The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-09-20
TALMAGES SERMON.
sTroubleson Both Sides'' and How
TO Meet e.
The Financial and Domestic Tribu1attons
Which Beset Mankind-The Cos
pei of Jesus Sure Bull
wark of Defense.

wark OF Defense.
Rev. T. DeWitt TaImage took for his
subject OF "a recent sermon: Trouble
on Both Sides HIS text was:
There was sharp rock on the one side and
sharp rock on the other side Samuel,
xiv, 4. 81 q sss
The cruel ar1nyssof the Philistiues must
be taken and scaftered. 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 we'll
slung. and that three lhundred Gideonites
scattered ten fhousaad Amalekites by the
crash Of broken crocK6ry; but here is a
more wondered conflict. 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 the
other side is a rock called Seneh.. These
two were as famous IN oIden 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 Tor the scaling Of the height. JON
athan, on his hands and feet begins the
ascent With strain and slip and bruise,
I suppose, but still on andup FIRST goes
Jonathan, and then goes his body guard,
Bozez on one side, Seneh on the other.
After sharp tug, and push,
and clinging, see the head of
Jonathan above the hole In the
mountain; and there Is a challenge, and
o fight and supernatural CONSERVATION.
These two men, Jonathan and his body
guard, drive back and drive down the
PhiIiattnes over the rocks, and open a
Campaign which demolishes the enemies
of Israel. suppose that the overhang
ing and overshndowfng rocks on either
side did not balk or dishearten Jonathan
or his body guard, but only reused and
filed them with enthusiasm as they went
up.
There was q sharp rock on the one side, and
sharp rock ON the other side.
My friends, you have been. or arenow,
some Of you, In this crisis. of the text. If
q man meets one trouble he can go
through 1t He sAthers all his ener1ies,
concentrates them upon one point and 30
the strength OF God Or 15x his own uafn1-
81 determination, goes throusa1 II But
the man who has trouble tvthe right OF
him, and trouble to the left Of him Is to
be pitied Did either trouble CONS 1ione
he might e3dnreit, but twofro1bles two
disasters; two oversha allowing 1nisfort-
unes, areBozez and Seneh. God ply him!
There Is 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 fell him at the
same time. Nine-tentns of all our mer.
chants capsize In business before they
come forty-five years OF age. There is
some collisionsi In commercial circles, and
they stop payments ut seems as ff-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. 1t seems as If man must have a
large amount of unstable goods on his
own shelf before he learns how much
easier 1t is to buy than to sell. 1t seems
as II every man must be completely
burned out before he learns the impor-
lance OF always keeping fully insured.
1t seems as II every man must be wrecked
In financial tempest before he learns to
keep snug in case of sudden eurocly-
don. When the calamity does come, 1t is
awful The man goes home in despair
and he tells his family:
aWe'll have to go to the poer-house."
He takes dolorous view of every
thing. 1t seems as If he never could rise,
But little time passes aud he says:
why, am not so badly off after all: 1
have my family left.n
Before the Lord 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 all his life, and who has not a
great deal OF romance in his composition,
to say. that If, when mans fortunes fail
he has good wife-a good Christian wife
The ought not to be Respondent sE-
'Oh, !" you say, shat only increases the
embarrassment, since you have her also
to take care off,
You are an migrate, for the woman as
often supports the man as the man sun.
ports the woman. The man may bring all
me doiiars, but the woman generally
Drlngs the courage and the faith in God.
Wen, this man of whom am speaking
LOOKS around, and he finds his family is
lett and he rallies, and the light comes
70 ms eyes, and the smile to his face. and
the courage to bis heart. In two wears he
Is quite over It. He makes his fnan cial
calamity the first chapter in a new era Of
prosperity. He met that one trouble
conquered 1t. He sat down for littfe
while under the grim shadow of the rock
Bozez; yet he soon rose and began. like
Jonathan. to climb. But how often Il is
that physical ailment comes with financial
embarrassment When the fortune
failed 1t broke the mans spirit. His
nerves were shattered. His brain was
stunned. I 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
Tor compromise. If 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 suc-
cessfully. 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 sicknessso the other. are
Bozez aud Seneh,an they interlock their
shadows and drop them upon the poor
mans way. God help him!