Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-07-16
GOSPEL OFTHE WEATHER
Or TALMAcE breaches ON TIE
COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE RAIN.


Weak Men Into InadeIs-Never wade
Iaeo Mystery Over Yoar Head.
BROOKLYN, July 5.-Dr TaImAge's ser
mon today is on kind Of gospel in which
few people believe. The weather is a COM
mon object Of complaint and fault finding,
but DR.. Talmage finds gospel in it, which
today he proclaims from the text, "Hath
the rain fatherf' Job xxxviii, 2a
This Book Of Job has been the subject 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 wears
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 infdelity. Now, have no trouble
with the Books Of Job or Revelation-the
two most mysterious books in the Bible
because OF rule adopted some years ago
wade down into Scripture passage as
long as | can touch bottom, and when
cannot then | wade out. used to wade in
until 1t was over my head and then | got
drowned. | study passage of Scripture
so long as it is a comfort and help to nv
soul, but when it 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 20
down into the Atlantic ocean at East
Hampton, 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 over to Liver.
pool.
GODS MYSTERIOUS GOVERNMENT.
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 parentage of
the shower, Hath not the rain father?"
This question is not asked by poetaster
or a scientist, but by the head of the uni
verse. To humble and to save Job God
asks him fourteen questions: About the
worlds 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 interroga-
tion of the text, Hath the rain fatherS"
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 it in the first
three months. A sermon has come to me
to mean one word of four letters, "helpr"
You all know that the rain is not an or
phan. You know it is not cast out of the
gates OF heaven founding. You would
answer 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 it searching all the crevices
of the window sill. 1t first comes down in
solitary drops, pattering the dust, and then
it deluges the fields and angers the noun
tain torrents, and makes the traveller inn
plore shelter. You know that the rain is
not an accident of the worlds economy
You know it was born of the cloud. You
know 1T 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 it is
the gospel of the weather You know that
God is its father.
y this be true, then how wicked Il eur
nsCnAnring about climatic changes. The
nEat eleven SakbsEAs after | enAerOd the
it stormsd. Through the week
it was clear weather, but on the Sabbaths
the old country meeting house looked
like Noah's ark before it landed. A few
drenched people sat before drenched pas
tor; but most of the farmers stayed at
home and thanked God that what was bad
for the church was good for the crops |
committed coed deal of sin in those days
in denouncing the weather Ministers of
the Gospel sometimes fret about stormy
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
vation also ordained the weather. Hath
the rain fatherP"
LNCEssANT COMPLAINTS OF THE WEATHER |
Merchants, also, with their stores filled |
with new goods, and their clerks hanging |
idly around the counters, commit the same
There have been seasons
when the whole spring and fall trade has
been ruined by protracted wet weather.
The merchants then examined the
weather probabilities" with more interest |
than they read their Bibles. They watched
Tor patch of blue sky They went COM
planning to the store and came complain
ng home again. In all that season of wet
eet and dripping garments and impassa-
Die streets they never once asked the Ques.
ion, 'Hath the rain fatherP"
so agriculturists commit this SIM There
S nothing more annoyiAg than to have
planted corn rot in the ground because of
100 much moisture, or hay all ready for the
now dashed of a shower, or wheat al.
most ready for the sickle spelled with the
ust. How hard it is to bear the agricul-
ursl disappointments. God has infinite
but do not think he has capac-
ty to make weather to please all the
armers. Sometimes it is too hot, or it is
90 cold; it is too wet, or it is too dry; it is
90 early, or it is too late They forget
hatEthe God who promised seed time and
harvest, summer and winter, cold and
leat, also ordained all the climatic changes.
there is one question that ought 10 be
written on every barn, on every fence. on
very haystack, on every farmhouse
Hath the rain a fathepp"
1t we only knew what vast enterprise
is to provide appropriate weather for
his world we would not be SO critical of
he Lord. Isaac Watts at ten years of age
that he did not like the hymns
hat were sung in the English chapel.
Well, !" said his father, Isaac instead of
our complaining about the hymns,go aud
lake HYMNS that are bettarn And ba did