Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-06-19
AN OLD PICTURE OF
THE NEW TIMES.

The International Sunday School Let
son for June % 10, 1.-THE Binding
Effort Of Sin Temperance lesson)''
Amos 6:1-s.
(By William T. Ellis.)
These are new and crisis days. That
all thinking persons should see and
understand them Alright Is a profound
concern of patriotism and religion. 10
be ignorant Of our own times Is carol-
nal blunder. The passion for things
as they are" Is an element or right
| eousness. We can forgive the inter-
ruption Of the regular course or the
International Sunday School lesson IN
order to permit this study to our pres
emit condition in the light of the Oldest
Of the prophetical writings. The les
son committee interjects this as q
temperance lesson; but it is COM
prehensive treatment of the tendency
Of the world today.
Amos, the rough old preacher or
Tekoa, saw his times with the pene-
trating vision of the out-of-doors man.
Some city folk think that they are the
shrewdest and most soph1stlcated
Judges of men and things; whereas
often it Is the countryfied little Wom-
an, wearing last years bonnet anu
her one best dress, or the farmer IN MS
cheap store clothes, who sees deepest
Into the life Of the people who sheer
Il at rural ways. This ancient snep-
herd and pincher of sycamore figs mas
given us the clearest picture OF the
Luxurious tendency of his land ana
time that has come down to us; PIC
iture which startlngly sets forth the
fpresent trend of our own life. 1t is an
exercise in citizenship to read the book
OF Amos.
The First Of the Writing Prophets:
Nowadays most of the nations
prophets are members of the wrltlng
craft. In this they wear the manure
of the first of the Hebrew prophets'
whose message has been preserved III
the sacred canon Amos lived ABOUT
seven hundred and fifty. years before
! Christ, and he is minor prophet only
because that misleading name has been
applied to the twelve briefest BOOKS OF
the prophets. We know better tnan 70
Judge sermons by their length, ana
Amos is one of the greatest, as we'll
as the first, of the recorded Hebrew
seers.
muck rakes," or the current equiva'
lent for this term Of approbr1um, was
often applied to Amos. He dealt
fearlessly with facts. His book is one
of the most journalistic in the old
testament. It does not soar on eagle |
wing like the writings Of Isaiah or
Ezekiel. He wrote the thing as he
saw it. confident in the corrective
power of honest diagnosis. Nova
DAYS the Amos principle is, BENG
indicated in the Acknowledged func-
ton of publicity in purifying public
life. In most cases the world needs
but to know what is wrong in order to
set it right Given the Amos art of
setting conditions compellingly before
the mind, and what is wrong IN those
c. nditions will be remedied. If
mothers but knew the havoc that is
wrought by the present tendency in
women's dress, the styles would be
reformed within week. If parents
could but see with unobscured vision
the consequences of the moderate use
Of liquors sideboards would be cleared
over night and shutters would be put
up on thousands of saloons and brew
ries Could the prosperous public
but understand whittier the luxury
and idleness and pleasure-seeking
tendency Of our time Is leading, there
would be a swift and wholesome re-
action. ..:t .. .. A'E.
The function Of the man who sees
facts as exemplitied by Amos, is thus
commented upon by George Adam
Smith: ,.
He spent his gifts Of vision on the
discovery and appreciation OF facts.
~ Ia
great reformations of religion, but at
almost every stage of her develop
ment. To see the truth and to tell It,
to be accurate and brave about the
moral facts of our day-to this extend
the vision and the voice are possible
for every one of u.s.. Never for us may
the doors of heaven open as they did
for him who stood on the threshold Of
the earthly temple when he saw the
Lord enthroned, while the seraphim of
tho presence sang the glory, yet let
us remember that too see facts as they
are and to tell the truth about them
this also Is prophecy. We may in
habit sphere which does not prompt
the imagination, but is as destitute of
the historic and traditional as was the
wilderness Of Tekoa. All the more
the facts about us. Every common
day leads forth her duties as shining
as every night leads forth her stars.
The deeds and the fortunes of men are
in our sight, and spell, to all who will
honestly read, the very word of the
Lord"
What Is Prophet?
A misused and misunderstood word
is this title of the old testament seers.
The prophet is not SO much a. fore
teller as a forth-teller. He is an in
terpreter of the mind of God,
teacher of the people, one who speaks
in behalf of Jehovah. On the lower
plane of real or pretended prognosti-
Gators of the future, there have al.
ways been many professionals. There
were such in the days of Amos, even
as there are still such today practic-
ing their mummery, as I saw one do
ing among the Arabs of Babylon-not
to mention the clairvoyants and mind
readers of our American cities. Amos
lifted up the plane of the office to
level that was beyond price and pro-