Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-12-10
HOSEA GREATEST
ANCIENT LAYMAN
Only Prophet Who Came From
Northern Kingdom of
Israel
BY William Il. Ellis

Last night at a banquet l watch
ed nearly three hundred strong men
listening spellbound to one layman's
story of his personal religious ex-
perience. Innocent of theological
training, and | suspect also of a coll
lege course. he used none of the
tricks Of the professional speaker,
yet he thrilled his hearers as few
skilled orators could do. That COM
pany of alert and discriminating men
listened intently, as out of full life
the layman related the spiritual sig
nificance of his personal experience.
1t was reality speaking to reality, life
to life.
Something akin to that was the
power of the ancient layman who
became an immortal voice: Hosea,
the only prophet who was a native
of the Northern Kingdom of Israel;
and whose words are to-day's Sunday
school lesson. We have no trace of
Hosea's having ever attended school
of the prophets. He was merely n
sensitive-souled layman who lived
tremendously, and did not miss the
spiritual significance of experiences
that would have blighted Il lesser
man. r-.-'.s
His very name links Hosea. with
lliS 6TSdIeSl Oh lFOpneISs lOf at ltS
root the word Hosea is the same
as Joshua and Jesus" and it
means a savious. Both Hosea and
Jesus are described by Isaiah in the
picture of the suffering servant, by
the knowledge of himself shall my
righteous servant justify many"
Jereboam sat on the tottering
throne of Israel at this time and
Ussiah ruled in Judah, and doubt
less neither Of them reckoned seri-
ously with the personal tragedy of
this one man. Yet Hoseas life story
is a deathless message to each new
generation of humanity.
The Storm That Drives Home
The highest use of any life is as
an Interpretation of the mind of God.
Find out what God means by what
He is doing with you. Hosea exem-
plifes the value of discovering the
spiritual significance of personal
experience. What says Browning?--
"I count life just a stuff
TO try the souls strength on.H
Personal providences mean some
thing as they enter every life. Let
us not miss the message. "I am in
the mills of God" said man, who
was passing through dark days; "I
don't know what He is trying to make
out of my life, but I want to find out.
/ should be sorry to have to undergo
these experiences without catching
their meaning and message" Every
providence has a purpose. IIosea's
domestic disaster made him a prophet.
The story is. told of a shepherd in
the northwest whom a traveller saw
driving his flock out into the teeth
of a heavy wind; they faced the
storm all the way to the pasture.
''Why don't you find a more shell
tered feeding ground?" asked the
traveller.
Don't you see," said the shep-
herd, if blizzard comes the storm
will drive the sheep home?"
So it is with the storms of per-
sonal experience. They are meant to
drive the spirit home to Cod,
How else can we interpret the
world woe of to-day? Is not, the
growth of the sacrificial spirit which
the whole world is learning in the
red schoolhouse of war, but an edu-
cation in the university of God? HUI
manity to-day is entering into a
knowledge of Christ by a Gethsemane
experience. The storm of war is driv-
ing the suffering sheep home to the
Shepherd and His fold. We are un-
able to think of the world as under
going the present. crucial experience