The Iola register., 1891-07-10
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
RAIN THE SUBJECT OF THE ABLE
DISCOURSE LAST SUNDAY. THE RAIN
A CHILD OF GOD, SENT TO EARTH
TO BLESS MAN. ONE OF TIE UNEx-
PL-cABLE MYSTERIES.
About the Rain of Tears.

Ol WHICH IHls COuAIIS 10 SuPPOSSN "
have lust received an undue allowance.
He preached from the text 'Hath the
rain father?" JOB, xxxviii, %.
This Book of Job has been the sub
ject of unbounded theological wrangle.
Men have made it the ring in which 10
Some say that the Book of job is a true
history: others that it is an allegory;
others that it is an epic poem: Others
that it is drama Some say that Job
lived 800 years before Christ others
that he never lived at all. Some say
that the author Of this book was Job:
others David: others Solomon. The
subject has landed some in blank inf
deity. Now, have no trouble with
the books of Job or Revelation-the two
most mysterious books in the BibIe-be-
cause of a rule l adopted some years
ago. wade down into a scripture pas
sage as long as / can touch bottom, and
when l cannot then | wade out. used
TO wade iQ it until it was over my head,
and then l got drowned. study pas
sage of scripture so long as it is com
fort and help to my soul; but when 1t
becomes perplexity and spiritual up-
IlIDllg. L Qull. III OIHSI NOINS. VIC
ought to wade in uD 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,
l go down into that ocean as / go down
into the Atlantic ocean at East Hamp-
ton, 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
Liverpool.
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 died. Have you ever studied the
parentage Of the shower? Hath the
rain father?" This question is not
asked by poetaster or scientist, but
by the head of the universe. To hum
bic and to save job God asked him
fourteen questions: about the worlds
architecture, about the refractiOn of the
suns rays, about the tides, about the
snow crystal. about the lightning, and
then he arraigns him with the interro-
cation of the text: Hath the rain a
father?"
WIN JllC SClSulluC NOuuGES Vi jllS
rain I have nothing to do. a minister
gets that kind of sermons within the
three years. and if he has piety enough
he gets through with it in the first
three months. A sermon has come 10
me to mean one word of four letters:
"help,'' You all know that the rain is
not an orphan. You know that it is
not cast out of the gates of heaven a
hn
question of my text in the affirmative.
Safely housed during the storm, you
hear the rain beating against the win
dow pare. and you ind it searching all
the crevices of the window sill. It first
comes down in solitary drops. pattering
the dust. and then it deluges the fields
and the mountain torrents, and makes
the traveller implore 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 is a flying evangel
from heaven to earth. You know it is
the gospel of the weather. You know
that God is 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 il was clear
weather, but on the Sabbath the old
country meeting house looked like
Noah's ark before it landed. \ few
drenched people sat before a drenched
pastor. but most of the farmers stayed
home and thanked God that what was
bad for the church was good for the
crops. l committed 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 or
dained the Sabbath and sent forth his
ministers to announce salvation also or
dained the weather. Hath the rain a
father"
Merchants. also. with their stores
filed with new goods and their clerks
hanging idly around the counters, COM
nit the same trsnsgression. There have
been seasons when the whole spring
and fall trade has been ruined by pro-
tracted wet weather. The merchants
then examined the weather probabili-
ties" with more interest than they read
their Bibles. They watched for 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 ques-
ton: Hath the rain father?"
So agriculturists commit this sin.
There Is nothing moro annoying than
TO have planted corn rot in the ground
because Of too much moisture, or hay
all ready for the NOW dashed Of show
er, or wheat almost ready for the sickle
spoiled with the rust. How hard it is
to bear the agricultural disappoint-
ments God has infinite resources, but
do not think he has capacity to make
weather 70 suit all farmers. Sometimes
it is too hot OF 1t is too cold: ii is too
wet or it is too dry: it is too early or ii
is too late, They forget that God who
has promised seed time and harvest,
summer and winter, cold and heat also
ordained all the climatic changes.
There is one question that ought to
be written on every barn, on every fence
and on every farm house: Hath the
rain father" If We only knew what a
vast enterprise it is to provide appro-
pirate weather for this world we would
not be so critical of the Lord. Isaac
Watts. at 10 years of age complained
that he did not like the hymns that were
sung in the English chapel. well" !"
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 bet
ter. Now, ! say to you, if you do not
like the weather get up a weather
company and have a president, and
a secretary, and treasurer. and board
OF directors, and 80, 900, 900 OF stock.
and then proyide weather that will suit