Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-07-06
GOSPEL OF WEATHER.
REV Dr. TALEAsss SERMON At BROOKLYN
YESTERDAY.
The @ e.. Preacher Fiais Sons Gasp,l il a
OOnnaa Object Of Complaint and Draws
Some Interesting Lessons from the
Saej,ei-Why We Should
Not Muym7r.

BROOKLYN, n. Y, July 5.-Dr. Tai
IMAGES sermon to-day is on kind Of
Gospel in which few people believe.
Toe weather is a common object Of COM
plant and fault-anding, but DR.. Tai
mage finds a Gospel in it, which to-day
he prOelaims from the text, "Hath the
rain father?" Job 3S:2S
This book of job has been the sub
ject Of unbounded theological wrangle.
Men have made il the ring in which to
display tne.r ecclesiastical pugiliSm.
Some say that the Book Of JOB is true
history; others, that it is an allegory;
others, that it is q drama. Some say
that job lived eighteen hundred years
before Christ; others say that he never
lived az 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 trouble with the Books Of JOB
or RevelatiOn-the two most mysterious
books Ira the Bible-because Of rule l
adopted some years ago. 1 wade down
into Scripture passage as long as
can touch bottom, and when l cannot,
then ! wade out. l used 10 wade in un-
Ill 10 WAS over my head, and then l got
drowned. l study passage Of Scrip
tire SO long as IL Is a comfort and
help 10 my soul; but when IL becomes a
perpleXity and a spiritual upturning,
quit. In other words, We ought TO
wade IN up 10 our heart, but never
wade In until IL is over our head. No
mon ch,r,ld owor avraaf tn cxx-ir,, oarOCc
this great ocean OF divine truth. / 90
down into that ocean as 90 down into
the Atlantic ocean at East Hampton,
Long Island, just far enough 10 battle;
then l 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 family
geneal0gy. You know something about
your parents, your grandparents, your
great-grantparentS. Perhaps you know
where they were born, or where they
died. Have you ever studied the parent
age of tho shower: Hath the rain u
father?" This question is not asked by
pOetaster or a scientist, but by the head
OF the universe. To humble and TO save
job God asks him fourteen questions,
about the world architecture, 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 q father?" 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 gets !
through with 10 In the first three months. |
A sermon has come 10 me 10 mean one |
word of four letters: "help' You all |
know that the rain is not an orphan. !
You know it is not cast out of the gates |
of heaven a founding. You would |
answer the question OF my text in |
the Affirmative Safely housed dur ]
ing the storm, you hear the rain |
beating against the window pane !
and YOU find it searching all the |
creyices OF the window sill 1t first |
comes down in solitary drops, patter- !
ing the dust, aud then il 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 ecOnO-
NV. You know il was born OF the
cloud. You knO II was rocked in the
cradle of the wind. You know it was
sung to sleep by the storm. You know
that IL isa flying evangel from heaven
to earth. You know it is the Gospel OF
the weather. You know that God is
its father.
DON'T KICK on THE WEATHER.
II 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 30 was clear weather, but on the
SabbathS the old country Westinghouse
looked ike NOah's Ark before it landed.
A few drenched people sat before q
dreuched pastor; but most of the farmers
STAYED az homo and thanked God that
what was bed for the church was good
for the crops. l committed a good deal
OF sin I'm those days IN denOuncing the
weather. Ministers of the gospel some
times fret about stormy SahbathS, or hot
SabbathS, or Indictment Sabbaths. They
forget the fact that the same God who
ordained the Sabbath and sent forth his
ministers TO announce salvation, 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 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 merchants then eX-
smined the weather probabilities"
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 impossible
streets, they never once asked the QueS-
ton: Hath the rain father?"
So agriculturistS commit this sin.
There is nothing more annoying than
10 have planted corn rot IN the ground
because OF too much moisture, or nay
All ready for the NOW dashed OF a
shower. or wheat all ready for the
sickle spoiled with the rust. How hard
II IS 10 bear the agricultural diSappOint-
ments. God has infinite resources, but
do not think be has capacity 10 make
weather TO please all the farmers.
Sometimes il is TOO hot, or it is too
cold: it Is too wet, or il is too dry; 1t IS
too early. or Il is too late. They forget
that the God who promised seed time
and harvest, summer and winter, cold
and heat, also ordained all the climatic
changes. There is one question that
ought TO be written on every barn, on
every fence, on every hayStack, on
every farmhouse: Hath the rain a
father %
If we only knew what a vast enter