The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-07-15
GOSPEL OF THE WEATHER,
DR.. TALMAGs breaches ON THE
COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE RAIN.

Job-How the Study of 1t Has Made
Weak Men Into Infaels Never Wade
Into a Mystery Over Youi Head.
BROOKLYN, July 5.-Dr. Talmage's
sermon today is on a kind Of gospel IN
which few people believe. The weather
is a common object of complaint and
fault finding, but DR.. Talmage finds
gospel in it, which today he proclalms
from the text, Hath the rain father"
Job xxxvIi, 2S.
This Book of JOB has been the SUBJ
iect of unbounded theological wrangle.
Men have made It the ring IN which to
display their ecclesiastical pugilism.
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 a 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 discussion has landed
some in blank lnfdelity. Now, have
no trouble with the Books OF JOB Or
Reyelation-the two most mysterious
books in the BiSle-because OF rule l
adopted some years ago.
I wade down into Scripture passage
as long as can touch bottom, and when
cannot then I wade out. used to
wade in until it was over my head and
then ! cot drowned. I study passage
ofScripture so long as it is a comfort
and help to my soul, but when 1t be-
comes a perplexity and spiritual! up
turning l quit. In other words, we
ought to wade in up 10 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.
90 down into that ocean as l 60 down
into the Atlantic ocean at East Hamp-
ton, Long Island, just far enough to
battle; then I come out. never had
any idea that with my weak hand and
foot 1 could strike my way clear over to
Liverpool.
GODS MYSTERIOUS GOVERNMENT.
[ suppose you understand your family
genealosv. 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 par
entase of the shower, Hath not the
rain a iather?'' 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 ar
chitecture, about the refractlon OF the
sun'sxays, about the tides, about the
snow crystal, about the lightnlngs, and
then he arraigns him with the interroga-
ton of the text, Hath the ram tath-
ers''
With tn scientific wonders of the rain
have nothing to do. A minister gets
through with that kind OF seroions with
in the first three years, and II ne has
plety enough he gets through with 1t IN
the first three months. A sermon has
come 20 me to mean one word Of four
letters, sshelp!" You all know tnat the
rain is not an orphan. You know II IS
not cast out of the gates Of heaven 4
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
creyices of the window sill. It first
comes down in solitary drops, pattering
the dust, and then 1t deluges the fields
and aneers the mountain torrents, and
makes the traveller implore shelter.
You know that the rain is not an accl-
dent ofthe 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 a flying evan
gel from heaven to earth. You know 1t
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 l enter
ed 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 1t
landed. a few drenched people sat be-
fore a drenched pastor; but most OF the
farmers stayed at home and thanked
God that what was bad for the church
vas good for the crops. l committed a
GOOD deal of sin in those days IN denounc-
ing the weather. Ministers Of the Cos
pel sometimes fret about stormy Sab
baths, 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 sal
vauon also ordained the werther. Hath
the rain father"
INCESSANT COMPLAINTS OF THE
WEATHER.
Merchants, also. with their stores fill.
ed with new goods, and their clerks
hanging idly around the counters, COM
NIT the same transgression. There
have been seasons when the whole
spring and fall trade has been ruined
by protracted wet weather. The mer-
chants then examined the weather
orobabihties'' with more interest than
they read their Bibles. They watched
for patch of blue sky. They went
complaining to the store and came COM
planning home again. In all that season
oswet feet and dripping garments and
impassable streets they never once asked
The question, Hath the rain fa:her?"
So agricullurists commit this sin.
There is nothing more annoying than to
have planted corn rot in the ground be-
cause 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 disappointments.
God has infinite resources, but do not
link he has capacity to make weather
TO please ali he farmers. Sometimes it
1s 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