Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-07-16
GOSPEL OFTHE WEATHER
DR.. TAlMAcE breaches ON THE
COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE RAIN.

OOMFLAllN . A5OO TIE FAliN.
The Wonderful Imagery of the Book o
Job-How the study of 1t Has Mad,
Weak Men Into Inidels-Neyer Wade
Into Mystery over Your Head.
BROOKLYN, July 5.-Dr Talmege's ser
mon today is on kind of gospel 10 which
few people believe. The weather is a com
mon object of complaint and fault finding
but Dr. Talmage finds a gospel n it, which
today he proelaims from the text. Hiatt
the rain a fathersn job xxxviii, IS
This Book of job has been the subject o.
unbounded theological wrangle Men hav,
made it the ring in which to display theil
ecclesiastical pugilism. Some say that tn,
Book of Job Is true history; others, that
it is an allegory; Others that it is an epic
poem; others, that it is a drama Som,
say that Job lived eighteen hundred year.
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 discussion has landed some
in blank infidelity. Now, / have no troul<t
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 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. study a passage Of Scripture
so long as it is comfort and help to my
soul, but when il becomes perplexity and
a 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. No man should ever expect to
swim across this great ocean of divine
truth. | go down into that ocean as | 90
down into the Atlantic ocean ut East
Hampton, Long Island, just far enough to
battle; then ] come out J never had any
idea that with my weak hand and foot
could strike my way clear over to Liver.
pool.
GODS MYSTERIOUS GOVERNMENT.
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 pareutage OF
the shower, Hath not the rain fatherg"
This question Is not asked by a poetaster
or "A scientist, but by the head of the uni
verse. To humble 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 lightniugs. and
then he arraigns him with the interroga-
ton OF the text, Hath the rain fathers'
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 gers 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 il is not cast out Of the
gates of heaven a founding You would
answer the question Of my text In the af-
frmative.
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. It first comes down in
solitary drops. pattering the dust, and then
it deluges the fields and angers the noun.
tain torrents, and makes the traveller inn
plore shelter. You know that the rain is
not an accident Of the worlds economy
You know il was born of the cloud You
know 1t was rocked in the cradle Of the
wind. You know it was sung to sleep by
the storm You know that it flying evan
gel from heaven TO earth You know it is
the gospel Of the weather You know that
God is its father
IL this be true, then how wicked is our
murmuring about climatic changes. The
first eleven Sabbaths after entered the
ministry il stormed Through the week
it was clear weather, but on the Sabbaths
the old country meeting house looked
like Noah's ark before il landed. a few
drenched people sat before drenched pas
tor; but most OF the farmers STAYED at
home and thanked God that what was bad
for the church WINS 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 Sabhaths, or inelement
Sabbaths. They forget the fact that the
same God who ordained the Sabbath and
sent forth bis ministers to announce sal.
walton also ordained the weather Hath
the rain a father"
lNcEssANr COMPLAINTS or THE WEATHER
Merchants. also, with their stores filed
WIN new -uDNss anu their clerks hanging |
idly around the counters. commit the same
There have 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 |
han they read their Bibles They watched |
Tor patch Of blue sky They went com |
planning to the store and came complain
ng home again. In all that season Of wet
Get and dripping garments and imnassa-
Die streets they never once asked the ques-
ion, Hath the rain fathers"
So agricnlturists commit this sin. There |
; nothing more annoying than to have
planted corn rot in the ground because Of
90 much moisture or hay all ready for the
now dashed Of a shower, or wheat al /
most ready for the sickle spoiled with the
ust. How hard it Is TO bear the agricul-
ural disappoiutments God has infinite
esources, hpi do not think he has capac-
ty to make weather to please all the
armers. Sometimes it is too hot, or it is
90 cold, It is too wet, or it is too dry: it is
90 early, or it is too late. They forget
hat the God who promised seed time and
Arrest, summer and winter. cold and
eat, also ordained ali theclimatic changes.