The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-06-28
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY the NOTED
DIVINE.
suhJset; The Importance of r rom ptness
Lost opportunitiss-victor over OBJ
stAeles-Beneht Of Having To strug-
gle Hard For a Living

'-NShANAANNs ~ VI rom n DlSSlrP
OF Scripture unobservei by most readers
DR.. Talmage IN this discourse shows the
importance OF prompt action IN anything
We have 20 do Tor ourselves or others:
text, keeleslas,lcs NJ. 1, He that obsery.
eth the wind shall not sow"
What. do you tnd in this packed SEN
tenee OF Solomor's monologuet find in
u farmer az ais front door examining
the weather. IL Is seedtime HIS fields
have been plowed and narrowed. The
wheat Is IN the blrl IN sacks ready 10 be
taken aheld and scattered Now is the
time 10 sow. But the wind is not favor
able. IL may blow up a storm before
night, and he may get wet II he starts out
Tor the sowing. Or IL may be long storm
that will wash out the seed from the soil
Or there may have been a long drought.
and the wind may continue 10 blow dry
weather. The parched fields may not
take IN the grain, and the birds may pick
II up, and the labor as well as the seed
may be wasted. SO ke gives up the work
Tor that day and goes back into the house
and waits 10 see what II will be on the
morrow On the morrow the wind Is still
IN the wrong direction, and for whole
week, and tor a month. Did YOU ever see
such long spell of bad weather? The
letharglc and overcautious and diatory
agrlculturist allows the season TO pass
without sowing, and no sowing. of course
AHA 'NSNs Ahah - NUdb ColOU1On means
when he says in my text, He that obser-
veth the wind shall not sow"
As much IN our times as in Solomonic
times there Is abroad a fatal hesitancy-
a disposition TO let little things stop us-a
rulnous adjournment. We all want 10 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 good man who has large
means, and he Is accustomed 10 give hber.
ally 10 asylums, 20 hospitals. TO reform
organizations, 20 schools 20 churches, 20
communities desolated with flood or de-
vastated with fires. But that good man.
like many good man, is mercurial in his
temperament. He IL depressed by atmos-
pherc changes. He is always victimized
by the east wind. For this or that rea-
son you postpone the charitable solcita-
tion. Meanwhile the suffering that YOU
wish TO alleviate does its awful work and
the opportunity for relief is past. II the
wind had been from the west or north
west, you would have entered the philan.
throplsts 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 Thoroughly illus.
trated my text, "He that observeth the
wind shall not sow"
There comes a dark Sabbath morning
The pastor looks out of the window and
sees the louds 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 in the end of tie pew. The
pastor has prepared one of his best SER
mons. 1t 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 p!atitudes 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 were at least two
persons who ought TO have had better
treatment. One of those hearers was a
man IN crisis. OF struggle with evil appe-
tlte. a carefully prepared discourse un.
der the divine blessing would have been
20 him complete victory. The fires OF
sin would have been extinguished, and his
keen and brilliant mind would have been
consecrated at the gospel ministry, and he
would have been a mighty evangel and
tens OF thousands of souls would have un-
der the spell of his Christian eloauence
given up sin and started a new life, and
throughout all the heavens there would
have been congratulation and hosanna,
and after many ages of eternity had
passed there would be celebration among
the ransomed of what was accomplished
one stormy Sunday in a church on earth
under a mighty gospel sermon delivered
to fifteen or twenty people. But the cri-
Sis | 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 uninvited and un-
helped back 20 his evil way and won to
his overthrow Had it been a sunshiny
Sabbath he would have heard something
worth hearing. But the wind blew from a
stormy direction that Sabbath day That
gospel husbandman noticed II and acted
gnUUpsft0D and ma dtapnrar
some day his great mistake. He had a
sackful of the finest OF the wheat, but he
withheld II, 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 observeth the wind shall
not SOW"
There was another person in that
stormy Sunday audience that deserved
something better from that pastor than
extemporized nothingness. IL was a
mother who was half awakened 20 a
sense CT responsibility in regard TO her
household. She had begun TO question
herself as TO whether IL would not be bet
ter to introduce into her home a religion
that would decide Alright the destiny Of
her sons and daughters. Her home had
so far been controlled only by worldly
principles. She had dared the riot OF the
elements that morning and had found her
way TO church, hoping 10 hear something
that would help her TO decide the domes-
tic question which was 20 her a solicitude
A good, strong sermon under the divine
blessing would have led her into the king.
dom OF God and afterward her whole fam
lily. The children, whether they became
farmers or mechanics or merchants or art
lists or men OF learned profession or WON
en- az the head OF households, would have
done their work IN a Christian way and
after hives OF usefulness on earth would
have taken thrones IN heaven. II would
have been a whole family saved for time
and saved for eternity But the pastor
had adjourned the strong and effective
discourse 20 a clear Sunday. The mother
went nome chilled N body, mind and soul
and concluded not TO trouble herself or
her household about the future, and 90 let
tomorrow take care Of Itself and keep on
doing az they had been doing. No forma-
ton Of thorough Christian character IA
the lives Of those growing up boys and
girls. They will 90 out into the world 20
meet lts vic.ssitudes without any sublime
re-enforcement Of the gospel. What a pity
II was that he did not put down the man.
uscript Of hls wei prepared sermon on the
Bible II he preached from notes or pour
It out Of his sou. II he had lodged IL there
through careful preparatiOni No. He al.
lowed that opportunity. which could never
return, 10 pass into eternity unimproved
He observed by the way the rain dashed
against the windows OF the parsonage and
the windows OF the church tat the wind
was from the east or the northeast, and
be did not SOW or sowed that which was
not worth sowing.
In all departments Of life there are those
hlrdered BY the wind of pubic opinion.
II has become an aphOrisU 90 politics and
Ia al great movements, he D. waiting %
see which way the wind blows" And u
u no easy thing % defy public opinion, b
be run upon by newspapers, 10 BE- over
hauled In social circles, % be anathema-
tized by those who heretofore were your
friends and admirers. IL requires hero