Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-02-05

We had not better fret much, for the
PEASANTS argument of the text was
right. If God can take care Of the seven
worlds Of the Pleiades and the four chief
worlds Of Orion, he can probably take
care Of the one world we inhablt.
So I feel very much as my father felt
one day when we were going to the
country mill to get grist ground, and
|, boy Of Z years, sat in the back part
of the wagon, and our yoke Of oxen ran
away with us and along labyrinthian
road through the woods, so that /
thought every moment we would be
dashed to pieces, and 1 made terrible
outcry Of fright, and my father turned
to me with a face perfectly calm and
said: "De Witt, what are you crying
about? guess we can ride as fast as the
oxen can run. " And, my hearers, why
should we be affrighted 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 i'll 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 disquieting and your brain is
hot and your heart sick, get some one
to go out with you into the starlight and
point out to you the Pleiades, or, better
than that, get into some observatory, and
through the telescope see farther than
Amos with the naked eye could-name-
", 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 billions
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
without the breaking Of a cog, or the
slipping Of a band, or the snap Of an
axlel For your placidity and comfort
through the Lord Jesus Christ l charge
you. "Seek him that maketh the seven
stars and Orion"
The God of Light.
Again, Amos saw, as we must see,
that the God who made these two groups
of the text was the God of light. Amos
saw that God was not satisfied with
making one star or two or three stars,
but he makes seven, and having finished
that group Of words makes another
group-group after group. To the
Pleiades he adds Orion 1t seems that
God likes light so well that he keeps
making it. Only one being il the uni
verse knows the statistics Of solar, lu-
mar, stellar, meteoric creations, and that
is the Creator himself And they have
all been lovingly christened, each one a
name as distinct as the names Of your
children. "Hc telleth the Dumber OF the
stars; he calleth them all by their
names. " The seven Pleiades had names
given TO them, and they are Alcyone,
Merope. Cel@no, Electra, SterOpe, Tay
getc and Maia.
But think Of the billions and trillions
of daughters Of starry light that God
calls by name as they sweep by him
with beaming brow and lustrous robe
So fond is God Of light-natural light,
moral light, spiritual light Again and
again is light harnessed for symboliza-
tion-Christ, the bright and morning
star; eyangelization, the daybreak; the
redemption Of nations, sun OF righteous
ness rising with healing in his wings.
Oh. men and women, with 50 many sor-
rows and sins and perplexities, If you
want light Of comfort, light Of pardon,
light Of goodness, in earnest prayer
through Christ, seek him that maketf
the seven stars and Orion!
Again. Amos saw, as we must see,
that the God who made these two archi-
pclagoes Of stars must be an unchang
ing God. There had been no change IL
the stellar appearance in this herdsman'
lifetime. and his father, a shepherd, re
ported TO him that there had been NJ
change in his lifetime. And these two
clusters hang over the celestial arbol
now lust as they were the first night tha
they shone on the Edenic bowers the
same as when the Egyptians built tn
pyramids, from the top Of which to watci
them; the same as when the Chaldean
calculated the eclipses; the same a
when Elihu, according TO the book o
Job. went ont to study the aurora bore
| ais; the same under Ptolcmaic system
| and Copernican system; the same frcn
| Calisthenes to Pythagoras and iron
Pythagoras to Hcrschel Surely
changeless God must have fashioned tn
Pleiades and Orion On, what an ano
dvne amid the ups and downs of III
and the flux and reflux Of the tide; @
prosperity to know that We have
changeless God, "the same yesterday
today and forever!"
Xerxes garlanded and mighted tn
steersman of his boat in the mornln
and hanged him in the evening OF tn
came day. Fifty thousand people stoo
arou. d the columns of the national car
itol shouting themselves hoarse at tn
presidential inaugural, and in fou
months. so great We're the antipathie'
that a ruflian's pistol in Washington de
not expressed the sentiment of many
disappointed Office seeker. The worl
sits i'm its chariot and drives tandem
and the horse ahead is Huzza, and IL
horse behind is Anathema Lord Col
ham. in King James time, was applaud
cd and had $35, 600 a year, but was al
erward execrated and lived on scraI
stolen from the royal kitchen. Alexal
der the Great after death remained III
buried for 30 days because no one woui
do the honor of shoyeling him undel
The Duke of Wellington refused to haN
his iron fence mended because 1t ha
, been broken by an infuriated populaf
in some hour Of political excltemeh
and he left It In ruins that men mig
learn what a tickle thing Is human
, vor ''But the mercy Of the Lord
from everlasting to everlasting to the
that fear him, and his righteousne
INTO the children's children OF such
keen his covenant and to those who I
? ,,,ar,her his commandments TO do them