Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-07-10
GODS MYSTERIOUS RULE
RAIN USED BY DR.. TALMAGE AS
A COMMON ILLUSTRATION.

~
God Is Intinity in Intinitesimals as Much
as in Things Infinitely Great, In Our
Everyday Sorrows as An the Worlds
Erection.
DIR. Talmage's sermon last Sunday was
from the text, ''Ilath the rain q father
Job XNXviii, %.
This book of Job has been The subject
of unbounded theological wranglc. 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 alegory; others. that
it is an epic poem; Others, that IL is 4
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 dis
cusson has lanGed some i'll blank lnf1de!'
ity. Now l have no trouble with the
books of Job or Ecvelation-th two most
mysterious boo,ss in the Bible-because
of rule adopted some years ago.
wade down into Scripture passage
as long as ! can tadch bottom, and when
cannot, then wade out. l used TIC
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 it becomes
pcrplexity aud 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. Norman should
ever expect to swim across this great
ocean of divine truth. l go down into
that ocean as / go down into the Allan
tic Ocean at East Hampton, Long Island
just far enough to battle, then l 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 parent
age of the shower? ''Hath the rain a
father?" This question is not asked by q
poetaster or scientist, but by the Head
of the Universe. To humble and to save
Job God asks him fourteen questions
about the worlds architecture, about the
refractions of the suns rays, about tho
tides, about the snow crystal, about the
lightnings, and then he arraigns him with
the Interrogation of the text, "Hath the
rain a father?'
With the scientific wonders of the rain
have nothing 20 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 it in The
first three months. A sermon has come
to me to mean one word of four letters
tEof En i
not an orphan. You know that it is not
cast out of tho gates of Heaven found
ling You would answer the question OF
my text in the affirmative. Safely housed
during the storm you hear the rain beat
ing against the window pane, and yor
find it searching all the crevices of the
window sill.
1t first comes down in solitary drops
pattering the dust, and then it deluge!
the fields and Anglers the mountain tor
rents, and makes the traveller implore
shelter. You know that the rain is NO
an accident OF the worlds economy.
You know it was born of the
cloud. You know it was rocked il
the cradle of the wind. Yo,
know it was sung to sleep by the storm
You know that it is flying evangel from
Heaven to earth. You know it is tn,
gospel of the weather. You know tina
God is its Father.
Ii this be true, then, how wicked j
our murmuring about climatic changes
The first eleven Sabbaths after entered
the ministery it stormcd. Through tn
week it was clear weather, but on TIL
Sabbaths thc old country meeting hous
looked like Noah's ark before it landed
A few drenched people sat before
drcnched pastor, but most of the farmer
stayed at home and thanked God tina
what was bad for the church was goo
for the crops. ] committed q good de;
of sin in those days in denouncing til
weather. Ministers of the Gospel some
times fret about stormy Sabbaths or he
Sabbaths or inclement Sabbaths. The
forgot the fact that the same God VIII
ordained the Sabbath and sent forth h
ministers to announce salvation, ais
ordained the weather. ''Hath the raj
father?"
Merchants, also, with their stores file
with new goods, and their clerks han
ing idly around the counters, commit tt
same transgression. There have bee
seasons when the whole spring and ia
trade has been ruined by protracted w
weather. The merchants then G
, amined the weather probabilities" wi
t more interest than they read their Bible
They watched for patch of blue SIX
They went complaining to the store al
I, came complaining home again. In ;
s that season of wet feet and drippil
q garments and impossible streets tn
never once asked the question, ''Ha
. the rain a father
S So agrculturists commit this 81
q There is nothing more annoying than
J.. have planted corn rotin the ground
cause of too much moisture, or hay
: ready for the NOW dashed of a shove
o or wheat almost ready for the sicl
e spoiled with the rust. How hard it is
4 bear the agricultural disappointment
- God has infinite resources, but do /
Is think he has capacity to make weatl
to please all the farmers. Sometimes
is too hot, OF it is too cold; it is too w
or it is too dry; it is too early, or it is
IN late. They forget that the God W
a promised seed time and harvest, sunni
;s and winter, cold and heat, also ordair
- all the climatic changes. There is G
~ question that ought to be written
y every barn, on every fence, on eve
10 haystack, on every farmhouse. "Hs
IS the rain father?'
N If we only knew what vast ent