The Bossier banner., 1891-09-10
SUNSHINE AND RAIN.
A Weather Discourse Delivered by
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage.
IF Drops of Rain, as Also the Tears of
Mankind Have All their Origin in q
Beneficent Providence that
Makes No Mistakes.

A4As1Al HAACdOAO1ls "dO OCIlfS1CA DJ NV
L. Dewitt Talmage in the new Brook
lyn tabernacle, from the text:
Hath the rain a father?-Job xxxviii., 28.
This Book of Job has been the sub
ject of ur bounded theological wrangle.
Men have made it the ring in which to
display their ecclesiastical pugilisnl.
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 it is drama. Some say that Job
lived eighteen hundred years before
Christ, others say that he never lived at
ell. Some say that the author of the book
was Job; others, David; others, Sol
ONION. The discussion has landed some
in blank infidelity. Now, l have no
trouble with the Books of Job or Reve
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
l can not, then l wade out. l used to
wade in until it was over my head, and
then | got drowned. 1 study passage
of Scripture so long as it is a comfort
and help to my soul; but when it be-
comes a perplexity and spiritual up
turning, | quit. In other words, we
ought to wade ia 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 l go down
into fho A4iav,hio -
ton, L. l., just far enough to bath; then
come out. | never had any idea that
with my weak hand and foot l could
strike my way clear over to Liverpool.
suppose you understand your fami-
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 shower? Hath the
rain father?" This question is not
asked by poetaster or 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 Iightnings, and
then He arraigns him with the inter-
rogation of the text: ''Hath the rain
father?" With the scientific wonders
of the rain l 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 cast out of
the gates of Heaven a 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
the gospel of the weather. You know
that God is it's father.
II this lie true, then, how wicked is
our murnuring about climatic changes.
The first eleven Sabbaths after | en-
tered 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. few drenched people sat be-
fore 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 a rood
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 announce saliva
tion also ordained the weather. Hath
the rain f>ther?"
Merchants also with their stores filed
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 pro.
tracted wet weather. The merchants
then examined the weather probabiIi-
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 inn
passable streets, they never once asked
The question; Hath the rain father?'
So agriculturists commit this sin.
There is nothing more annoving than
to have planted corn rot in the ground
because 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 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;
go. v~r.A