The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-07-03
DR. TALMAGE's DISCOURSE
On the Importance Of Prompt Action
in Anything We Have to Do.

IN anything We ASSs W Oo'
From & passage Of Scripture unob-
served by most readers DR.. Talmage in
this discourse shows the Importance of
prompt action in snything We have to
do for ourselves or others; text, Ecclesi-
asses xi, 4. 'sBe that obse-veth the
wind shall not SOW"
What do you find in this packed SEN
tence Of Solomon's nonologue? l fad
in it farmer at his front door ezam;n-
ing the weather. It is seedtine. His
fields have been ploved and narrowed.
The wheat is in the barn in sacks, resdy
to be taken aseld and scattered. Now
is the time TO SOW. But the wind is
not favorable. Ismay blow up storm
before night, and he msy get wet if he
starts out for the sowing; or it may ba
3 long storm, that will wash out the
seed from the soil; or there may have
been q long drought, and the wind may
continue to blow dry weather. The
parched fields may not take in the grain,
snd the birds may pick it up, and the
labor IS well as the seed may bewasted.
So lie gives up the work for that day and
goes into tbs house and waits to see
what it will be on the morrow. On the
morrow the wind is still in the wlong
direction, and for whole week and for
month. Did you ever see
such long spell Of bad
westher? The Iethargic and over
cautious and dilatory sgriculturist al
lows 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 Solomopic
times there is abroad a fatal hesitancy,
sdisrosition to let little things stop Us,
ruinous adjournment. We all want
to do some good in the world, but how
easily we are halted in our enoesvors.
Perhaps ne are solicitors for some great
charity. There is good man who has
large mean7, and he is accustomed to
give literally to asylums, to hospitals,
to reform organizations, to sch ools, to
churches, to communities desolated
with food or devastated with fires:
But that good man, like many good
man, is mercurial in his temperament.
He is depressed By atmospheric
changes. He is always 7ictimizsd by
the east wind. For this or that reason
you postpone the charitable solicts-
ton. Meanwhile the suffering that you
wish to alleviate does its asful work,
and the opportunity for relief is past.
IL the wind had been from the west Or
northwest, you would have entered the
philanthropist's counting room and
sought the gift, but the wind was blow
ing from the east or northeast, and ycu
did not make the attempt, and you
thoroughly illustrated my text, "Hs
that obser7eth the wind shall not SOW. ="
There comes dark Sabbath morning
TIE pastor looks out Of the window snd
sees the clouds gather and then dis
charge their burdens Of rain. Instead
Of 3 full church it will be handful Of
people with wet feet and the dripping
umbrella at the doorway or in tbe end
Of pew. The pastor has prepared one
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 st the same time feeling
that he has done his duty. He did not
rsslizs that in that small audiencs
there we're at least two persons who
ought to have had better treatment.
One Of those hearers was man in 9
crisis Of struggle with evil appetite. 4
carefully prepared discourse under the
divine blessing would have been to him
complete victory. The fires Of sin
would have been exslnguished, and his
keen and brilliant mind would have
been consecrsted to the gospel ministry
and he would have been mighty evan
gel, and tens of thousands Of souls
would have, under the~ spell Of his
Christian eloquence, given up sin and
started new life, and shroug ghout al
the heavens there would have been
Oongrstulation and hossnna, and after
many ages Of eternity had passed there
would be celebration among the ran
semed Of what was accomplished one
stormy Sunday in a church on earth
under mighty gospel sermon delivered
to Is or 20 people. But the crisis l
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 unin-
vited and unhelped back to his evil
way and down to his overthrow. Had
it been a sunshiny Sabbath he would
have heard something worth hearing.
Bat the wind blew from . stormy direc-
ton that Sabbath day. That gospel
hssbandman noticed it and acted upon
its suggestion and may discover some
day his great mistake He had sack
full Of the finest Of the 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 observeth the wind
shall not SOW"
In all departments Of life thele are
those hinGered by the wind Of public
opinion. It has become an aphorisn
in politics and in ali grest movements,
''Re is waiting to see which way the
wind blows" And it is no essy thing
to defy public opinion, to be run upon
By newspapers, to be oVerhauled in So
cial circles, to be mathematical by
those who heretofore were your friends
and admirers. It requires heroism
which few possess.
Yet no great reformstory o. ele7ati1g
movement has ever been accomplished
until some one was willing to deny what
the world should think OF say or do:
But there have been men and women Of