-
ton and ice to bind the rivers and snow
to enrich our fie Ids and then you will |
have to enlarge your hospitals and your
"A green Christmas makes
! fat graveyard was the. old proverb
Storms to purify the air. Thermometer
1t ten degrees above zero to tone up the
system. December and January Just as