Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1892-03-24
GOD OF THE STARS.
DR.. rALMAeE FINDS A LESSON IN
ORION AND TIE PLElADES.

Was Som SS[ai Lesson Even IN AS
trolosy-The Great Cathedral of Co
locnc and the humble worshiper-
BROOKLYN. March 2o.-In this SER
mon DR.. Talmage Ecaverses wide
realms of thought to teach useful
everyday lessons, based on the text.
Amos V, S, Seek him that maketh
the Seven Stars and Orion.
A country farmer wrote this text
Amos of Tekoa. He plowed the
earth and thrashed the grain by a
new thrashing machine Just invent
ed. as formerly the cattle trod out
the grain. He gathered the fruit OF
the sycamore tree and scarlfed II,
with an iron comb jus before It was
getting ripe, as it was necessary and
customary in that way to take from
it the bitterness. He was the son OF
a poor shepherd and suffered but
before the stammering rustic the
Philistines and Syrians and Phonl-
clans and Moa5ites and AnrEonites
aud Edomites and Israebtes trem-
bled.
Moses was a lawgiver, Daniel was
a p11nce, Isaiah q comtier and David
kng; but Amos, the author Of my
text. was a peasant, and, as might be
supposed. nearly all his p~aralleGsms
are pastoral. his prophecy full of the
odor of new moNn hay, and the rat.
tie Of locusts. and the rumble of carts
with sheaves, and the roar OF Wild
beasts Gevouring the flock while the
shepherd came out in thaw defense.
He watched the nc-as oy day. and by
night inhabited a booth made out
of bushes, so that through these
branches he could see the stars All
night long, and was more familiar
with them than we who have tight
roofs to our houses and hardly ever
e the stars except among the tail
brick chimneys of the great towns.
But at seasons of the year when the
herds We're IN special danger he
would stay out IN the open field All
through the darkness. his only shell
ter the curtain of the night heaven,
with the stellar embroide,1es and
sl--ered tasselS of lunar light.
THE SOLITUDE OF MO-
What a life Of solitude, all alone
with his herds! Poor Amos. Ard
ct twelve O'Clock at night. bark TO
the VOLTS bark, and the lions roar,
and the bears growl. AMI the owls
te-whit-te-who, and the Serpents hiss
as he unwittinsly steps too near.
while moving through the thic&ets.
So Amos. ike other herdsmen, got
the habit of Studying the map Of the
heavens. becauseit vas so much OF
the time spread o@t before him. He
noticed some stars advancing ard
others receding. Heassociated their
dawn and setting with certain sea.
Sons of the year. He had a poetic
nature, and he read night by NIGHT
and month by month and year by
year the poem Of the consultations,
divinely Rhythmic.
But two rosettes of stars especially
attracted his attention white seated
on the ground or lying on his back
under the open scroll Of the midnight
heavens the Pleiades or Seven
Stsls. 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, ;oS 1t comes 10
the ~eridian IN January. The Flei-
az y Seven Stars, connected with
a reetness and JOY 0Ion. the
f.raid Of the tempest. The aaGentS
were the more apt TO stady the
pb>S;ognomy and juNtapesluon of
tie heavenly bodies because they
thought they lal specie m9i&eEee
upon he sgr aud laps they
We're right Haea62on every few
10 M les -41es Of
Ii Atiane oceau@ aad IKE electric.
sto.Ta 1e sun, by al sclentae
ADMISSION. affect the cath Why MOI
the stars have proporeiouate erect
And there are some things winch
make me think that it may not have
been all superstition which connected
the movements and appearance OF
the heavenly bodies with @1eatlaoral
events on earth. Did lot i meteor
III on evangelistic el1and=on the
first Christmas night and designate
the rough cradle OF our Lord Did
not the stars IN their courses fight
against Sisera? VAST merely com
cidental that before the destruction
of Jerusalem the moon was eciipsed
for twelve consecutive nights. Did
it merely happen so that a new star
appeared IN constellation C~assiopeia.
and then disappeared just before
King Charles TX of France, who was
responsible for the ST. Bartholomew
massacre. died VAST jthoutsignlf
canoe that IN the days OF the Roman
emperor Justinian war and famine
were preceded by the dnnncss of the
sun. which for nearly a year gaveno
more light than the moon, although
there were 30 clouds 70 obscure III
THE ANTHEM OF TIE STARS -
Astrologv. after all, may have been
something more than 4 brilliant
heathenism. No wonder that Amos
of the text, having heard these NO
anthems of the stars, put down the
stout rough staff OF the herCslaan
and took into his brown hand and
cut and knotted fingers the pen Of a
prophet and advised the ~recreant
people of his time to return TO Cod
saving Seek Him that maketh the
Seven Stars and Orion. This ON
maud. which Amos gave 70 years
B. C.. is just as appropriate for US,
1892 a D.
In the first place Amos saw, as we
must see, that the God who made
TIE Pleiades and Orion must be the
God Of order. 1t WIS not 50 maeh a
star here and a sta there that IN.
pressed the inspired ~herdsman. bat
seven in = group AID seven in the.
other group. He saw ta&t night al
ter night and season after=season
and decade after decade they had
kept step of light. each one in us
own place. a sisterhood never clas:
ing ana never contestinS precedence