Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-07-06
GOSPEL OF THE WEATHER
DR.. TALMAGE breaches ON THE
COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE RAIN.


BROOKLYN, July 5.-Dr. Talmage's ser.
mon today is on a kind of gospel in which
few people believe The weather is a com
mon object of complaint and fnuit finding,
but Dr. Talmage finds gospel in it, which
today he proclaims from the text, Hath
the rain fatherp Job xxxviii, %.
This Book of Job has been the subject OF
unbounded theological wrangle. Men have
made it the ring in which to display their
ecclesiastical pugilism. Some say that the
BOOK OF Job IS a true history; others, that
1t Is an allegory; Others that it is an epic
poem; others, that it is drama. Some
say that job lived eighteen hundred years
before Christ, Others say that he never
lived ut all. Some say that the author of
this book was Job; others, David; others,
Solomon. The discussion has landed some
in blank infidelity. Now, have no trouble
with the Books Of Job or Reyeation-the
two most mysterious books in the Bible
because OF rule adopted some years ago.
wade down into Scripture passage as
long as | can touch bottom, and when
cannot then wade out. used to wade in
until it was over my head and then | got
drowned. study passage Of Scripture
so long as it is n comfort and help to my
soul, but when 1t becomes Il pcrpleXity and
a spiritual upturning | quit. In other
words, we ought to 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. | go down into that ocean us 20
down into the Atlantic ocean at East
Hampton, Long Island, Just far enough to
bathe; then | come out. never had any
idea that with my weak hand and foot /
could strike my way clear over to Liver
pool.
GODS MYSTERIOUS GOVERNMENT
Isuppose 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 died.
Have yoii ever studied the parentage Of
the shower, Hath not the rain "A fatherf"
This question is not asked by II poetaster
or scientist, but by the head Of the uni
verse. To humble 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 nterroga.
ton of the text, Hath the rain a father"
With the scientific wonders of the rain |
have nothing to do A minister gets
through with that kind of sermons within
the hrst three years, and If he has pety
enough he Acts through with it in the first
three months. sermon has come to me
to mean one word of four letters "helpP
You all know that the rain is not an or
phan. You know it is not cast out of the
gates of heaven founding. You would
answer the question Of my text in the af
4rmative.
Safely housed during the storm, you hear
the rain beating against the window pane,
and you find it searching all the creviccs
of the window sill. 1t first comes down In
solitary drops, pattering the dust, and then
it deluges the ields and Hngers the noun
tain torrents, ana makes the traveller i'm
plore shelter You know that the rain is
not an accident of the worlds economy
You know it was born of the cloud. You
know it was rocked in the cradle of the
wind. You know it was sung to sleep by
the storm. You know that it IA flying evan.
gel from heaven to earth. You know it is
the gospel OF the weather You know that
God is its father.
IL this be true, then how wicked is our
murmuring about climatic changes The
first eleven Sabbaths after entered the
ministry it stormed. Through the week
IL was clear weather, but on the Sabbaths
the old country meeting house looked
like Noah's ark before it landed. A few
drenched people sat before drenched pas
tor; but most of the farmers stayed at
home and thanked God that what was bad
for the church was good for the crops,
committed Il good deal of sin In those days
in denouncing the weather. Ministers of
the Gospel sometimes fret about stormy
Sabbaths, or hot Sabbaths, or inclement
Sabbaths They forget the fact that the
same God who ordained the Sabbath and
sent forth his ministers to announce sal.
walton also ordained the weather Hath
the rain fatherP
.INCEssANT COMPLAINTS OF THE WEATHER.
Merchants, Also with their stores filed
with new goods, and their clerks hanging
idly around the counters, commit the same
Itransgression 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 interest
than they read their Bibles. They watched
for patch of blue sky, They went com
planning to the store and craze complain
ing home again. In all that season of wet
feet and dripping garments and impassa.
BILE streets they never once asked the ques.
ton, "Ilath the rain father"
So agriculturists commit this sin. There
is nothing more annoying than to have
PLANTED corn rot in the ground bcGpuse of
too much moisture or hay all ready for the
,mow dashed of n shower, or wheat al
most ready for the sickle spoiled with the
rust. How hard it Is to bear the agricul-
tural disappointments, God has infinite
resources, but do not think he has capac-
fty to make weather to please all the
farmers. Sometimes it is too hot, or it is
too cold 1t is too wet, or It is too dry; 1t is
too early, or 1t is too late. They forget
that the God who promised seed time and
harvest, summer and winter cold and
heat, also ordained all the cimatic changes.
There is one question that ought to be
written on every barn, on every fence, on
every haystack, on every farmhouse,
Hath the rain fathcr~
IL we only knew what n vast enterprise
&c 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.
S'Well,n said his 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 do not like the
weather get up weather company and
have president, and a secretary, and a
treasurer, and board of directors, 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