The Brookhaven leader., 1891-07-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher Discourses
on the Weather.
The Providence of God In the Sunshine
and IN the Rain-The wickedness
of MurmurIng Over Gil
matte Changes.

Ign tabernacle, taking for his text:
Hath the rain a father?-Job xxxviii., %.
This Book of Job has been the sub
ject of unbounded theological wrangle.
Men have made il the ring in which to
display their ecclesiastical pugilism.
Some say that the Book of Job is a true
history: others, that IL is an allegory;
others, that il is an epic poem; others,
that it is drama. Some say that Job
lived eighteen hundred wears before
Christ, others say that he never lived-at
all. Some say that the author of the book
was job: others, David; others, Sol
ONION. The discussion has landed some
in blank infidelity. Now, have no
trouble with the Books of Job or Reeve
lation-the two most mysterious books
in the Bible-because of a rule
] adopted some years ago. ! wade
down into a Scripture passage as
long rs can touch bottom, and when
] can not, then | wade out. ] used to
wade i'll until it was over my head, and
then | got drowned. | study passage
of Scripture so long as it is comfort
and help to my soul; but when it be-
comes 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
acres this great ocean of Divine truth.
go down into that ocean as ] go down
into the Atlantic ocean at East IIamp-
ton, l.. l., ust far enough to bath; 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 fami-
lily gcnealogy. 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
parcntage of the shower? Hath the
rain father" This question is not
asked by a poctaster or a scientist, but
by 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, and
then He arraigns him with the inter
rogation 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 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: help"
You all know that the rain is not an or
phan. You know it is not east out of
the gates of Heaven foundling. You
would answer the question of my text
in the affirmative. Safely housed dur
ing the storm, you hear the rain beat
ing against the window pane and you
find it searching all the crevices of the
window sill. 1t first comes down in
solitary drops, pattering 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
rocked in the cradle of the wind. You
know it was sung to sleep by the storm.
You know that it was flying evangel
from Heaven to earth. You know it is
GliC SooptI VI Int "CdtlCI' IOu huO"
that God is it's father
If this be true, then, how wicked is
our murmuring about climatic changes
The first eleven Sabbaths after | en-
tered the ministry it stormed. Through
the week it was clear weather, but on
the Sahbaths the old country meeting
house looked like Noah's ark before it
landed. "A few drenched people sat be-
fore a drenched pastor; but most of the
farmers staid at home and thanked God
that what was bad for the church was
good for the crops. | 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 Indictment Sabbaths.
They forget the fact that the same God
who ordained the Sabbath and sent
forth His ministers to announce saliva
ton also ordained the weather. Hath
the rain a father?"
Merchants also with their stores filled
with new goods, and their clerks hang
ing idly around the counters, commit
the same transgression. There have
been seasons when the whole spring
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 i'm
passable streets, they never once asked
the question; Hath the rain father?"
SO agriculturists commit this sin.
There is nothing more annoying than
to have planted corn rot in the ground
because of too much moisture, or hay
all ready for the NOW dashed of
shower. 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 to please all the farmers.
Sometimes 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 promised seed time
and harvest, summer and winter, cold
and heat, also ordained all the climate
changes. There is one question that
ought to be written on every barn, on
every fence, on every haystack, on every
farm house. Hath the rain a father?"
If we only knew what a vast enter
prise it is to provide appropriate