The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-02-11

g fruit Of the syca-
more tree, and scarifed it with an
iron comb just before it was getting
ripe, as it was necessary and CUSTOM
airy in that way to take from It tine DIT
terness. He was the son of poor ;shep-
herd, and suffered; but before the
sstammering rustic the Phillstlnes, and
SSyrians, and Phoenicians, and Moa-
bites, and Ammonites, and Edomltes,
land IsraeIites tremb1ed.
Moses was a law-gIver, Daniel was a
prince, Isaiah courtier, and David a
king; but Amos, the author of my text,
was a peasant, and, as might be sup
posed, nearly all his parallelisms are
pastoral, his prophecy full of the odor
of new mown hay, and the rattle OF To-
Gusts. and the rumble Of carts with
sheaves, and the roar of wild beasts de-
vouring the flock while the, shepherd
came out in their defense. He watched
the herds by day, and by night in
habited a booth made ont 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 see the stars except among
the 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 embroideries and silvered
tassels Of lunar light.
What a life of solitude, all alone
with his herds! Poor Amos! And at
twelve 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
unwittiIgly steps too near while NOV
ing through the thickets! 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 re-
ceding. He associated 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 con-
sstellatlOns, 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 it rises
about the first of May. The latter he
associated with the water, as it comes
to the meridian in January. The Plei-
ades or Seven Stars, connected with all
sweetness and joy; Orion, the herald
of the tempest. The ancients we're the
more apt to study the physiognomy and
juxtaposition OF the heavenly bodies
because they thought they had spe-
cial influence upon the earth; and per-
haps they were right. If the moon
every few hours lifts and lets down the
tides of the Atlantic ocean, and the
electric storms in the sun, by all scien-
tific admission, affected the earth, why
not the stars have proportionate effect
And there are some things which
make me think that it may not have
been all superstitution which connect
ed the movements and appearance O
the heavenly bodies with great mora
events on earth. Did not meteor ru1
on evangelistic errand on the frs
Christmas night, and designate tn,
rough cradle of our Lord? Did not tn,
stars in their course fight agains
Sisera? Was it merely coincidental tina
before the destruction of Jerusalem tn,
FOR tuyo
nights? Did 1T merely happen so tina
a new star appeared in constellatio,
Casseopeia, and then disappear just be
fore Charles TX. of France, who wa
responsible for ST. Bartholomew mass
acre, died? Was it without significanc
that in the days of the Roman Empero
Justinian war and famine were pre-
sceded by the dimness of the sun, whic
for nearly year gave no more Ugh
than the moon, although there wer
no clouds to obscure it?
Astrology, after all, may have bee
something more than a brilliant heath
enism. No wonder that Amos of tn
text, having heard these two anthem
offthe stars, put down the stout roug
staff OF the herdsman and took int
his brown hand and cut and knotte
fingers the pen of the prophet, and &C
vised the recreant people of his tim
to return to God, saying: Seek hill
that maketh the Seven Stars an
Orion" This command, which Amc
gave 785 years B. G., is just as apprt
pirate for us 1897 A. d.
In the first place, Amos saw, as "
must see, that the God who made tn
Pleiades and Orion must be the God {
order. 1t was not so much star hel
and a star there that impressed the il
spired herdsman, but seven in or
group, and seven in the other groul
He saw that night after night and SCI
son after season and decade after d
cade they had kept step of light, eac
6ne in it's own place, sisterheod nevt
clashing and never contesting pre-
edence. From the time Hesiod Gale
the Pleiades the Aseven daughters ,
Atlas and Virgil wrote in his Aenei