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 From
"Wit and Wisdom of Safed the Sage," by William Barton,
1919.
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I
have a friend who is an Husbandman, and I visited him upon his
Farm, and tarried with him one night. Upon his Farm are Cattle
and Swine and Horses, and he watereth them from a Deep Well
wherein is a Pump, and the Pump runneth by a Windmill. And it
came to pass after Supper that he spake unto a farmhand, and he
said, There is a Good Breeze tonight; start thou the Windmill.
And
the man went forth into the night, and loosened a Rod that
runneth up to the Mill, and that holdeth the Tail against the
Wheel so that the Wind driveth it not. But when the Rod is
loosened, then the Tail swingeth around, and the Wheel cometh
into the Wind, and the Wheel turneth to Beat the Band. And ere
the man had returned to the house we heard the Wheel running,
and my friend said, On the morrow we shall have a Tank full of
Water for the Livestock.
Now
the room where I slept was on the side of the house toward the
Windmill, and when I wakened in the night it was Running like
the Wind, and I said, Verily it will pump the well dry at that
rate. But when we went out in the morning, behold, there was no
water. For the Pump had been Disconnected from the Mill, and in
the darkness the farmhand saw not that the Connecting Pin was
out; wherefore he connected it not. And the mill had run all
night and the Tank was empty.
Now
when I beheld this I thought of many
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men whom I know, whose
Windmill goeth around continually, and who are always
Creaking their Boots to show that they are Among Those Present,
and who talk long about Earnestness and Efficiency and the Rest,
but it Cutteth no Ice, and it Draweth no Water. Their minds are
Responsive to the Winds of God, and their Capacity for doing
something is as Excellent as that of the Pump; but between the
Wheels that God driveth and the Pump of their own endeavor,
there lacketh an adjustment.
And
this is the word that I spake in the ears of men: Count it not a
sure sign of efficiency that the Wheel goeth round and the Pump
is in order; but be thou sure the Wheels of thy Head are hitched
to the Pump of thy Performance.
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In
1934, as a student in Freed-Hardeman College, bro N. B. Hardeman
told this "Parable" in chapel. (I do not recall if he
gave the source.) I do remember, however, the special slant he
gave the "moral" — perhaps for the benefit of some
Big Talking boys. He made the vigorous turning of the wheel to
be the talk, talk, talk of the preacher boy — who had failed
to connect his tongue to a sound and well-grounded knowledge of
the Word of God. The glib of tongue may make a pretty sound, and
promise much; but unless the coupling pin is connected, he will
pump no living water of life.
There
are few things worse than the sound of much pumping, when you
are aware the coupling pin is missing.
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