Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-24
Gptportb league
Topic
REV. SAMUEL w. GRAFFL1N.
Messages at Bethel: The Courage
IF Trrfh -
Amos, 7:1O-15; Acts, 5:2s-32.

messages at 6eCnel. LIE SouIdSo
of Truth"
Amos, 7:1O-15; Acts, 5:2s-32.
10 man or nation ever heard the
~ cry of the prophet without the
0S wish, uttered or unexpressed,"
that it might cease. Why is this true?
Why do men shrink from truths COM
polling message? The answer is not diff
ficult to find; for every man, at heart, is
just, and when mighty truth is sounded
in his ears man knows that he should
heed the prophets cry, should take up
arms against the wrong, no matter what
the odds, giving and bearing for the
cause of right. Hence even good men
will recoil from the harsh program of
that fierce campaign which the unbend-
ing prophets of each age outline for
those who claim to stand for truth and
righteousness. Thus when the fearless
prophet Amos cried out against the idola-
tries Of Jeroboam and Israel the very
priesthood Of the land urged nm to cease.
From this Old Testament story and that
from Acts we catch three thoughts:
1. THE PLEA FOR PEACE-When
the. great military chieftain Grant said
Let us nave pGdCC IL WdS WhCu TIC
great question of supremacy had been
settled by the fortunes of war, and he,
sick Of the carnage which was robbing
America Of her best blood, longed for the
peace which springs from unity and love.
Then the plea for peace was right.
But when a nation or an individual cries
LET us have peace" meaning the quiet
of acquiescence In that servility to sin or
wrong conditions in state or society
which only postpones the day Of reckon
ing, while it makes even those who SO
assent hate themselves for their moral
cowardice. then 1t is wrong, shamefully
wrong. mo question is ever settled
until it is settled right and by the
same token no peace is at all worth
while save when it springs from con-
scious security within the stronghold Of
right
It is no easy task to stand forth as the
exponent of distasteful truth. Men love
to slumber morally, even more than they
love to sleep physically. Gods prophets
have been those who dared to rise, before
the dawning of the moral day. choosing
the thankless task OF rousing the worlds
unwilling sleepers, that they might see
the glory of the coming dawn of truth
and Righteousness. 1t takes a great con-
viction. a greater courage and still
greater vision to dare upon this task of
rousing men. The hope of this and every
land lies in the vision Of its prophets
and the action Of its aroused heroes. The
political and moral revolutions and re-
forms are invariably born in the uni
versities, where hot-hearted youth re-
fuses longer to brook the tyranny Of
despotic rulers or outworn systems; SO
in this day the hope OF church and state
, lies in the answer which the nations
boys and girls. youths and maidens, make
to the prophetic cry and the faith OF
their own hearts. Hear James Russell
Lowell as, in 1.-The Present Crisis" which
should be to this generation what 1t was
to the last, namely, inspiration and
scourge, he cries:
Then to side with Truth Is noble, when share
her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and its
prosperous to be just;
Then 1t Is the brave man chooses, while the
coward stands aside,
Doubling in his AFFECT spirit till his Lord is
crucifed
And the multitude make virtue Of the faith
they had denied.
3. THE IRREPRESSIBIAEM MESSAGE
The earnest are always eloquent. Peter
the Hermit felt the shame Of Saracen
possession Of his Lords tomb. Then he
spoke, and that shame was taken away
The fires of Gods eternal truth burned
alike in the heart of Amos the farmer
and Of Simon the fisherman; hence neither
check the message which Gods Spirit
gave to them. The towards cry for
Peace" or the temporizer's plea for
["COmpromise' is shameful in the face
OF the worlds need. and the command Of