Evening star., 1913-06-21

| tory unless the great President reflected
| in his address the suffering. sorrow and
sacrifices of the American people, SO
every great Grafton is the result of the
personality of the speaker having come
| in contact with the condition of his audi
ence. that is moved by the eloquent pres
entation of their own unuttered ideals to
the world by the one who speaks for
| them the emotions of their souls.
| The messages of Amos live because the
overpowering influence of God, who
moved him by a vision Of Jehovah and
| the relation of man to society. while in
the solitude of the desert pasture lands.
where he tended the little fine-wOoled
, sheep. and when opportunity offered
dressed sycamore trees, to leave the little
village of Tekoa. in Judea. about six
miles from Bethlehem, and go to Bethel.
| the royal sanctuary of Israel, to start
| new order of prophets.
| The vision and voice of Amos comes to
| us today as face similar problems OF
| social evil that threaten the foundations
| of society and imperil our national life.
| We have beer passing through the last
| fifty years as a nation the experience
! that marked the administration OF Jero-
| boam II, as King OF Israel. when the
| power of the nation had been extended
| to it's greatest limits by contest and ex-
| pansion. During the peaceful years that
| marked a half century OF Jeroboam S rule
the marvellous natural resources of Israel
| had been developed and the commerce of
| the nation had increased rapidly, bringing
| to Israel enormous wealth and making it
| the dominant power in the Palestinian
world
Inst as Bryce, an Englishman, has
| given us the best conception of American
institutions SO the 'fOckmaster and
trayel-worn sycamore-gatherer of Juda h
| opened up to Israel upon one of their
great national holidays. when the people,
drunken with prosperity and morally
I blinded by corruption, We're rejoicing in
| the false faith that prosperity was a
sign of divine approval and an evidence
of their security. the unpleasant truth
that the nation was on a verge of a SUI
preme crisis brought on by social condi-
tions that they. in their insensibility, in
dolence and Indifference, had not recog-
niZed.
* y x*
Insensibility, Incidence, Indifference
CARLYLE has well said that "the greatest
sin is insensibility to sim The poor and
unlettered peasant Of TekOa had the
manhood to courageously proclaim to the
citizens of Israel. members of his own
race but of another nation within fifty
miles of his own home. that in their
maddening rush for gold and in their
their peril. recklessiy at ease. both in
Judah and Israel, and intoxicated by
temporal success they failed to see the
internal social conditions that threatened
The warnings SEND them in the famine
drought. blight. pestiience war and the
earthquake they had not recognized in
their presumptions and false security, be-
cause of their insensibilty to their per-
sonal sin. Instead of SOLDERING them to
consider how they might correct the
sins of society and preserve the state,
the wealthy rulers and the rich coterie
that had grown great. became indolent
and Indifferent to the needs Of humanity.
who were being crushed beneath the load
by the burdens of poverty, and delayed
trying to assist to correct the abuses
that their civilization had developed.
The denunciation of the unsocial prac-
tices that were against the law of God
and the welfare Of the nation. tradition
tells us, came near costing the fearless
preacher his life, for he was mobbed and
beaten because he exposed the sins of the
nation proclaimed the displeasure of
Jehovah and threatened destruction. The
message Of the prophet reached the king.
although Amos sought only to arouse
the nation itself to its perilous position
by appealing to the masses, whose cause
he advocated.
The prophet was Indifferent to the court
and declined to obey the orders of the
priest, who sought to silence him for
seeking to interfere in the kings bust
ness.
The orders OF God were gufYicient for