The Penn's Grove record., 1891-07-10
REV Dr. TAlMAGR
Subject: .eeospe, of the Weather

Sutjecf: Gospel OF me Wc"H"o''
TEXT: "Hath the rain a Jatherf'-Job
xxxviii, %.
This Book of Job has been the subject of
unbounded theological wrangle. Men have
made 1t the ring in which to display their
ecclesiastical pugilism. Some say that the
Book of Job is a true history; others. that u
Is a n allegory; others, hat it Is an epic
poem; others, that 1t Is a drama. Some say
that Job lived eighteen hundred years bel
fore Christ, others say that he never lived at
ALL. Some say that the author Of this book
was job; others, David; others Solomon
The discussion has landed come In blank in-
fidelity. Now. I nave no trouble with the
Books of Job or Revelation-the two most
mysterious books in the Bible-because of q
rule | adopted some years age.
wade down into a Scripture passage as
long as l can touch bottom, and when / can
not then l wade out. l used to wade In until
1t was over my head and then l got drowned
l study a passage Of Scripture 80 long as IL
is a comfort and help to my soul, but when
it hecomes a p%erplexfty n a spiritual upt
wade in up to our heart, but never wade In
until it is over our head. No man should
ever expect to swim across this great ocean
Of divine truth. I go down into hat ocean
as | go dow into the Atlantic Ocean at
East Hampton, Long Island, just far enough
to battle; then I come out. l never had any
idea that with my weak hand and foot !
could strike my way clear over 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 where born, or where they died. Have
you ever studied the parentage Of the show
er, Hath not the rain a fatherr' This ques-
ton is not asked by a poetaster or Q scien-
tist, but by the head Of the universe. To nun
BILE and to save Job God asks him fourteen
questions: About the worlds architecture.
about the refraction Of the sums rays about
the tides, about the snow crystal, about the
lightnings, and then He arraigns him with
the Interrogation Of the text Hath the rain
a fatherY' !
With the scientific wonders Of the rain /
have nothing to do. A minister gets through
with that kind of sermons within the first
three years, and II he has pisty enough hq
gets through with 1t In the first thred
months. A sermon has come to me to mean
one word of four letters .'helpF' You all
know that the rain Is not an orphan. You
know it is not cast out OF the gates Of heaven
a founding. You would answer the ques-
ton of my text In the affirmative.
Safely housed during the storm, you hear
the rain beating against the window pane
and you find 1t searching all the ~crevices of
the window sill. 1t first comes down In soli-i
tary drops, pattering the dust, and then IT,
deluges the fields and Anglers the mountain
torrents, and makes the traveller implorel
shelter. You know that the rain Ia not an
accident Of the worlds economy. You know
it was born OF hecloud. You know it was
rocked in the cradle Of the wind. You know
it wa sung to sleep by the storm. You know
that it is a flying evangel from HEAVIER to-
earth. You To- 1t Is the gospel of the
weather. You know that God "a its father.
If this be true, then how wicked Is our
murmuring about climatic changes. The
first eleven Sabbaths after l entered the
ministry it stormed. Through the week III
was clear weather, but on the 6abbaths the
old country meeting house looked like Noah's
ark before it landed. A few drenched peo-l
Pile sat before a drenchsd pastor; but most Of
the farmers stayed at home and thanked
God that what was bad for the church was
good for the crops. l committed a good deal
Of sin in those days In denouncing the
weather. Ministers Of the Gospel somstimes
fret about stormy Sabbaths or hot Sabbaths,
or Indictment Sabbaths. They forget the
fact that the same God who ordained the
Sabbath and sent forth his ministers to m
nounce salvation also ordained b weather.
Hath the rain a fatherr
Merchants, also, with their stores filed
Will hbW koNaoy 0A7A tkAoAA DA0A - AuS
idly around the counters, commit the same
trangression. There have been seasons when
the whole spring and fall trade has been
ruined by ~protracted wet weather. The
merchants then examined the weather
probabilities with more i~nterest than they
read their Bibles. They waGhed for a
patch of blue sky. They went complaining
to the store and came complaining home
again. In all that season of wet feet and
dripping garments and impossible streets
they never once asked the question, Hath
the rain a fdthery
so asriculturists commit this sin. There
is nothing more annoying than to have
planted corn rot in the ground because of
too much moisture. or nay all ready for the
ready for the sickle spoiled with the rust.
How hard it is to bear the agricultural dis
appointments God has infinite resources,
but do not think He has capacity to make
weather to please all the farmers. Some
times it is too hot, or it Is too cold; it is too
wet, or it is too dry; it Is too early, or it is
too late. They forget that the God who
winter, cold and heat, also ordained all eli
matte changes. There is one question that
ought to be- written o. every barn, on every
fence, on every haystack. on every farm
house, Hath the rain q fatherr'
If you only knew what q vast enterprise
it is to provide appropriate weather for this
world we would not be SO critical Of the Lord.
isaac Watts at ten years Of age complained
that he did not like the hymns that were
sung in the English chapel. WELL" said bis
father. Isaac, instead of your complaining
| about the hymns, go and make hymns that
are better" And he did go and make hymns
that were better. Now, | say to you If you
10 not like the weather get up q weather
| company and have a president and a secre-
tary, and a treasurer, . q board OF dlrec-
tors and ten million dollars OF stock, and
then provide weather that will suit US all.
There is a man who has a weak head, and he
| cannot stand the glare Of the sun. You must
have a cloud always towering over him.
I ike the sunshine; l cannot live without
nlenty of sunlight, 50 you must always have
enough light for me. Two ships meet in
mid Atlantic. The q - going 70 South
an,nton and the other Is coming to New
YORK, Provide weather that while it is
abaft for one ship. 1t Is not q head wind for
the other. There Is a farm that Is dried up
Tor the lack OF rain, and there Is pleasure
Marty eoins ont for a field excursion. Pro
vide weather that will suit the dry farm and
he pleasure excursion. No. sirs, | will not
lake one dollar OF stock In your weather
company. There Is only one Being In the
universe who knows enough to provide the
right kind OF weather for this world. "Hath
the rain a fatherE'
NV text also suggests Gods minute super
visai You sec the divine Sonship in every
iron of rain. The jewels of tho shower are
not flung away by a spendthrift who knows
| NOT how many he throws or where they fall.
Tbey are all shining princes OF heaven.
They all nave eternal lineage. They
are all the children of a king. "Hath the
rain a fathery' Well, then. / say il God
taxes notice of every minute raindrop He
viii take notice OF the most insignificant
| affair of nv life. 1t is the astronomical
tiew OF things that bothers me.
We look up into the night heavens, and
we say. Worlds! worlds" and how insig-
nificant we feeli We stand at the foot OF
Mount Washington or Mont Blanc, and w
feel that We are only insects and than we
say to ourselves. Though the world Is so
large. the sun Is one million our hundred
| thousand times larger" ''Ohr we say, 'ft
Is no use. if God wheels that great machinery
through immensity He will not take the
trnnble to look down at me-" Infidel coz
clusion. Saturn, Mercury and Jupiter are
90 more rounded and weighed and swung by
the hand Of God than are the globules or
a lilac bush the morning after q shower.
God is no more In magnitudes than He 1
In minutiR. II He has scales TO weigh tn
mountainA He has balances delicate enougl
to weigh the infinitesimal. You can d,
more ses Him through thet telescope than 70,
can see Him through the microscope; NJ
more when you look up than when you 1ool
down. Are not the hairs Of your head al
-un,harade And ~ Hfmalava k.a . Gcl