The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-08-13
PROMPTNESS.
Or. Talmage Talks About the Beneiits
of Having TO Struggle Hard
for a Living.
Victory Over Obstacles.."he That Obseryett
the Wind Shall Not Sow"
ICopyrlght 1al1

OF scripture unobserved by most readers
Ut. lalmage IN tins discourse shows the
importance of prompt action in ANYTHING
We have TO do for ourselves or Others.
text. Ecclesiastics xi, 4. He that observ.
eth the wind shall not SOW"
What. do you find in this packed sem
tence OF Solomons monologue: l find IN
II 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 SACHS. ready 10 be
taken aheld 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
Tor the sowing Or IL NAV be a 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
weather The parched fields NAV not
take In the grain. and the birds may pick
1t up, and the labor as well as the iced
may be wasted. So he gives up the work
LOT Vhat day and goes back into the house
ana waits to see what II will be on the
morrow. On the morrow the wind is still
IN the wrong direction, and for a whole
week. and Tor month. Did you ever see
ssuGGh long spell OF bad weather? The
lethargic and overcautious and dilntorv
agricuturist allows the season to pass
without sowing, and no sowing. of course
no harvest That IS what Solomon means
when ne 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 fatal hesitancv-
disposition to let little things stop us-a
rulnous adjournment. We all want TO do
some good IN the world, but how easily
we are matted IN our endeavors. Perhaps
we are solicitors for some great charity
There Is good man who has large
means, and he Is accustomed to give liber-
ally TO nsylums, to hospitals. to reform
organizations, TO schools. to churches to
communities desolated with flood or de
vastated with fires. But that good man.
hke many good man, is mercurial in his
temperament. He Is depressed by atmos-
Pnerc changes. He is always victimized
by the east wind For this or that rea-
son you postpone the charitable solicita-
ton. Meanwhile the suffering 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 north
west, you would have entered the philan-
throplsts counting room and sought the
gltt, 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 dark Sabbath morning.
The pastor looks out of the window and
sees the clouds gather and then discharge
their burdens OF ram Instead OF a full
church 1t will be handful of people with
wet ieet and the dripping umbrella at the
doorway or in the end of the pew. The
mons IL mas cost him great research
and he has been much in prayer while
preparing 1t. He puts the sermon aside
Tor 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 a
man IN crisis OF struggle with evil appe-
tte 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 have been
consecr9ted at the gospel ministry, and he
would nave been mighty evangel. and
tens OF thousands of souls would have un-
der the spell OF his Christian eloduence
gwen up sin and started a new life, and
throughout all the heavens there would
nave 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 church on earth
under a mighty gospel sermon delivered
to htteen or twenty people. But the cri-
SIS j 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 unlimited and un-
helped back to 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 10 and acted
| upon ITS suggestion and may discover
some day his great mistake. He had a
/ sacklu OF the finest of the wheat. but he
| Withheld 1t. 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 observeth the wind shall
not SOW"
| There was another person in that
/ stormy Sunday audience that deserved
something better from that pastor than
/ eStemporzed nothingness. 1t was a
mother who was half awakened to a
/ sense of responsibility in regard to her
\ household She had begun to question
I herself as TO whether 10 would not be bet
/ ter TO introduce into her home Il religion
| mat 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
! clements that morning and had found her
way 20 church, hoping to hear something
/ thdJ would help her TO decide the domcs.
/ NC question which was TO her a soicitude
/ a good, strong sermon under the divine
blessing would have led her into the king.
! dom OF God and aiterward her whole fam
/ lly The children. whether they became
farmers or mechanics or merchants or art.
J lists or men OF learned profession or WON
/ en- at the head of households would have
] done their work in q Christian way and
} after liyes OF usefulness on earth would
/ have taken thrones In heaven 1t would
/ have been a whole family saved for time
/ and saved for eternity But the pastor
| had adjourned the strong and effective
/ discourse TO "a clear Sunday The mother
D went home chilled in body mind and soul
J and concluded not to troullv herself on
/ her household about the future and to let
/ tomorrow take care of Itself and keen ON
/ doing as they had been doue No forma.
/ ton oi thorough Christian character in
/ the lives OF those growing up boys and
/ girls. They viii go out into the world to
I meet ITS viclssitudcs without any sublime
. reinforcement of the gospel What a pity
/ 1T was that he did not put down the man
/ uscrpt of his well prepared sermon on the
/ Bible 81 he preached from notes or pour
I 10 out of his soul IF he had lodged 10 there
/ through careful preparation No. He all
/ lowed that opportunity, which could never
/ return, TO pass into eternity unimproved
| He observed by the way the rain dashed
\ against the windows of the parsonage and
/ the windows of the church that the wind
\ was from the east or the northeast and
I he did not SOW or sowcd that which was
/ not worth sowing
/ Tn an departments Of life there are those
/ hlndered by the wind of public opinion
. lt has become an aphOrism iu politics and
in an great movements, 'Hc is waiting to
see which way the wind blows" And it
/ ls no easy thing TO defy public opinion. TO
/ be run upon by newspapers, 90 be over
| hauled in social circles. Co be anathema-
. tizcd by those who heretofore were your
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