The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1893-07-05
MURMURlNG AGAINST THE RAIN.

Some Things Which Christians Would Do
Well to Bear In Mind.
The first eleven Sabbaths after / en-
tered the ministry it stormed. 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 be-
fore drenched pastor, but most of the
farmers 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 de-
nouncing the weather. Ministers of
the Gospel sometimes fret about stormy
Sabbaths, or hot Sabbaths, or inclement
Sabbaths. They forget the fact that
the same God who ordained the Sab
bath, and sent forth His ministers to
announce salvation, also ordained the
weather. Merchants also, with their
stores filled with new goods, and their
clerks hanging idly around the counters,
commit the same transgression. There
have been seasons when the whole
| spring and fall trade has been ruined
| by protracted wet weather. The mer-
chants then examined the weather
proba bilities" with more interest than
they read their Bibles They watched
fora patch of blue sky. They went com
planning to the store, and came COM
planning home again. agriculturists
commit this sin. There is nothing
more annoying than to have corn just
planted rot in the ground because of
too much moisture, or hay all ready for
the NOW dashed by shower, or wheat
almost ready for the sickle spoiled with
the rust How hard it is to bear the
agricultural disappointments. God has
infinite resources, but | do not think
He has capacity to make weather to
please all the farmers. Sometimes it is
too hot, or it is too cold; it is too wet,
or it is too dry; it is too early, or it is
too late. They forgot that the God who
promised seed time and harvest, sum
mer and winter, cold and heat, also Or
dained all the climatic changes. There
is one question that ought to be writ
ten on every barn, or every fence, on
every haystack, on every farmhouse:
Hath the rain a father?"
! suppose you understand your fami-
ly genealogy You know something
about your parents, your grandparents,
your great-grandparents Perhaps you
know where they were born, or where
.hey died. Have you ever studied the
parentage of the shower--or as it is in
Job: Hath the rain father?" This
question is not asked by poetaster or
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 refrac.
tion of the suns rays, about the tides,
about the snow crystals, about the
!ightnings, and then He arraigns him
with the interrogation quoted above.
With the scientific wonders of the rain
have nothing to do. minister gets
through with that kind of talking and
writing within the first three years,
md if he has piety enough he gets
through with it in the first
three months. An article or ser.
mon has come to me to mean one
word of four letters: Fl. lp." 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 in the affirmative.
Safely housed during the storm. you
hear the rain beating against the win
dow-pane, and you find it searching all
the crevices of the window-sill. 1t first
comes down in solitary drops, patter.
ing the dust, and then it deluges the
fields, and angers 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 clouds
You know it was rocked in the cradle
of the wind. You know it was sung t.
sleep by the storm. You know that il
is flying angel from Heaven to earth
You know that God is its father. Il
t,iis be true then how senseless is thi.
constant murmuring on our part about
climatic changes.
If we only knew what vast enter
prise it is to provide appropriate,
weather for this world we would mo-
be so critical of the Lord. Isaac Watts
at ten years of age. complained thai
he did not like the hymns that wer,
sung in the English chapel "Well
Isaac" said his father. instead o.
your complaining about the hymns, q
and make hymns that are better
And he did go and make hymns better
Now, | say to you, Il you do not lik,
the weather, get up a weather com
; pany, and have president, and sec
rotary, and a treasurer. and board o
directors, and million dollars of stock
and then provide weather that will sui
all of us. There is man who has 8
weak head and he can not stand tn,
glare of the sun. You must have
cloud always lowering over him. lik,
the sunshine: l can not live with
out plenty of sunlight, S,
you must always have enough
light for me. Two ships NEE
mid-Atlantic. The one is gong I,
Southampton and the other is comins
to New York. Provide weather that
while it is abaft for one ship it is not
2 head wind for the Other There is
farm that Is dried up for lack of rain
, and here is a pleasure party going on
: for field excursion. Provide weathe
] that will suit the dry farm and tn
/, pleasure excursion. All, my reader
| there is only one Being in the univers
: who knows enough to provide the RICH
kind of weather for this world.