The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1901-08-09
OBSERVING THE WIND
Value of Prompt Acticn in Any
thing Undertaken Is Shown.
DIR. Talmage Draws Lesson from n
Scriptural Passage Generally
UnObserved-Bewar of
ONerprudence.

lance OF prompt action IN any linlnt
we have to do for ourselves or 9th
ers; text, Ecclesiastes 11:4: "He tha
obseryeth the wind shall not SOW"
What do you find in this packeC
sentence of Solomon's monologue?
find in it farmer at his front door
examining the weather. 1t is seed
time. His fields have been ploweC
and narrowed. The wheat is in tn,
barn in sacks. ready to be taken
afield and scattered. Now is the time
TO SOW. But the wind is not favor
able. 1t may blow up storm before
night. and he may get wet if he starts
out for the sowing; or it may be a
long storm, that will wash out the
seed from the soil or there may have
been a long drought, and the wind
may continue to blow dry weather
The parched fields may not take in
the grain. and the birds may pick il
up, and the labor as we'll as the seed
may be wasted. So he gives up the
work for that day and goes into the
house and waits TO see what it will
be on the morrow. On the morrow
the wind is still in the wrong direc-
ton, and for a whole week and for a
month. Did you ever see such a long
spell of bad weather? The lethargic
and overcautious and dilatory agri-
culturist allows the season to pass
without sowing, and no sowing, of
course, no harvest. That is what
Solomon means when he says in his
text: "He that observeth the wind
shall not SOW"
As much in our time as in Solomon
ic times there is abroad fatal hesi-
fancy. a disposition to let little
things stop us, ruinous adjourn
ment. We all want TO do some good
in the world, but how easily we are
halted in our endeavors. Perhaps we
are solicitors for some great charity.
There is a good man who has large
means. and he is accustomed to give
literally to asylums, TO hospitals, to
reform organizations. to schools, to
churches, 10 communities desolated
with food or devastated with fires.
But that good man, like many a good
man, is mercurial in his temperament.
He is depressed by atmospheric
changes. He is always victimized by
the east wind For this or that rea-
son you postpone the charitable So
licitation. Meanwhile the suffering
that you wish to alleviate does its
awful work, and the opportunity for
relief is past. If the wind had been
from the west or northwest, you
would have entered the philanthro-
pist's counting-room and sought the
gift, but the wind was blowing from
the east or northeast, and you did
not make the attempt, and you thor
oughly illustrated my text: "He that
observeth the wind shall not SOW"
There comes dark Sabbath morn
ing. The pastor looks out of the
window and sees the clouds gather
and then discharge their burdens of
rain. Instead of a full church it will
be a handful Of people with wet feet
and the dripping umbrella at the
doorway or i'm the end of the pew.
The pastor has prepared one of his
best sermons. II has cost him great
research, and he has been much in
prayer while preparing it. He puts
the sermon aside for clear day and
talks platitudes and goes home quite
depressed. but at the same time feel
ing that he has done his duty. He
did not realize that in that small au-
dence there were at least two persons
who ought to have had better treat
ment. One of those hearers was a
man in a crisis of struggle with evil
appetite. A carefully prepared dis
course under the Divine blessing
would have been to him complete vic
tory. The fires of sin would have
been extinguished, and his keen and
brilliant mind would have been con-
secrated to the Gospel ministry, and
he would have been a mighty evangel,
and tens Of thousands of souls would
have, under the spell of his Christian
eloquence, given up sin and started
new life, and throughout all the
Heavens there would have been con-
graduation and hosanna, and after
many ages of eternity had passed
there would be celebration among
the ransomed of what was accom-
plshed one stormy Sunday in a
church on earth under a mighty Cos
pei sermon delivered TO Is or 20 peo-
pie. But the crisis | speak of was not
properly met. The man in struggle
with evil habit heard that stormy day
no word that moved him. He went
out in the rain unlimited and un-
helped back to his evil way and down
to his overthrow. Had it been a sun
shiny Sabbath he would have heard
something worth hearing. But the
wind blew from a stormy direction
that Sabbath day. That Gospel hus-
bandman noticed it and acted upon
its suggestion, and may discover some
day his great mistake.
There was another person in that
stormy Sunday audience that de-
served something better from that
pastor than extemporized nothing
ness. 1t was a mother who was half
awakened to a sense of responsibility
in regard to her household. She had
begun to question herself as to
it would not be better to in
troduce into her home a religion that
would decide Alright the destiny of