Milford chronicle., 1892-03-25
AT THE TABERNSk. n.
THE DIVINE ASTRONOMY As q
scRlBED BY THE PROPHETS.

IN the NnchanEtMB NoAuuAe u eAo 9---~
1t Is written That God Is a God o
Infinite order and without Variable
ness or shadow Of Turning.
BROOKLYN. March 2O-In this sermon
DR.. Talmage traverses wild realms oi
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 new thrashing
machine just invented, as formerly the cat
tie trod out the grain. He gathered the
fruit Of the sycamore tree and scarified il
with an iron comb just before it was get
ting ripe, as it was necessary and custom
arv in that way to take from it the bitter
ness. He was the son Of a poor shepherd
and suffered, but before the stanmering
rustic the Philistines and Syrians and
Phenicians and Moabites and Ammonites
and Edomites and Israelites trembled.
Moses was a lawgiver, Daniel was a
prince, Isaiah cOurtier and David king;
but Amos, the author of my text, was a
peasant and as might be supposed, nearly
all his parallelisms are pastoral, his proph-
ecy fulp'S the odor of new mOwn hay, and
the rat . JoaVsts, and the rumble of carts
with sk. o d I'D the roar Of wild beasts
devouriIA - ; Ock while the shepherd
came out in, T defense. He watched the
herds by day, lro~ ~ night inhabited "A booth
made out of bushes, so that through these
he could see the stars all night long, and
was more familiar with them tho, we who
have tight roofs to our houses an s1pardly
over see the stars, except among Sne tall
brick chimneys Of the great towns. But at
seasons of the year when the herds were In
special danger, he would stay out in the
open field all through the darkness, his
only shelter the curtain Of the night heaven,
with the stellar embToideries and silvered
tassels of lunar light,
What life of solitude, all alone with
his herds Poor AmOsl And at II O'Clock
at night bark 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, be-
cause it was so much of the time spread
out before him. He noticed some stars
advancing and others Feeedipg. He asso-
ciated their dawn and setting with certain
seasons 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
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 beayens-the Pleiades, 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 Pleiades, or Seven Stars, connected
with all sweetness and joy; Orion, the
herald of the tempest. The anclents 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.moou every few hours
lifts and 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 proportioDate
effeetf
WAS IT ALL SUPERSTITION
And there are some things which make
me think that it may not have been all su
DerstitiOn which connected the movements
and appearance of the heavenly bodies !
with great moral events on earth. Did not
q meteor run on evangelistic errand on the |
first Christmas night and designate the /
rough cradle Of our Lord? Did not the |
stars in their courses fight against Sisera' |
Was it merely cOincidental that before the |
destruction of Jerusalem the moon was /
selipsed for twelve consecutive nights? |
Did it merely happen SO that new star
appeared in constellation Cassiopeia, and
5hen disappeared just before King Charles
* Of France, who was responsible for the
st. Bartholomew massacre, died? Was it
without significance that in the days OF
he Roman emperor Justinian war and
anime were preceded by the dimness of
he sun, which for nearly year gave no
more light than the moon, although there
we're no clouds to obscure it?
AstrOlogy, after all, may have been
more than a brilliant heathen
SIN. No wonder that Amos Of the text,
laving heard these two anthems of the
tars, put down the stout rough staff of
he herdsman and took into his brown
land and cut and knOtted fingers the pen
{ a prophet and advised the recreant peO-
lie Of his time to return to God, saying,
Seek him that maketh the Seven Stars
ave 7s5 years B. c.. is just as appropriate
or us, 1892 A. d.
In the first place, Amos saw, as we must
ee, that the God who made the Pleiades
nd Orion must be the God of order. 1t
7as not so much a star here and star
here that impressed the inspired herds
nan, but seven in one group and seven in
be other group. He saw that night after
ight and season after season and decade
fter decade they had kept step Of light,
ach one in its own place, a sisterhOOd
ever clashing and never cOntesting prec-
dence. From the time HesiOd called the
'leiades the ''seven daughtes of Atlas,
nd Virgil wrote in his Hneid of stormy
Drion" until now, they have observed the
rder established for their coming and
Ding; order written not in manuscript
hat may be pigeonhOled, but with the
and of the Almighty on the dome Of the
Ky, so that all nations may read it. Order
ersistent order. Sublime order. Om
ipotent order
THE CONSOLATION IN NATURE.
What a sodative to you and me, to whom
,mmunities and nations sometimes seem
Ding pellmell, and world ruled by some
end at haphazard and in all directions
administration The God who keeps
wen worlds in right circuit for six thous-
nd years can certainly keep all the affair
individuals and nations and continents
! adjustment We had not better fret
luch, for the peasants argument Of the .
.xt was right. If God can take care Of
le seven worlds of the Pleiades and the q
yur chief worlds of Orion, he can probably
Ike care Of the one world we inhabit. q
50 feel very much as my father felt
ne day when we were going to the country
ill to get a grist ground, and /, boy Of
wen years, sat in the back part of the
agon, and our yoke Of oxen ran away
ith us and along a labyrinthine road
irough the woods, so that | thought !
yery moment we should be dashed to
eces, and made terrible outcry Of !
light, and my father turned to me with
ice perfectly calm, and said; "De Witt, !
hat are you crying about? ! guess we !
IN ride as fast as the oxen can run" /
nd, my hearers, why should be atfrighted I
nd lose our equilibrium in the swift move I
ent Of worldly events, especially when /
e are assured that it is not yoke Of I'M
rolxen steers that are drawing us on, but
lat order and wise government are in the I
lkef
In your occupation, your mission, your I
= Al