Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-09

I
the same language We are plain, un-
poetical people, fond of arithemetic and
machinery and statistics and accuracy, and
not gaven to metaphor norfhyperoole. But
the Oriental mind has always delighted IN
| imagery and exaggeration, and is naturally
poetical. Joel was an Oriental, and used
the picturesque comparisons OF MS time.
It seemed to him that these rapacious
locusts were as swift as horses and as fierce
as lions.
| Of Joels sermons we have two, each
| preached upon a special occasion, one for
a fast and the other for thanksgiving.
There are three chapters in this book,
chapter and a half in each sermon. :.
| TheA fastday sermon is call to repent
ance. The place is probably Jerusalem. A
little remnant of the once great nation has
crept back after the long captivity, and the
sncient town has been rebuilded. The old
| wails-haye been restored. The splendid
temple bas been cleared of its broken stone,
rescued from the desolations OF destroyers
and plunderers, and once more consecrated
totheuses of, ,religion-but now SO small. SO
! poor, so mean, that the old men weep when
| they look at it.
The Moment for the Preacher.
| Nevertheless, the people are beginning to
take heart, and to look into the future with
some hope, when they are suddenly terrified
| by tidings of calamity. Outside the city,
away across the plains, are the locusts, rush.
ing on like an invading army. The people
are gathered in the squares and markets.
What can be done? EVERYBODY is asking
that despairing question. and there is no
answer. 1t is the moment for the preacher.
A voice is heard speaking in the midst of
the crowd, and all turn to listen. The
speaker is a man of the people, not priest
nor an official; but one who sees the right
thing to do, and declares it. They who hear
recognize the truth of his sermon and obey.
| You can imagine the anxious and excited
multitude, and the eager speaker. He pict-
ures the fearful peril. Let us pray, he says.
| Let US humble ourselves before God aud
| implore His mercy. Proclaim a fast; let
men with trumpets go about the streets and
call the city to fast and pray. Help can
come from God alone.
Are we in agreement With the preacher?
Did the invading locusts mean the indgna-
tion of God? And was prayer the very
best srecourse in that time of peril? AT
once we answer ''no." They used to think
that earthquake, food, fire, pestilence were
more than symbols; actual instruments in
the hands of an angry God wherewith He
punished His offending children.
God Himself, they would have said, set
the curse of cholera in the steerage of the
Hamburg Ghips, and sent them over to this
country to chastise us for our sins. And we
would have no right to hedge ourselves
about with the precautions of the quaran-
tine. That would be an evasion of the
penalties of God We might resort to de-
votion, but not to disinfection.
We have learned better than that. The
plague is always punishment for sin, the
older the race grows the surer we are of
that. Disease is the certain consequence of
dirt. When the laws of God are broken the
penalty must inevitably follow. But we
know now that the right order Of action in
religion is not prayer first. and then re-
pentance, and then amendment; but that
repentance and amendment must precede
petition; and that prayer is of no avail un-
less precaution has gone before it. 1t is of
mouse to ask God to do His part until we
have done ours. 1t would have been better
back in, J Joel's day, to have hurried out and
barricaded the city against invasion by
building up great bonfres in the road
of the locusts, and after that to have
The first call of cholera is not for the priest
but for the health officer. Make the streets
clean, and then we can 60 on and try to
make the peoples hearts clean.
Natures Inexorable Laws,
God does not send the pestilence in anger,
any more than he burns the child's finger.
!, in anger when it is put too near-the fire
We will not teach the children to touch hot
iron, and, pray that they may not be hurt.
The wiser wav is too instruct them to keep
away from the hot iron. And if we do not
teach them that essential, lesson, then God
will and must, 1t is good thing to send
for the minister in the time of sickness, but
for the doctor, too. -,
Yet here is Joel crying out for prayer
day and fast day. Who knows but that
the city had already done its best? Out
side the walls blaze the great fires and we
can do no more What then? Why, let
us pray. We have used our strength and
wisdom to the limit of them. Is there no one
stronger and wiser than we are? Yes; God
is beside u.s. o God our Father, help us!
Who will teach us silence from such " wordso
"From plague, pestience and famine, good
Lord, deliver us" That is the lesson of
disaster. 1t reveals our weakness and
Gods might. 1t makes us think of God.
We have need of all the fast days and the
prayer days in the calendar. Then follows
day of thanksgiving. God has wonder
fully helped. A great storm has broken
the army of tbs locusts and driven them
into the desert and the sea- A gentle rain
has refreshed the land. Everyone is glad.
And Joel breaches his second sermon.
Hope for the Future.
Over all is God, the preacher says God
will surely bless us. The prophets were
forever declaring that They were not pes
simists, any of them. There was always
hope somewhere in the future The night
was black enough sometimes, but they were
sure that the day star would shine and the
clouds would flee away.
The preacher looks afar into the future,
and out of this page of Hebrew history he
reads chapter in the annals of the race.
God who sent the rain will likewise send
the blessing of his Spirit. God who sent
the destroying storm will likewise destroy
all the enemies of Israel and of the right. 4
The prophet sees two great and terrible
and blessed days approaching, the day OF
Pen.ecost and the Day of Judgment.
II will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh"-the prophet hears that divine prom
Use spoken. At the Day of Pentecost st.
Peter quoted the words as now fulfilled.
And, by and by, I will come to lead all
righteous causes in the world to victory.
The prophet sees a battle. The sun is dark
ened by the dust of tramping armies, and
the moon is turned to the color of blood,
and there are ''multitades, multitudes in
the Valley of Decision" Then shall all
workers of iniquity be defeated, all wrongs
righted, all injustice requited, and the