Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-03-21
GOD OF THE STARS.
pa. TALMAeE FINDS A LESION IN
ORION AND THE PLeIAoEs.

WA HOAM1 mDEAA Af1nHOA A<FCA 81 -
aroloey--rhe Great Cathedral Of co
ioxas and the Humble worshiper.
BRooKLYN, March 2O.--In this scr
mon DR.. TalInage traverses vile
realms Of thought to teach useful
everyday lessons based on the text.
Amos v, s, "Seek him that make th
the Seven Stars and Orion"
A country farmer wrote this tex
Amos of Tekoa. He plowed the
eorth and thrashed the grain by a
new thrashing machine just invc 1T
cd, as formerly the catsie tlta at
the grain. lie gathered the fruit Of
the sycamore tree and scarifed it
with an iron comb just before it was
getting ripe, as it was necessary and
customary in that way to take from
Il the bitterness. He was the son Of
poor shepherd end suffered; but
before the stammering rustic the
Philistines and Syrians and PhG,li-
clans and Moabites and Ammonites
and Edomites and Lraelites tren
bled
Moses was lawgiver, Daniel was
O prince, Isaiah courtier and DAY ID
king; but Amos, the author of ny
text, was peasant, and, as might be
supposed, nearly all his parallelisi Is
are pastoral, his prophecy full of the
udor Of new mown hay, and the II t.
ile Of locusts, and the rumble of cal Is
with sheaves, and the roar Of wild
beasts devouring the flock while the
shepherd came out in their defense.
He watched the herds by day, and liy
night inhabited a booth made oft
Of bushes, 80 that through the %
branches he could see the stars al
night long, and was more familiar
with them than we who have tig ut
roofs to our houses and hardly ever
see the stars except among the TIL
brick chimneys of the great towns.
But at seasons of the year when tie
herds were in special danger he
would stay out in the open field all
through the darkness, his only sht l.
ter the curtain of the night heaven,
with the stellar embroideries ard
silvered tassels of lunar light.
THE SOLITUDE OF AMOS.
What life of solitude, all alone
with his herdsl Poor Amosl Aid
at twelve 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 serpent's hiss
as he unwittingly steps too near
while moving through the thicketsl
SO Amos, like other herdsmen, got
the habit of studying the map of the
heavens, because it was so much Of
the time spread out before him. IIe
noticed some stars advancing and
others receding. He associated 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 while seated
ON the ground or lying on his back
under the open scroll of the midnight
heavens - the Pleiades, or Seven
Stars, and Orion. The former group
this rustic prophet associated with
the spring, as 1t rises about the first
of May. The latter he associated
with tho winter, as 1t comes TO
the meridian in January, The Plei-
aides, or Seven Stars, connected with
all sweetness and joy Orion, the
herald OF the tempest. The ancients
were the more apt to study the
physiognomy and juxtaposition of
the heavenly bodies, because they
thought they had a special influence
upon the earth; and perhaps they
were right. If the moon every few
hours lifts ana lets down the tides OF
the Atlantic ocean, and the electric
storms of the sun, by all scientific
admission, affect the earth, why not
the stars have proporhonate effeotl
And there are some things which
make me think that II may not have
been all superstition which connected
the movements and appearance of
the heavenly bodies with great moral
events on earth. Did not a meteor
run on evangelistic errand ON the
first Christmas night and designate
the rough cradle of our Lordl Did
not the stars in their courses fight
against Sisoraf Was II merely coin
cidental that before the destruction
OF Jerusalem the moon was eclipsod
for twelve consecutive nightsi Did
il merely happen so that a new star
appeared In constellation Cassiopeia,
and then disappeared just before
King Charles TX OF France, who was
responsible for the st. Bartholomew
massacre, diedi Was Il without ggiiifi-
canoe that IN tho days Of the Roman
emporor Justinjan war and famine
wero preceded by the dimness cf the
sun, which for nearly year gave no
moro light than the moon, although
there were no clouds 10 obscure itl
the ANTHEM on rHK STARS,
Astrology, after all, may have been
something more than a brilliant
heathenism. No wonder that Amos
81 tho text, having heard these two
anthems Of the stans. put down the
stout rough staff OF the herlsnan
and took into his brown hand and
cut and knotted fingers the pen of
prophet and advised the recreant
people Of his time 10 roturn 10 God
saying. "seok Him that malyeth the
Seven Stars and Orion" This com
mand, which Amos gave 785 years
81 O.. Ii just as appropriate for us