Connecticut western news., 1901-06-27

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 WASHINGTON. June 23-From q pas sage of Scripture unobserved by most readers pr. Talmage in this discourse shows the importance of prompt action In anything we have to do for ourselves. or others; text. EccleSiastes xii, i, He that obseryeth the wind shall not sow"
 What do you find i'll this packed sen tence of Solomon's monologue? I find in it a farmer at his front door examin- ing the weather. It is seedtime. His fields have been plowed and narrowed. The wheat is in the barn in sacks, ready to be taken afield and scattered. Now is the tina tc 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 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 it up, and the labor as well as the seed may be wasted. So he gives up the work for that day and goes back 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 a month. Did you ever see such long spell of bad weather? The lethargic and overcautious and dila- tory agriculturist allows the season to pass without sowing, and no sowing, of course no harvest That is what Solo, mon means when he says in my text, He that obseryeth the wind shall not sow" ....
 As much in our time as in Solomonic times there is abroad a fatal hesitancy "a disposition to let little things stop us-a ruinous adjournment. We all want to do some good in the world, but how easily we are halted in our en- deavors. 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 asy- lums. to hospitals, to reform organiza- tions, to schools, to churches, to com- munities desolated with flood or dev- astated 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 reason you postpone the char itable solicitation. Meanwhile the suf- fering 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 philanthropist'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 thoroughly illustrated my text He that observeth the wind shall not sow"
 Lost Opportunity.
 There comes a dark Sabbath morn ing. The pastor looks out of the win dow and sees the clouds gather and then discharge their burdens of rain. Instead of full church it will be a handful of people with wet feet and the dripping umbrella at the doorway or in the end of the pew. The pastor has prepared one of his best sermons. It has cost him great research, and he has been much in prayer while prepar- ing it. He puts the sermon aside for a 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 were at least two persons who ought to have had better treatment. One of those hearers was man in crisis of struggle with evil appetite. A carefully prepared dis course under the divine blessing would have been to him complete victory. The fires of sin would have been extin- guished, 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 under the spell of his Christian eloquence given up sin and started a new life, and throughout all the heavens there would have been reorganization and hosanna. and after many ages of eter- nifty had passed there would be celebra- tion among the ransomed of what was accomplished one stormy Sunday in a church on earth under mighty gospel sermon delivered to 15 or 20 people. But the crisis 1 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 uninvted and unhelped back to his evil way and down to his overthrow. Had it been sunshiny Sabbath he would have heard some thing worth hearing. But the wind blew from a stormy direction that Sab bath day. That gospel husbandman noticed it and acted upon It's sugges- ton and may discover some day his great mistake. He had a sackful of the finest of the wheat, but he with held it, and some day he will find, when the whole story is told, that he was a vivid illustration of the truth of my text, 'He that obseryeth the wind shall not sow.'
 Not Worth Sowing.
 There was another person in that stormy Sunday audience that deserved something better from that pastor than extemporized nothingness. It 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 whether it would not be better to introduce into her home re ligipn that would decide alright the des- tiny 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, hop ing to hear something that would hell her to decide the domestic question which was to her a solcitude. A good strong sermon under the divine bless ing would have led her into the king dom of God and afterward her whole family. The children, whether they be came farmers or mechanics or mer chants pp nrtiStS nf a1 y,rp