The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-08-31
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
''Trouble on Both sides'' and How
to Meet It.
The Financial and Domestic TribuIatfons
Which Beset ATankind-The Cos
pei of Jesus a Sure Bull
wark OF Defense.


The cruel army of the Philisrines must
be taken and scattered. There is just one
man, accompanied by his body guard, 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 thousand Amalekites by the
crash of broken crockery; but here is q
more wonderful conflict. Yonder are the
Phil1stines on the rocks. Here is Jonathan
with his body guard in the valley. On
the one side is a rock called B ,zez, on the
other side is rock called Seneh. These
two were as famous in olden times as in
modern times are Plymouth Rock and Gil
braltar. They were precipitous, unscal-
able and sharp. Between these two rocks
Jonathan must make his ascent. The day
comes for the scaling of the height. jon
athan, on his hands and feet, begins the
ascent With strain and slip and bruise,
1 suppose, but still on and up, first goes
Jonathan, and then goes his body guard,
BOzez on ono side, Seneh on the other.
After q sharp tug, and push,
Jonathan above the hole in the
mountain; and there is challenge, and
fight, and supernatural CONSERVATION.
These two meu, Jonathan and his body
guard, drive back and drive down the
Philistines over the rocks, and open a
campaign which demolishes the enemies
of Israel. I suppose that the Overhang
ing and OvershadoWiag rocks on either
side did not balk or dishearten Jonathan
or his body guard, but only reused and
filled them with enthusiasm as they went
up.
There was a sharp rock on the one side, and
a sharp rock on the other side.
My friends, you have been, or are now,
some of you, in this crisis. of the text. If
a man meets one trouble he can go
through it He gathers all his energies,
concentrates them upon one point, and in
the strength of God or by his own natur-
a! determination, goes through it. But
the man who has trouble to the right of
him, aud 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 overshadowing misfort-
unes, are Bozez and Semen. God pity him!
There Is a sharp rock on the one side, and
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 mer-
chants capsize in business before they
come forty-fve years of age. There is
some collision in commercial circles, and
they stop payment. 1t seems as II every
man must put his name on the back OF a
note before he learns what a fool man
is who risks all his own property on the
prospect that some man will tell the
truth. It seems as if man must have
large amount of unstable goods on his
own shelf before he learns how much
easier it is to buy than to sell. 1t seems
as is every man must be completely
burned out before he learns the impor-
tance of always keeping fully insuFed.
1t seems-as If every man must be wrecked
in financial tempest before he learns to
keep snug in case of a sudden eurOcly-
don. When the calamity does come, it is
awful. The man goes home IN despair
and he tells his family:
''We'll have to go to the poor house."
y He takes q dolorOus view of every
thing 1t seems as if he never could rise.
But little time passes and he Says
Nv by, l am not SO badly off after all l
have my family left"
y Before the-Tlord turned Adam out Of
; Paradise he gave him Eve, SO that when
he lost Paradise he could stand it, Per-
NIT one who has never read but a few
novels in alt his life, and who has not
great deal of romance in his composition,
to say. that if, when mans fortunes fail,
he has a good wife-a good Christian wife
he ought not to be Respondent.
"Oh," you say, that only increases the
embarrassment since you have her also
to take care Of" a*t st-@
You are an migrate, for the woman as
often supports the man as the man sup
y ports the, woman. The man may bring all
the dollars, but the woman generally
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 courage TO his heart In two years he
is quite over it. He makes his financial
calamity the first chapter in a new era Of
prosperity. He met that one trouble
conquered 1t. 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 ailnlent comes with financial
embarrassment. When the fortune
failed it broke the mans spirit. His
nerves were Shattered. His brain was
stunned. 1 can show you hundreds of
men in New York whose fortune and
health failed at the same time. Their
hand trembled with Incl pient paralysis.
They never saw we'll day since the hour
when they called their creditors together
for q compromise. It such men are i'm
| patient, and peculiar, and irritable, ex-
cuse them. They had two troubles, either
one of which they could have met sue
cessfuIly. II, 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 attend
ance, 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 aud Seneh, and they interlock their
shadows and drop them upon the poor
| mans way. God help himl
Phere is o sharp rock on the one side and a
sharp roc on the other side.
Now, what is such a man 60 dor 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 consolation. 1 can go through the
churches and show you men who lost fort
une 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. I sup
i pose that these overhanging rocks only
! made Jonathan scramble the harder and
the faster TO get up and out into the sun
/ light; and this combined shadow of in
/ validism and financial embarrassment
| has often sent Il man mp the quicker into
| the sunlight Of Gods favor and the noon
| day of his glorious promises. 1t is diff
| fcuIt thing for a man TO feel his depend
ence upon God when he has ten thousand
lEdouars IN the BBnk and aftyF thousand
4 ddilafs In Go vernn1ent Securities, and a
L block OF stores and three ships
'syTell. - the man says 10 himself, lit Is
silly for me TO pray sGive me this day my
| daily bread when nay pantry is full aud
/ The canals .frOm sthav4VRst are crswded
hos1ss.s III
Oh. my friends, IL the combined mis-
fortunes and disasters of life have made
I you climb up into the arms Of II SYM
i pathetic and compassionate God, through
all eternity you viii Uless Him that ia this
world