The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1891-07-31
GODS RAIN.
Talmage Comes TO the Rescue of
the Signal Service.
The Bible student should Not wade In
Too Deep. For Diving Into Di-
vinity Has Drowned Many
n Good Man.

1
xxxviii. %.
This Book of Job has been the sub
ject of unbounded theological wrangle.
Men have made il the ring in which 20
! display their ecclesiastical pugilism.
Some say that the Book of Job is a
true history: others, that il is an allie
CORY; others, that IL is an epic poem; 9th
ers that IL 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, 9TH
ers, Solomon. The discussion has land
ed some in blank infdelity. Now. !
have no trouble with the Books of job
or Revelation--the two most myster-
ious books in the Bible-because of a
rule adopted some years ago.
wade down into a Scripture passage
as long as / can touch bottom, and
when can not, then | wade out.
use 70 wade in until IL was over my
head and then got drowned. study
a passage in Scripture as long as IL is
comfort and help to my soul; but when
IL becomes 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
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
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 par
entage of the shower: Hath the rain
father" This question is not asked
by "a poetaster or a scientist but the
head Of the universe. TO humble and
20 save job, God asks him fourteen
questions: about the worlds architect
ure, about the refraction 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 goes
through with that kind of sermons
within the first three years, and If he
has piety enough he gets through with
II in the first three months. A sermon
has come To me to mean one word of
four letters: 'Ilelp." You all know
that the rain is not an orphan. You
know IL is not cast out of the gates of
Heaven a founding. You would an
swer 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
1t searching all the crevices of the
window sill II first comes down in
solitary drops, pattering the dust and
then IL 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 IL was
born of the cloud. You know IL was
rocked in the cradle of the wind. You
know IL was sung To sleep by the
storm. You know that 1t is flying
evangel from Heaven To earth. You
know II Is the Gospel of the weather
You know that God is It's father
II this be true, then, how wicked Is
our murmuring about climatic changes
The first eleven Sabbaths after enter
ed the ministry IL stormed. Through
the week IL was clear weather, but on
the Sabbaths the old meeting house
looked like Noahs Ark before il landed
A few drcnched people sat before n
drenched pastor; but most of the farm
ers 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 denouncing the
weather, Ministers of the Gospel some
times fret about stormy Sabbaths. or
hot Snbbaths, or Indictment Sabbaths
They forget the fact that the same God
who ordained the Sabbath and sent
forth his ministers To announce salvaN
ton, also ordained the weather, Hath
the rain father?'
Merchants also, with their stores fill
ed with new goods and their clerks
hanging idly around the corners, COM
init 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 probabili-
ties" with more interest than they read
their Bibles They watched for patch
of blue sky. They went complaining
10 the store, and came complaining
home again. In all that season of wet
feet and dripping garments and impass-
able streets, they never once asked the
question; "iath the rain n father"