Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-07-09

nr. Talmage's sermon last Sunday was
from the text, "IIath the rain q father?"
Job xxxvii, %.
This book Of job has been the subject
of unbounded theological wrangle. Men
have made it the ring in which to display
their ecclesiastical pugiIism. Some say
that the Book of job is a true history;
others. that it is an allcgory; others. that
il is an epic poem; others, that 1T is Il
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 dis
cussion has landed some in blank infidel-
itv. Now have no trouble with the
books of Job or Rcvelation-the two most
mysterious books in the Biblc-bccauSe
of n 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. i study passage
of Scripture SO long as it is comfort
and help to my soul; but when it becomes
q perplexity and u 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. Noman should
ever expect to swim across this great
ocean of divine truth. | go down into
that ocean as go down into the Atlan-
tic Ocean at East Hampton, Long Island,
lust 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.
| suppose you understand your family
l., IA i,,Tr h1,
YOUR parents, your grandparents, your
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Perhaps you know
where they were born or where they
died Have YOU ever studied the parent
age of the shower? "iIath the rain u
fathor?" This question is not asked by
poctastcr or Il scientist, but by the Head
| of the Universe 70 humble and to save
Job God asks him fourteen questions;
| about the worlds architecture, about the
| refraCtiOnS Of the suns rays, about the
tides about the snow crystal, about the
| lightningS and then he arraigns him with
the interrogation Of the text, Hath the
| rain 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 II he has ploty
| enough he gets through with it in the
first three months. A sermon has come
to me to mean one word Of four letters,
'hclp!' You all know that the rain is
not an orphan. You know that it is not
| cast out Of the gates Of Heaven found
| ling. You would answer tho question OF
| my text in the affirmative. Safely housed
| during the storm you hear the rain beat
ing 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 delugcS
the fields and Anglers the mountain tor
rents, and makes the traveller impIore
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 flying cVangcI 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.
Tho first eleven Sabbaths after ] entered
the ministcry it stormcd. Through the
week it was clear weather, but on the
Sabbaths tao old country meeting house
looked like Noah's ark before it landed.
A few drenched people sat before
drenched pastor, but most of the farmers
stayed 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 dcnouncing the
weather Ministers Of the Gospel some
times fret about stormy SabhathS or hot
Sabbaths or inclcmcnt SabbathS They
forgot the fact that the same God who
ordained the Sabbath and sent forth his
ministers to announce salvation, also
ordained the weather. ''Hath the rain
Il 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 and fall
trade has been ruined by protracted wet
weather. The merchants then cX-
amined the weather probabilities" 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 question, Hath
the rain father.
So agriculturists commit this sin.
There is nothing more annoying than TO
have planted corn roti in the ground be-
cause Of too much moisture, or hay all
ready for the NOW dashed of a shower,
or wheat almost ready for the sickle
spoiled with the rust. How hard it is to
bear the agricultural appointments.
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 climatic 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 a father?"
If we only knew what vast enter