The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-07-10
GODS MYSTERIOUS RULE
THE RAIN USED BY Or, TALMAae
As A COMMON ILLUSTRATION.

God Is Ina.isy In Innnisesimais as Much
AS In Things Isfinitesy Great, In Our
Everyday Sorrows as In the Worlds
Erection.
BROOKLYN, July 5.-Dr Talmaee's
sermon today is on kind of gospel IN
which few people believe, The weather
Is common object of complaint and
fault finding, but DR.. Talmage finds a
gospel in it which today he proclaims
from the text Hath the rain fa
therY job xxxviii, 81
This Book of Job has been the sub
ject of unbounded theological wrangle,
Men have made II the ring In which TO
display their ecclesiastical pugihsm.
Some say that the Book of Job is a true
history; Others, that it Is an allegory;
others, that 1t 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
at all Some say that the author of
this book was Job; Others, David;
others, Solomon. The discussion has
landed some in blank intidelity, Now
have no trouble with the books OF
Job or Revelation-the two most mys'
terious books in the Bible-because of
rule adopted some years ago
wade down into a Scripture pas
sage 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
a passage of Scripture SO long as 1t is a
comfort and help to my soul; but when
1t becomes a perplexity and a spiritual
upturning, 1 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 as | go down
into the Atlantic ocean at East Hamp-
ton, Long Island, just far enough to
battle. then | come out. | never had
any idea that with my weak hand and
foot could strike my way clear over tc
Liverpool
sCIENCE is NOT RELIGION
| suppose you understand your fam
lily genealogy You know something
about your parents, your grandparents
your great-grandparents. Perhaps you
know where they were born or where
they died. Have you ever studied the
parentage of the showerl Hath the
rain a father2' This question is moi
asked by a poetaster or scientist, but
10y the head OF the universe To hum
BILE and to save Job God asks him four
teen questions; about the worlds archi
lecture, about the refraction of the
suns rays, about the tides about the
snow crystal, about the lightnings, an6
then he arraigns him with the intrrro
cation of the text, Hath the rain Q
|fatherf'
|. 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 il be
has piety enough he gets through witt
it in the first three months a sermon
has come to ME to mean one word O.
-four letters, help" You all know
that the rain is not an orphan Yor
know that it is not cast out of thu
gates of heaven a founding, Yor
would answer the question OF my tex
i'm the affirmative Safely housed dur
ling the storm you hear the rain beat
ling against the window pane, and yor
find 1t searching all the crevices of the
window SILL
1t first comes down in solitary drops
pattering the dust, and then it deluge
the fields and angers the mountain tor
rents, and makes the traveller impiort
shelter. You know that the rain is no
an accident of the worlds economy
| You know it was born of the cloud
You know 1t was rocked in the cradl,
of the wind You know it was sung t.
sleep by the storm. You know that i
is a flying evangel from heaven t.
earth You know it Is the gospel o
the weather You know that God i
tits father
If this be true, then, how wicked i
our murnuring about climatic changes
The first eleven Sabbaths after en-
tered the ministry it stormed. Through
the week it was clear weather, but OF
the Sabbaths the old country meeting
house looked like Noah's ark before i
landed. A few drenched people sa
before drenched pastor, but most o
the farmers stayed at home and thanked
God that what was bad for the churcl
was good for the crops. committed
good deal of sin in those days in de
nouncing the weather Ministers o
the Gospel sometimes fret about storm,
Sabbaths or hot Sabbaths or inclem
ent Sabbaths They forget the fac
that the same God who ordained tn
Sabbath and sent forth his ministers t,
announce salvation, also ordained tn
weather. Hath the rain father7"
CoMPLAININGs OF SINFUL MEN.
Merchants, also, with their store
filled with new goods, and their clerk
hanging idly around the counters, CON
NIT the same transgression. Their
have been seasons when the Who'll
spring and fall trade has been RUNE
by protracted wet weather The mel
chants then examined the ''weathe
probabilities" with more interest tina
they read their Bibles They watche
for a patch of blue sky. They wen
complaining to the store and cam
complaining home again. In all tina
season of wet feet and dripping gal
ments and impossible streets the
never once asked the question, HAT
the rain father"
So agriculturists commit this sir
There is nothing more annoying tina
to have planted corn rot in the groun
because of too much moisture, or la
all ready for the NOW dashed of show
er, or wheat almost ready for the sickl
I Il II