Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-07-07
UODS MYSTERIOUS RULE
THE RAIN USED BY DR.. TALMAeE
AS A COMMON ILLUSTRATION.

God Is Tnanity In Inanitesimals as Much
as IN Things Infinitely Great. in Our
Everyday Sorrows rs In the Worlds
Erection.
BROOKLYN. July 5.-Dr. Talmage's
sermon today is on a kind Of gospel in
which few people believe. The weather
Is common object Of complaint and
fault finding but DR.. Talmage finds a
gospel in it, which today he proclairns
from the text. Hath the rain ia,
therr Job xxxviii, 2S
This Book of Job has been the sub
feet 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 a 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 JOBS others, David;
Others, Solomon. The discussion has
landed some in blank intdelity Now
have no trouble with the books Of
Job or Reyelation--the two most mys-
terious books In the Bible because Of
a rule adopted some years ago
wade down into Scripture pas
sage as long as can touch bottom, and
when cannot, then wade out. |
used to wade in until II was over my
head, and then got drowned. study
passage of Scripture so long as it is a
comfort and help to my soul; but when
II becomes a perplexity and 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 go down
into the Atlantic ocean at East Hamp-
ton, Long Island, just far enough to
bathe, then come out. | never had
any idea that with my weak hand and
foot could strike my way clear overto
Liverpool.
SCIENCE Is NOT RELIGION.
suppose you understand your fam
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 shower2 Hath the
In. Ia to ~
asked by poetaster or a scientist, but
by the head of the universe To hum
bio 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 interro-
CATION of the text. Hath the rain a
fatherr
With tho scientific wonders OF the
sain have nothing to do A minister
gets through with that kind Of sermons
within the first three years, and II he
has piety enough no gets through with
II In the first three months. A sermon
has come to me to mean one word Of
four letters, ''helpp You all know
that the rain is not an orphan. You
know that 1t Is not cast out of the
gates Of heaven a foundling You
would answer the question OF my text
Ia tho affirmative. Safely housed dur
ing the storm you hear the rain beat
ing against the window pane, and you
find II searching all the creviees of the
window SILL
II first comes down In solitary drops,
pattering the dust, and then II deluges
the fields and angers the mountain tor
rents and makes the traveller implore
shelter. You know that the rain Is not
an accident Of the worlds economy.
You know Il was born of the cloud.
You know II was rocked Ia the cradle
of the wind You know 1t was sung TO
sleep by the storm. You know that II
Il flying eyangel from heaven TO
earth. You know Il Is the gospel of
the weather You know that God is
It's father.
II this be true, then, how wicked Is
our murnuring about climatic changes,
The FIRST eleven Sabbaths after | en-
tered the ministry II stormed Through
the week II 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 pastor, but most of
the farmers stayed at home aud thanked
God that what was bad for the church
was good for the crops. J committed a
good dead Of sin In those days in de-
nouncing tho weather Ministers of
the Gospel sometimes fret about stormy
Sabbaths or hot Sabbaths or mclem
ent sabbaths They forget the fact
that the same God who ordained the
Sabbath and sent forth his ministers 10
announce salvation, also ordained the
weather. "Hath tho rain fatherr
ooMPLAININ0s oF SINFUL MgN.
Merchants, also, with their stores
filed with new goods, and their clerks
hanging idly around the counters, com.
nit the same transgression. There
have been seasons when the whole
spring aud fall trade has been ruined
by protfaotc5 wet weather Tho mer
chants then examined the weather
probabilliles' with mons Interest than
they read their Bibles They watched
for a patch Of blue sky. They went
complaining 10 tho store and came
complaining home again Ia all that
season of wet feet and dripping gar
monls and hnpassable STREETS they
never once asked the question. Hath