The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-25

sage Of Scripture unobserved by most
readers DR.. Talmage in this discourse
shows the Importance of prompt action
in anything we have to do for ourselves
or others; text. Ecclesiastes ri. 4, HE
that observeth the wind shall not SOW"
What do you find in this packed SEN
tence OF Solomon's monologue? / find in
it a farmer at his front door examining
the weather. 1t is seedtime. His fields
have been plowed and narrowed. The
wheat Is in the barn in sacks, ready to
be taken afeld and scattered. Now is the
time to SOW. But the wind is not favor
able. 1t may blow up a 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 it 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 direction, 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 diia-
tory agriculturist allows the season to
pass without sowing, and no sowing. of
course, 10 harvest. That is what Solo
mon means when be says in his text, He
that observeth the wird shall not SOW"
AS much in cur time as in Solomcnic
times there is abroad a fntal 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 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 organiza-
tons, TO schools, to churches, to communi-
ties desolated with Hood or devastated
with fires. But that good man, like many
a good man, is mercurial in his tempera-
ment. He is depressed by atmospheric
changes. He is always victimized by
the east wind. For this or that reason
you postpone the charitable solicitation.
Meanwhile the suffering that you wish to
alleviate does its awful work, and the op-
~portunity 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 at
tempt, and you thoroughly illustrated my
text, HE that observeth 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. Instead of a full
church it will be a handful of people
with wet feet and the dripping umbrella
OF tho 1oorrou or IN tho onI nF tho na-
The pastor has prepared one Of his best
sermons 1t has cost him great research,
and he has been much in prayer while
preparing 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 lone 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 a crisis of struggle with evil appe-
tite. A carefully prepared discourse un-
der the divine blessing would have been
to him complete victory. The fires Of sin
would have been extinguished. and his
keen and brilliant mind would ave been
consecrated to the gospel ministry, and
be 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 con~gratulation 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 Is or 20 people. But the crisis I speak
OF was not properly met. The man in
struggle with evil habit heard that
stormy day no word hat moved him. He
went out in the rain unlimited and IN
helped back to his evil way and down 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 it and
acted upon its suggestion and may dis.
cover some day his &eat mistake. He
had & sack full OF the finest of the wheat,
but he withheld il. and some day he will
find, when the whole story is told, that be
was q vivid illustration Of the truth OF
my text, "He that obseryeth the wind
shall not SOW"
There was another person in tha'
stormy Sunday audience that deserved
something better from that pastor thar
extemporized n~othingness. 1t was {
mother who was half awakened to {
sense of responsibility in regard to he
household. She had begun to question
herself as to whether it would not b.
better to introduce into her home a reli
gion that would decide Alright the des
tiny Of her sons and daughters. He
home had so far been controlled only b.
worldly principles. She had dared tn
riot Of the elements that morning an
had found beP way to church, hoping {
hear something that would help her {
decide the domestic question which wa
TO her a solicitude. A good. strong ser
mon under the divine blessing woul
have led her into the kingdom Of Go
and afterward her whole family. TIL
children, whether they became farmer
or mechanics or merchants or artists o
men of learned profession or women q
the head of households, would have don
their work in a Christian way n afte
1ar%h yUnnId nav