Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-06-13
AN ILL EAST WIND.
REv. DR.. TALMAGE SAYS THAT GOD
CONTROLS IT.

REv. DR.. TALMAGE SAYS THAT GOD
CONTROLS IT.
He Acknowledges That 1t Takes Almighty
Grace 10 BE what we Should Be Under
the chill East wind-The Uses Of Trou-
BILE.
WASHINGTON, June Tin his dis
course today Rev. Dr. Talmage pointed
out the consultations which the religion
of Christ extends to all who are in trou-
bic and specially to such as are in deep
misfortune or suffering from bereave-
ment He chose as his text Exodus K,
10. "And the Lord brought an east
wind upon the land all that day and all
that night.
The reference here is not to cyclone,
but to the long continued blowing of the
wind from an unhealthful quarter The
north wind is bracing. the south wind
is relaxing, but the east wind is irritat-
ing and full of threat. Eighteen times
does the Bible speak against the east
blasted by the east wind. The psalmist
describes the breaking of the ships Of
Tarshish by the east wind The locusts
that plagued Egypt were borne in ON the
east wind The gourd that sheltered
Jonah was shattered by the east wind,
and in all the 6, 600 summers, autumns.
winters, springs, of the worlds exist
ence the worst wind that ever blew is
the east wind. Now. if God would only
give us a climate Of perpetual nor west
er. how genial and kind and placid and
industrious Christians we would all bel
But it takes almighty grace to be what
we ought to be under the east wind.
Under the chilling and wet wing Of
the east wind the most of the worlds
yillainies, frauds, outrages, suicides
and murders have been Matched out 1
think if You should keep meteorologi-
cal history of the days of the year and
put right beside it the criminal record
of the country you would find that
those were the best days for public NOR
ais which were under the north or west
wind, and that those were the worst
days for public morals which were un-
der the east wind. The points of the
compass have more to do with the
worlds morals and the church's piety
than you have yet suspected. Rev. DR..
Archibald Alexander eminent for learn
ing and for conservation, when asked by
one of his students at Princeton whether
he always had full assurance of faith,
replied, "Yes, except when the wind
blows from the east. Dr. Francia, die
tator of Paraguay, when the wind was
from the east, made oppressive enact
ments for the people, but when the
weather changed repented him of the
cruelties, repealed the enactments and
-wasiH good humor with all the world
Climates Changes.
Before Iovertake the main thought9f
my subject l want to tell Christian
people they ought to be observant of
elimatical changes. Be on your guard
when the wind blows from the east
There are certain styles of temptations
that you cannot endure under certain
styles of weather When the wind blows
from the east, if you are of nervous
temperament, go not among exasperat-
ing people, try not to settle bad debts,
do not try to settle old disputes, do not
talk with bigot on religion, do not go
among those people who delight in say
ing irritating things, do not try to collect
funds for a charitable institution, do
not try to answer an insulting letter. If
these things must be done, do them
when the wind is from the north, or the
south, or the west, but not when the
wind is from the east
You say that men and women ought
not to be so sensitive and nervous. | adj
NIT it, but / am not talking about what
the world ought to be. | am talking
about what the world is. While there
are persons whose disposition does not
seem to be affected by changes in the at
mosphere, nine out of ten are nightly
played upon by such influences. o
Christian mani under such circum-
stances do not write hard things against
yourself, do not get worried about your
fluctuating experience. You are to re-
member that the barometer in your soul
is only answering the barometer of the
weather Instead of sitting down and
being discouraged and saying, 81 am
not Christian because / don't feel ex-
hilarant. get up and look out of the
window and see the weather vane point
ing in the wrong quarter, and then say;
''Get thee behind me, satan, thou prince
of the power of the air; get out of my
house; get out of my heart, thou demon
of darkness horsed on the east wind
AwayP However good and great you
may be in the Christian life, your soul
will never be independent of physical
condition. ! feel | am uttering most
practical, useful truth here, one that
may give relief to great many Chris
tians who are worried and Respondent
at times
DR. Rush, monarch in medicine,
after curing hundreds of cases of mental
depression, himself fell sick and lost his
religious hope, and he would not believe
his pastor when the pastor told him
that his spiritual depression was only
consequence of physical depression. An
drew Fuller, Thomas Scott, William
Cowper, Thomas Boston, David Brain
erd, Philip Melanchthon were mighty
men for God, but all of them llustra-
tons of the fact that man S soul is not
independent of his physical health An
eminent physician gave as his opinion
that no man ever died a greatly tri-
umphant death whose disease was below
the diaphragm. Stackhouse, the learned
Christian commentator, says he does not
think Saul was insane when David
played the harp before him, but it was
a hypochondria coming from inf1amma-
ton of the liver Oh, how many good
people have been mistaken in regard to
their religious hope, not taking these
things into consideration
The dean of Carlisle, one of the best
men that ever lived, and one of the
most useful, sat down and wrote:
Though have endeavored to discharge
my duty as well as l could, yet sadness
and melancholy of heart stick close by