Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-07-17
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Gospel of the Weather"

TEXT: ''Hdth the rain q fatherF '-Job
xviii, IS.
This Book of Job has been the subject of
unbounded theological wrangle Men have
made it the ring in which to display their
ecclesiastical pugilsm. Some say that the
Book Of Job is true history; others, that it
Is an allegory; others, that it Is an epic
poem Others that il is a drama. Some say
that Job lived eighteen hundred years be-
fore Christ, others say that he never lived at
mII. Some say that the author of this book
was Job; others, David; others, Solomon.
The discussion has landed some in blank in
fidelity. Now. / 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.
wade down into a Scripture passage as
long as / can touch bottom. and when cam
not 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 a comfort and help to my soul, but when
1T becomes perplexity and a spiritual up
turning 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 Hampton. 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 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 father%' This ques-
ton is not asked by poetaster a scien-
fist, but by the head of the universe. To hum
BILE and to save Job God asks him fourteen
questions: About the worlds architecture,
about the refraction of the suns rays about
the tides, about the snow crystal, about the
HI<~L%, h..
the Interrogation Of the text, Hath therain
n father%'
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 if he has piety enough he
gets through with it in the first three
months A sermon has come to me to mean
one word of four letters, ''helpr' 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 it searching all the crevices of
the window SILL 1t first comes down in soli-
tary drops, patterlng the dust, and then it
deluges the fields and angers 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
it was sung to sleep by the storm. You know
that it is 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 | entered the
ministry it stormed. Through the week it
was clear weather, but on the Sabbaths the
old country meeting house looked like Noah's
ark before it landed A few drenched peo-
hafC IroT1 had hut, If
the farmers stayed at 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 ordained the
Sabbath and sent forth his ministers to an
nOunce salvation also ordained the weather.
A'Hath the rain a father
Merchants, also, with their stores filled
with new goods, and their clerks hanging
idly around the counters, commit the same
trangression. Thereha 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 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 father?'
So agriculturists commit this sin. There
IS nothing more annoying than to nave
planted corn rot in the ground because of
too much moisture or nay all ready for the
NOV dashed OF a shower, OF wheat almost
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 iC is
too late. They forget that tue God who
promised seed time and harvest, summer and
winter, cold and heat, also ordained all CHI
matte changes. There is one question that
ought to be written every barn, on every
fence, on every haystack, on every farm
house, Hath the rain a father
If you only knew what vast enterprise
1t Is to provide appropriate weather toE 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 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 a weather
company and have president, and a secre-
tary, and treasurer, and board of direc-
tors and ten million dollars of stock, and
then provide weather that will suit us ALL
There is man who has a weak head, and he
cannot stand the glare of the sun. You must
have cloud always lowering over him.
like the sunshine; I cannot live without
plenty of sunlight, 50 you must always have
enough light for me. Two ships meet in
mid-Atlantic. The one is going to South
ampton and the other is coming to New
York. Provide weather that while it is
aoafr for one ship, it is not head wind for