The Globe-republican., 1901-06-27
TALMAGE's SERMON.
PROMPT ACTION" THE SUB
JECT LAST SUNDAY
He That Observeth tho Wind Shall
Not Sow Fec NJ THE Courage
Convictions Primary Virtue In
RIan-Be Bold the Right.

Nan-Be ne Right.
Copyright 1891 by Louis KIopseI1. N Y-) |
Washington. June z3--From a pas |
sage OF Scripture unobserved by most |
readers DIR. TaImage in this discourse /
shows the importance of prompt action /
in anything we have TO do for ourselves /
or others; text, EccIesiastes Ni. 4, He |
that observeth the wind shall not |
SOW
What do you find in this packed SEN |
tence of Solomon's monologuee I find
in it a farmer at his front door exam
lining the weather It is seedtime- His
fields have been pIowed and narrowed
The wheat is III the barn in sacks
ready to be taken af1eld and scattered
Now is the time to SOW But the wind
IS not favorable. It may blow up
storm before night, and he may get
wet if he starts out for the sowing; Or
it may be long storm, that will wash
out the seed from the soil; or there
may have been long drought, and the
wind may continue to blow dry wealth
err The parched fields may not take
in the grain, and the birds may pick
it up, and the labor 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 direction,
and for whole week and for month
bad weather. The 1ethargic and over
cautious dilatory agricuIturist allows
the season to pass without sowing ana
no sowing, of course, no harvest That
is what Solomon means when he says
in his text He that obSeryeth the
wind shall not SOW"
Crisis was Not Met.
There comes a dark Sabbath morning.
The pastor looks out of the window
and sees the clouds gather and then
discharge their burdens of rain. In
stead of a full church it will be hand
full of people with wet feet and drip
ping umbrellas at the doorway or the
end of the pew The pastor has pre-
pared of his best sermons. It 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 feeling that he has done his duty.
He did not realize that in that small
audience there We're at least two per-
sons who ought to have had better
treatment. One of those hearers was
man in a crisis of struggle with evil
appetite carefully prepared dis
course under the divine blessing would
nave been to him complete victory.
The fires of sin would have been es-
| tinguished, and his keen and brilliant
mind would have been cOnSecrated to
| the gospel ministry, and he would
have been a mighty evangel and tens
of thousands of souls would have, IN
der the spell of his Christian eIoquence
given up sin and started new life
and throughout all the heavens there
would have been cOngratulation and
| hosanna, and after many ages of eter-
| nifty had passed there would be ceiebra-
| ton among the ranSOmed of what was
accomplished one stormy Sunday in a
church earth under a mighty Cos
| pei sermon delivered to Is or 20 people.
But the crisis I speak of was not prop
| erly 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 unhe1ped back
| to his evil way and down to his over
| throw Had it been sunshiny Sabbath
| he would have heard something worth
! hearing. But the wind blew from a
| stormy direction that Sabbath day That
| gospel husbandman noticed it and act
ed upon its suggestion and may dis
| cover some day his great mistake He
| had sack full of the finest of the
I wheat, but he withheld it, and some
| day he will find, when the whole story
/ is told, that he was vivid illustration
! of the truth of my text. He that OBJ
| eerveth the wind shall not sow
Lacked Courage of Conviction.
Communities and churches and ma
tions som etimes are thrown into hys-
terra, and it requires a man of great
| equipOise to maintain a right position
| Thirty-three years ago there came a
| time of bitterness in American politics.
| and the impeachment of the president
/ of the United States demanded.
| Two or three patriotic men. at the risk
| OF losing their senatorial position,
| stood out against the demand Of their
| political associates and saved the coun-
| try from that which all people of all
| parties now see would have been a ca
| lamity and would have put every sub
| seQuent president at the mercy of his
| opponents. 1t only required the waitin G
1 of a few months. when time itself
/ moved all controversy
Let US have war with England il
/ needs be- said the most of the people
1 of our northern states in 1861, when
| Mason and Slidell, the diStin guished
| southerners, had been taken by our
navy from the British steamer Trent
| and the English government resented
| the act of our government in stopping
| one of their ships Give up those
| prisoners said Great Britain No.