The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-08-05
miscellaneous.
I. DEWITT TALMAGE,
THE RAIN.
The Great Ocean Of Divine Truth-Which Should
be Used for Bathing, Rather Than Suicidal
Purposes.

His wonders to perform
He plants his footsteps In the sea,
He rides upon the storm"
sUBJEoT-"THE RAIN"
Text-Job 1928: "Hath the rain a ia
ther?"
This book of Job has been the subject
of u%nbounded theological wrangle. Men
have made it the ring in which to dis.
play their ecclesiastical pugilism. Some
say this book of Job is a true history
others say it is an allegory, others say i,
is an epic poem, others say it is a drama.
Some say Job lived eighteen hundred
years before Christ; others say he never
lived at all, Some say the author of this
book was Job, others say David, others
say Solomon. The discussion has land
ed some in blank iptidelity. Now, l
have no trouble with the books of Job
or Revelation-the two most mysterious
books in the Bible-because of a rule |
adopted some years ago. l wade down
into a Scripture passage as long as / can
touch bottom, and when l can not, then
| wade out. l used to wade in until il
was over my head, then I got drowned.
l study a passage of Scripture 80 long as
it is help and comfort to my soul; but
when it becomes a perplexity and spir.
itual u%pturning l quit. In other words,
we ought to wade in up to our heart. No
man should ever expect to wade across
this great oCean of Divine truth. l 20
down into that ocean as l 60 down into
the Atlantic ocean at East Hampton,
Long Island, just far enough to battle;
then l come out. l never had any idea
that with my weak hand and foot l could
strike my way clear owe to Liverpool.
l suppose you understand your family
~genealogy. You know something about
your parents, your grandparents, your
great grandparents. Perhaps you know
where they were born, or where they
lived, or died. Have you ever studied
the parentage of the shower. Hath the
rain a father2" This question is not ask
ed by a p~oetaster or a scientist, but by
the Head of the Universe. To humble
and say JOB, God asks him fourteen
questions about the worlds architecture
about the refraCtion of the suns rays
about the tides, the snow crystal, about
the l~ghtnings, and then He arraigns
him with the interrogation of the text,
Hath the rain a father7" With scien-
ti6C wonders of the rain l have nothing
to do. A minister gets through with
that kind in the first three months. A
sermon has come to mean this to me, q
word of four letters: "Help!" You al
know that the rain is not an orphan
You know it was not cast out of the gates
of heaven a founding. You would an
swer the question Of my text in tie afir'
NATIVE, Safely housed during the storm.
you hear the rain beating against the
window pane, and you find it filling all
the c~reviCes of the window sill. 1t first
comes down in solitary drops, patterine
the dust, and then it deluges the fields
angers the mountain torrents, and makes
the traveller implore shelter. You know
the rain is not an accident of the world
economy; you know it was born of the
cloud; you know it was rocked in thu
cradle of the wind; you know it was SUM-
to Oleep by the storm; you know it is thu
flying evangel from heaven to earth
you know it is the Gospel of the weathe.
and you know that God is its father
If this be true, then, how wicked i
our %murmuring about climatic changes
The first eleven Sabbaths after l entered
the ministry it stormed. Through tn
week it was clear weather, but on tn
Sabbaths the old country Meeting hous
looked like Noah's ark before it landed
A few drenched people sat before
6renChed pastor; but most of the farmer
stayed at home and thanked God tina
what was bad for the church was goo
for the crops. I committed a good dea
Of sin in those days denouncing tn
weather. Ministers of the Gospel some
times fret about stormy Sabbaths, or in
clement Sabbaths, or hot Sabbaths. The
forget the fact that the same God VIII
. ordained the Sabbath and sent forth hi
t ministers to proclaim salvation, also OF
dained the weather. "Hath the rain
father" Merchants, also, with thei
stores filled with new goods, and thei
clerks hanging idly around the counter
. commit the same transgression. Their
have been seasons when the whol
spring trade has been ruined by protra,
ted wet weather. The merchants the
examined the "weather probabilities
with more interest than they read the
Bibles. They watched for a patch
3 blue sky; and went complaining to th
. store and came complaining again. /
all that season of wet feet, and drippin
garments, and impossible roads, the
never asked: Hath the rain a fatberi
So agriCulturists commit this sin. An
h there is nothing more annoying than
have planted corr rot in the ground b,
cause of too much moisture, or hay read
for the NOW dashed of a shower,
wheat almost ready to cut, spoiled wit
! the rust. How hard to bear these agr
9 cultural disappointmentsl God has il
4 finite resources; but / do not think h
has capacity to make weather to pleat
y all the farmers. Sometimes it is too he
. or too cold, too wet, too dry, too earl
. or too late. They forget that the Ga
J wbo nron,iaad aaad tinoa oDd borvae