The Penn's Grove record., 1901-06-28

. NOIlIuullilCS NtSuIdttu. WIN lObu OF ut
tastated with fires. But that good man,
like many a good man, is mercurial in his
temperament. He is depressed by atmos-
pheric changes. He is always victimized
by the east wind. For this or that rea-
son you postpone the charitable solicita-
ton. Meanwhile thef suffering that you
wish to alleviate doesits 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'
thropists 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 lark 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 at the
doorway or in the end of the 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 d clear day and talks platitudes aud
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 crisis of struggle with evil appe-
tito, A carefully prepared discourse UNI
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
consecrated at the gospel ministry, and le
would have been a mighty %evangel, and
tens of thousands of souls would have I'M
der the spell of his Christian ~eloquence
given up sin and started d 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 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 unlimited and I'M
helped back to his evil way and won I'd
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 discover
some day his great mistake. He had a
saekful Of the finest Of the wheat, but lie
withheld 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"
There was another person in that
stormy Sunday audience that deserved
something better from that pastor than
e~xtemporized n~othingness. 1t was b
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 bet
ter to introduce iuto 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
clements that morning and had found her
way to church, hoping to hear something
that would help her to decide the domes.
tic question which was to 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 wom-
en- at the head OF households, would have
done their work in a Christian way, and
after lives 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
went home chilled in body, mind and SOU
and concluded not to trouble herself or
her household about the future, and to LET
tomorrow take care Of itself and keep on
doing as they had been doing. No forma-
ton of thorough Christian character in
the lives of those growing up boys and
girls. They will go out into the world to
- Il. ,r.a,r..4,,laa 4,sttl1ttt nNg att11tt,,a
reinforcement Of the gospel. What a pity
it was that he did not put down the man
uscript OF his well prepared sermon on the
Bible if he preached from notes or pour
it out of his soul il he had lodged it there
through careful preparation! No. He al
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
he did not SOW or sowed that which was
not worth sowing,
In all departments of life there are those
hindered by the wind OF public opinion.
1t has become an aphorism in politics aud
in all great movements, He is waiting to
see which way the wind blows And it
is no easy thing to defy public opinion, to
be run upon by newspapers, to be over
hauled in social circles, to be anathema-
tized by those who heretofore were your
friends and admirers. 1t requires a hero
ism which few possess. Yet no great re-
formatory or elevating movement has ever
been accomplished until some one was
willing to defy what the world should
think or say or do. But there have been
men and women of that kind. They stand
all up and down the corridors OF history,
examples for us to follow. Charles Sum
ner in the United States Senate, AlexaD-
der Ii. Stephens in Georgia convention
Savonarola stalking his lie in time OF per
seeution. Martin Luther lighting the bat
tie for religious freedom against the
mightiest anathemas that were ever
hurled. William Carey leading the ms
sionary movement to a V Il heather
world while churches denounced him as q
fanatic and with attempting an impossl-
bility. Jenner, the hero OF medicine, carr
catured for his attempt by vaccination
to beat back the worst disease that smotei
the nations. They who watch the wind
of public opinion will not sow. 1t is an
uncertain indication, and is apt to blow
the wrong way.
Let us have war with England, II
needs be-" said the most of the people OF
our Northern States in 1861, when Mason
and Slidell, the distinguished Southern
ers, had been taken by our navy from the
British steamer Trent, and the English
Government resented the act OF our Sov-
ernment in stopping one OF their ships.
Give up those prisoners said Great
Britain. NO" said the almost unani-
NOUS opinion of the North, do not give
them up. Let us have war with England
rather than surrender them" Then VIII,
lam ii, Seward, Secretary of State, faced
one of the t~iercest storms OF public opin-
ion ever seen in this or any other country,
Seeing that the retention OF these two men
was OF no Importance to our country and
that their retention would put Great Bri-