Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-07-10


ace immortals exuit in the fact that we are
owned by kng9 Hath the rain father
Aaain nv subject teaches me that Gods
dealings with US are inexplicable. That was
the original force of my text The ram wa:
n treat mystery TO the aneients. They could
not understand how the water should get
into the cloud and getting there; how il
should be suspended, or falling, why it should
come down in drops Modern science comes
along and says there are two portions Of air
Of different temperature, and they are
charged with moisture, and the one portion
of air decreases in temperature 50 the water
NAV no longer be held in vapor, and it falls.
And they tells US that some OF the clouds
that look to be only as large as mans hand,
and to be almost quiet in the heavens are
great mountains of mist four thousand feet
from base to top, and that they rush miles a
minute
But after all the brilliant experiments Of
DR.. James Hutton, aud Saussure, AMI other
scientists, there is an infinite mystery about
the rain. There is an ocean OF the untath-
ENABLE in every raindrop, and GOO says To-
day as He said in the time Of JOB, IF you
cannot understand ono drop OF rain, do not
be surprised if NY dealings with you are in
explcable." Why does that aged man, de-
crspit. beggared vicious, sick OF the world,
and the world sick of him, live on, while
hers is a man in mid life consecrated to
God, hard working, useful In every respect,
who dies Why does that old gossip, gad-
ding along the street about every body's bus:-
ness but her own, have such good health,
while the Christian mother, with tiock Oh
little ones about her whom she is preparing
for usefulness ami for heayen-the mother
VINO you think could not be spared an hour
from that houseiold-why does she lie down
ana die with cancer?
Why does that man, selfish to the core, 90
on adding fortune to fortune. consuming
everything on himself, continue to prosper,
while that man. who has been giving ten per
cent. of all his income TO God and the church,
goes into bankruptcy? Before we make
stark fools of ourselves, let us stop pressing
this everlasting why" Let us worship
where we cannot understand. Let man
take that one question, Why and follow
it far enough, and push it, and he will land
in wretchedness and perdit;on. We want IN
our theology fewer Interrogation marks and
more exclamation points. Heaven is the
place for explanation. Earth is the place for
trust II you cannot understand 50 minute
a thing as rainirop, how can you expect
TO understand Cots dealings Hath the
rain fatherY
Again, my text makes me think that the
rain OF tears is Of divine origin Great
CLOUDS or tIDuDlt SDUltbiltcs iiOFcl OfNA 10
They are black. and they arJ gOrged, ana
they are thun1erous They are more por-
tentious than Salvador or Claude ever
paintcd-clouds of poverty, or persecution,
or Bereavement They hover over us, aud
they oget darker and blacker, and after
awhile tear stGrts, and we think by az
extra pressure Of the eyeid TO stop 1t. 9th
ors follow, and after awhile there is a show
er OF fearful emotion. Yea, there is a rain
of tears. Hath that rain father!
oh YOU say, "A tear - nothing but
drop OF limpid fluid secreted by the lacE;
rymal gland-itis only sign OF weak eyes
Great mistake. II is one OF the Lords rich
est benedictions to the world. There are
people in Blackwelrs Island insane asylum,
and at Utica, and at all the asylums OF this
land. who were demente1 by the fact that
they could not cry at the right time SAID
a maniac in one OF or public institutions,
under gospel sermon that started the tears,
DO you see that tear that i the hrsJ l
have wept for twelve years think 1t VIII
help my brain"
There are great many in the grave VINO
could not stand any longer under the glacier
o. trouble II that glacier had only melted
into weeping they could have endured 1t,
There have been TIMES in your life when you
would have given the world, If you had pos
sessed it. for one tear You could slrIeS.
You coull blaspheme, but you could not cry
Have you never seen a man holding the hand
Of dead wife, who had been all the world
TO him. The temples liyid with excitement,
the eve dry AMI frantic, no moisture on the
inner or lower iii. IOu saw there were
bots Of anger in the cloud, but no rain. To
your Christian comfort, he said, Don't
talk to me about God; there is no God, or II
there is hate Him: don't talk TO me about
Gol.would He have left me and these mother
less children
But few hours or days after, coming
across some leaI pencil that she owned III
life. or some letters which she wrote when
he was away from home, with an cutlery that
appals. there bursts the fountain OF tears
and as the sunlight of Gods consolation
strikes that fountain of tears, you find out
that it is a tender-heartel, mercful, pitiful
and all compassionate God who was the
Father Of that rain. Oh you say, ut IS
absurd to think that God is going to watch
over tears" No, my friends. There are
three or four kinds Of them that God counts.
bottles and eternzss First there arc all
parental tears, ana there are more OF these
than any other kind, because the most OF
the race die in infancy, and that keeps pa,
rents mourning all around the world Ihey
never get over it. They may hive to shout
and sing afterwarj, but there is always a
corridor in the soul that is silent though II
once resounted.
Myparents never mentioned the death Of
child who died fifty years before without
tremor in the voice and a sigh, oh, how deep
fetched 1t was better she should die. 1t was
a mercy she should die She would have
been a lifelong invalid. But you cannot argue
away parents grief How often you hear
the moan; "Oh, my child my childm Then
there are the flial tears Little children soon
get over the loss Of parents They are easily
diverted with new toy. But where is the
man that has come to thirty or forty or fifty
years Of age, who can think of the old peo-
pie without having all the fountains Of his
youl stirred upg You may have had TO take
care Of her good many years but you
never can forget how she used to take care
OF you.
There have been many sea captains con-
verted in our church, and the popularity OF
them was that they were nearly all prayed
ascoreby their mothers, though the mothers
went into the dust sco1 after they went to
sea. Have you never heard an old man in
deirum o. some sickness call for his motherY
The fact is we get 50 ussi to calling for her
the first ten Yeats OF our life we never get
over it. and when she goes away from us 1t
makes deep sorrow You sometimes. per-
hlps. VI DAYS IL trouble and darkness. when
the world would say You ought to be able
TO take care Of YOURSELF You wake up from
your dreams finding yourself saying "Oh,
mother, mother" Have these tears no di-
vine originy Why, take all the warm hearts
that ever beat in all lands, and in all ages,
and put them together and their united throo
would be weak compared with the throb OF
Gods eternal sympathy. Yes, God also is
father Of all that rain of repentance.
Did you ever see a rain OF repentance? ID
you know what IL is that maNeS mau re-
pent2 / see people going around trying 70
repent They cannot repent. Do you know
no man eau repent until Col helps him to
repent? How do know By this passage.
"iin hath God exalted to be a prince and
Saviour to give repentance" Oh, it is ire
ntndous hour when one wakes up and says:
II am n bad man. / have not snned against
the laws of the land, but have wasted my
life. God asked me for my services and 1
haven't given those services. Oh, my sins;
God forgive me-" When that tear starts it
thrills all heaven. An angel cannot keep his
ewes off it, and the church of God assemblies
around, aud there is a commingling Of tearS
and God Is the Father OF the rain, the Lord.
long suffering. fnercifu and gracious.
In a religious assemblage man arose and
said: II have been a very wicked man; |
broke my mothers heart. | became an iaf-
de-. but have seen my evil way, and have
surrendered my heart 10 God, but it is