The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-02-17
REV. DIR, TALMAGE
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: ga Farmers Counsel"

A country farmer wrote this text. Amos ol
Tekoa, He ploweh the earth and thresheo
the grain by a new threshing machine just
invented, as formerly the cattle trod out the
grain. He gathered the fruit OF the syca'
more tree and scarif1ei it with an iron comb
lust before il was getting ripe, az it was nec-
essary and customary in that way to take
from it the bitterness. He was the son OF a
Door shepherd and suffered, but before the
stammering rustic the Philistines and Syrans
and Phenicians and Moabites and Ammon-
ties and Edomites and I2raelites trembled.
Moses was a law giver, Daniel was
prince Isaiah courlier and David king,
but Amos, the author OF my text, was peas,
ant, and. rs might be supposed. nearly all
his parallelisms are pastoral, his prophecy
full Of the odor Of new mown hay. and the
rattle of locusts, and the rumble OF carts
with sheaves, and the roar OF wild beasts de-
vouring the flock while the shepherd came
out in their defence. He watched the herds
by day, and by night inhabited booth made
out OF bushes, 50 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
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 life OF solitude, all alone with his
herds! Poor Amos And at IL o'clock at
night bark to the VOLTS bark, and the lions
roar, and the bears Srowl, and the owls te-
whit, te-who, and the serpent's hiss as he
unwittinCly 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 tho
time spread out before him. He noticed
some stars advancing and others receaing.
He associated their dawn and setting with
certain seasons OF the year. He had poetic
nature, and he r, al night by night, and
month by month, and year by year, the poem
OF the consultations, divinity 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 spring.
as it rises about the 1st OF May. The latter
he associated with the winter, as it comes to
the meridian in January. The Pleiades, or
seven stars. connected with oil sweetness
and Joy; Orion, the herald OF the tempest.
The anc,ents were the more apt to study the
physiognomy and juxtaposition OF the
heavenly bodies because they thought they
had special influence upon the earth, and
perhaps they were right. II the moon every
few hours lifts and lets down the tides OF
the Atlantic ocean and the electric storms in
the sun. by all scientific admission, Affect
the earth. why not the stars have proper
tionate effect?
And there are some things which make me
think that 1t may not have been all super
stitut;on which connected the movements
and appearance OF the heavenly bodies with
great moral events on earth. Did not O
meteor run on cvangeiistic errand on the
first Christmas night and designate the
rough cradle Of our Lord2 Did not the stars
in their coprso fight against Sisera? Was it
merely coincidental that before the destruc-
tion Of Jerusalem the moon was hidden for
twelve consecutive nights? Did it merely
happen so that new stsr appeared in con-
stelIation Cassiopeia, and then disappeared
just before Charles TX Of France, who was
responsible for the st. Bartholomew mas
sacre died? Was it without Significance
that in the days OF the Roman Emperor
Jusliuian war and famine were preceded by
the dimness of the sun, which for nearly a
year gave no more light than the moon, al
though there were no clouds to obscure it2
Astrology, after all, may have been some
thing more than brilliant heathenism. No
wonder that Amos Of the text, having beard
these two anthems OF the stars, put down
the stout, rough staff Of the herdsmau and
took iEto his brown hand and cut and
knotted fingers the pen Of prophet and ad-
vised the recreant people OF his time to -e-
turn to God. saying, ''Seek Eim that maketh
the seven stars and Orion" This command,
which Amos gave 185 years B. c., Is Just as
appropriate for US, 1874. D.
In the fret place Amos saw, as we must
see, tha. the God who made the Pleiades and
Orion must be the God Of order. 1t was not
80 much star here and a star there that i'm
pressed the inspired herdsman, but seven in
one group and seven in another group. He
saw that night after night and season after
season, and decade after decade, they bad
kept step OF light, each one In Its own place, a
sisterhood never clashing and never contest
ing precedence. From the time Hesiod called
the Pleiades the .'seven daughters OF Atlas" !"
and Virgil wrote in his "Eueid" OF "stormy
Orion" until now, they have observed the
order established for their coming and 60
ing; order written not in manuscript that
they may be pigeon-holed. but with the hand
OF the Almighty on the dome Of the sky, so
that all Nations may read it-order, persist
ent order, sublime order, omnipotent order.
What sedative 10 you and me. to whom
communities aud Nations sometimes seem
going pellmell. and the world ruled by some
ilend at haphaZard and in all directions NAL
administration! The God who keeps seven
worlds in right circuit for 5000 years can
certainly keep all the affairs Of individuals
and Nations and continents in adjustment.
We had not better fret much, for the peas
ants argument ofthe text was right. II God
can taSe care Of the seven worlds of the
Pleiales and the four chief worlds Of Orion,
He can probably take care of the one world
wa inhabt.
So feel very much as my father felt one
day when we were going to the country mill
to get Il grist ground, and /, q boy of seven
years, sat in the back part OF the wagon, and
our yoke Of oxen ran away with US, and
along labyrinthine road through the
woods. so that thought every moment We
would be dashed to pieces, and I madea
terrible outcry of fright, and my father
turned to me with face perfectly calm und
said: "De Witt, what are You crying aboutl
/ guess we can ride as fast az the oxen can
run" And, my hearers, why should We he
afr GIFTED and lose our equilibrium in the
swift movement of worldly events, especially
when we are assured that it is not a yoke of
unbroken steers that are drawing US on, but
that order and wise government are in the
yoke?
In your occupation, your mission, your
sphere, do the best you can and then trust
to God, and If things are all mixed and dis
quieting and your brain is hot and your
heart sick get some one to 20 out with you
into the starlight and point out to you the
Pleiades. or, b, tier than that, got into some
observatory, and through the telescope sec
farther than Amos with the naked eye could
namely, 200 stars in the Pleiades, and that
in what is called the sword OF Orion there is
a nebula computed to be two trillion two
hundred thousand billion Of times larger
than the sun. Oh, be at peace with the God
who made that and controls all that. the
wheel Of the consultations turning in the
wheel Of galaxies for thousands Of years