The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-08-24
TROUBLE ON BOTH SIDES.
REV. Or. TALMAeE RETURNS TO
THE TABERNACLE.

REV. Or. TALMAeE RETURNS TO
THE TABERNACLE.
The Combined Shadow OF InvaIidism and
Financial Embarrassment-The World
Fattens the Horse It Wants to Drive.
Homo Troubies-ou Persecution.
BROOKLYN, Aug. 19-The Rev. DIR. T. De
Witt Talmage's subject today was Trouble
on Both Sides" and his text, "There was
sharp rock on the one side, and sharp rack
on the other side" Samuel, xiv, 4
The cruel army Of the Philistines must be
taken and scattered. There is just one man,
accompanied by his bodyguard, to do that
thing. Jonathan Is the hero of the scene.
know that David cracked the skull of the
giant with few pebbles well slung, and that
three hundred Gideonites scattered ten thou
sand Amalekites by the crash Of broken
crockery; but here is more wonderful con-
hict Yonder are the Philistines on the
rocks Here Is Jonathan with his body
guard in the valley On the one side is q
rock called Bozez; on tho other side Is
q rock called Semen. These two were
as famous in olden times as In modern times
arc Plymouth Rock and Gibraltar. They
were precipitous, unscalable and sharp Be
tH cen these two rocks Jonathan must make
his ascent The day comes for the scaling of
the height. Jonathan, on his hands and feet,
begins the ascent With strain and slip and
bruise, l suppose, but still on and up, first
goes Jonathan and then goes his bodyguard.
Bozez on one side, Seneh on the other. After
sharp tug and push and clinglng, see the
head of Jonathan above the hole in the noun
tain, and there Is a challenge and fight and
supernatural CONSERVATION. These two
men, Jonathan and his bodyguard, drive
back and drive down the Philistines over the
rocks, and open a campaign which demol-
ishes the enemies of Israel I suppose that
the oyerhacging and overshadowing rocks
on either side did not balk or dishearten
Jonathan or his bodyguard, but only reused
and filed them with enthusiasm as they went
up. "There was a sharp rock on the one
side, and sharp rock on the other side"
My friends, you have been or are now, some
Of you, in this crisis Of thetext If man
meets one trouble he can go through with it.
He gathers all his energies, concentrates
them upon one point, and In the strength OF
God or by his own natural determination
goes through it. But the man who has
trouble to the right of him and trouble to
the left Of him is to be pitied Did either
trouble come alone he might endure it, but
two troubles, two disasters, two overshadow-
ing misfortunes are Bozez and Seneh. God
pity himl "There is a sharp rock on the one
side and a sharp rock on the other side"
In this crisis of the text is that man whose
fortune and health fail him at the same
time Nine-tenths Of all our merchants cap
size In business before thcy come to 45 years
Of age. There is some collision in CONNER
cial circles, they stop payment. 1t seems as
if every man must put his name on the back
Of a note before he learns what fool man
is who risks all his own property on the pros
pect that some man will tell the truth. 1t
seems as If a man must have a large amount
Of unstable goods on his own shelf before he
learns how much easier it is to buy than to
sell It seems as if every man must be com
pletely burned out before he learns
the importance Of always keeping fully
insured. It seems as If every man
must be wrecked in a financial tempest be-
fore he learned to keep things snug in case
of sudden euroclydon. When the calamity
does come, it is awful. The man goes home
in despair, and he tells his family: "Wen
have to go to the poor house" He takes a
dolorous view of everything. 1t seems as if
and he says: "Why, l am not so badly on
after all; have my family left"
Before the Lord turned Adam out Of Para
disc he gave him Eve, so that when he lost
Paradise he could stand it. Permit one who
has never read but a few novels in all his life,
and who has not great deal of romance in
his composition, to say, that if, when mans
fortunes fail, he has good wife-a good
Christian wife-he ought not to be despon-
dent "Oh," you say, "that only increases
the embarrassment, since you have her also
to take care Of" You are an migrate, for
the woman as often supports the man as the
man supports the woman. The man may
bring all the dollars, but the woman gen.
orally brings the courage and the faith In
God
Well, this man of whom am speaking
looks around and he finds his family Is left,
and he rallies, and the light comes to his
eyes, and the smile to his face, and the cour-
age to his heart. In two years he is quite
over it. He makes his financial calamity the
first chapter in new era of prosperity. He
met that one trouble-conquered it He sat
down for little while under the grim shadow
of the rock Bozez; yet he soon rose and
began, like Jonathan, to climb. But how
often it is that physical ailment comes with
financial embarrassment When the for
tune failed it broke the mans spirit His
nerves were shattered. His brain was
stunned. l can show you hundreds of men
In New York whose fortune and health
failed at the same time. They came prema
turely to the staff. Their hand tremble6
with incipient paralysis. They never saw
well day since the hour when they called
their creditors together for compromise.
II such men are impatient, and peculiar, and
irritable, excuse them. They had two
troubles, either one of which they could have
met successfully. If, when the health went,
the fortune had been retained, it would not
have been SO bad The man could have
bought the very best medical advice, and he
could have had the very best attendance, and
long lines of carriages would have stopped at
the front door to inquire as to his welfare.
But poverty on the one side, and sickness on
the other, are Bozez and Seneh, and they
interlock their shadows and drop them upon
the poor mans way. God help himl "There
Is a sharp rock on the one side, and sharp
rock on the other side"
Now, what is such O man to dot In the
name of Almighty God, / will tell him what
to do. Do as Jonathan did-climb; climb up
into the sunlight Of Gods favor and consola-
ton. I can go through the churches and
show you men who lost fortune and health at
the same time, and yet who sing all day and
dream Of heaven all night. If you have any
idea that sound digestion and steady nerves
and clear eyesight and good hearing and
plenty of friends are necessary to make
man happy, you have miscalculated l sup
pose that these overhanging rocks only made
Jonathan scramble the harder and the faster
to get up and out into the sunlight; and this
combined shadow of invalidism and financial
embarrassment has often sent a man up the
quicker into the sunlight Of Gods favor
and the MONDAY Of his glorious
promisss. Is is a difficult thing for
man to feel his dependence upon
God when he has ten thousand dollars
In the bank and fifty thousand dollars in
government securities, and a block of stores
and three ships. swell" the man says to
himself, "it Is silly for me to pray, Give me
this day my daily bread when my pantry Is
full, and the canals from the west are crowded
with breadstuffs destined for my storehouses."
Oh, my friends, II the combined misfortunes
and disasters Of life have made you climb up
into the arms Of sympathetic and compass.
sionate God, through all eternity you viii
bless him that in this world "there was
sharp rock on the one side, and sharp rock
on the other side"
Again, that man is In the crisis Of the text
who has home troubles and outside persecu.
ton at the same time The world treats
man well just as long as 1t pays best to treat
him WELL AS long as 1t can manufacture
success out of bis bone, and brain, and mus
Gle, it favors him. The world fattens the
horse IL wants to drive But let man see
~ - n -