The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-09-26
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Trouble on Both Sides.


one side, and q sharp rock on the othe
Side."-l Samuel, xiv, 4.
The cruel army of the Philistines must bt
taken and scattered. There is just one man
accompanied by his bodyguard, to do thai
thing. Jonathan is the hero of the scene.
know that David cracked the skull Of the
giant with few pebbles we'll Sung, and that
three hundred GideoniteS scattered ten thou
sand Amalekites by the crash of broken crork
cry; but here is q more wonderful conflict
Yonder are the Phil;stines on the rocks.
Here is Jonathan with his bodyguard in the
valley. On the one side is q rock called
Bozez; on the other side is rock called
Seneh. These Two were as famous in olden
times as in modern times are Plymouth Rock
and Gibralter. They were precipitous, Tn.
scaleable, and sharp Between these two
rocks Jonathan must make his ascent. The
day comes for the scaling of the height.
Jonathan, on his hands AMI feet, begins the
ascent. With strain, and slip, and bruise,
! suppose, but still on and up, first goes
Jonathan, and then goes his b.dyguari.
Bozez on one side, Semen on the other. After
q sharp tug, and push, and clin ging. Isee the
head of Jonathan above the hole in the
mountain; and there is challenge, and a
fight, and a supernatural! CONSERVATION.
These two men, Jonathan and his body
guard, drive back and drive down the Philis-
tines over the rocks, and open a cam
paign which demo ishes the enemies
of Israel. suppose that the over
hanging and overshadowing rocks on either
side did not balk or dis! earten Jonathan or
his bodyguard, but only reused and filled
them with enthusiasm as they went up.
s'There was sharp rock on the one side and
sharp rock on the other side"
My friends, you have been, or are now,
Oh 1s, r,nie sc %1o %axyf
man meets one trouble, he can go through
with it. He gathers all his energies, con-
centrates 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 overshadowing misfortunes, are Bozez
and seneh. 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 merchants capSize in
business before they come to forty-tive years
of age There is some collision in CONNER
cial circles, and they stop payment. Itseems
as If every man must put his name on the
back Of a note before he learns what fool q
man is who risks all his own property on the
prospect that some man will tell the truth. 1t
seemsas 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 if every man must be
completely burned out before he learns the
importance of always keeping fully insured.
1t seems as If every man must be wrecked in
q financial tempest before he learns to keep
things snug in case of sudden curoclydon.
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, He takes dolorouS view of every
thing. It seems as if he never could rise.
But little time passes, and he says: "Why,
! am not so badly off after all; I 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 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 a good wife-a good
Christian wife-he ought not to be despond-
ent. "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
ali the dollars, but the woman generally
brings the courage and the faith in God.
Well, this man of whom l 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-con-
quered 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 is it that physical
ailment comes with financial embarrassment.
When the fortune failed it broke the mans
spirit. His nerves were shattered. His braill
was stunned. I can show you hundreds of
men in New York whose fortune and health
failed at the same time. They came pre-
maturely to the staff. Their hand trembled
with incipient paralysis. They never saw q
their creditors together for a compromise.
If such men are inpatient 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 re-
tanned, it would not have been so bad. The
man could have bought the very best medica
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, ant
drop them upon the poor mans way. Go;
help him! "There is q snsrp rock on the one
side, and sharp rock on the other side"
Now, what is such a man to do! In the
name Of Almighty God, will tell him what
to do. Doas Jonathan did-climb: climb up
into the sunlight of Gods favor and cOnsola-
tion. I can 60 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. II you have
any idea that sound digestion, and steady
nerves, and clear eyesight, and good hear
ing, and plenty Of friends, are necessary to
make man happy, you have mlscalculated
! suppose that these overhanging rocks only
made Jonathan scramble harder and the
faster to get up and out into the sunlight;
and this combined shadow OF invaiidism and
financial embarrassment has often sent man
up the quicker into the sunlight of Gods
favor and the monday Of His gloriou:
promises. It is a difficult thing for man tt
feel his dependence upon God when hs ha:
ten thousand dollars in the bank, and fifty
thousand dollars in Government securities
and block Of stores and three ships. "Well,
the man says to himself, 1t is silly for Int
to pray: Give me this day my daily
bread when my pantry is full, AM
the canals from the West ar
crowded with breadstuffs destined for my
storehouses." Oh, my friends, if the com
bined misfortuneS and disasters OF life hav'
made you climb up into the arms of sym
pathetic and compassionate God, through al
eternity you will bless Him that in thi
world ''there was sharp rock on the on
side, and sharp rock on the other side"
Again, that man is in the crisis Of the tex
who has home troubles and outside persecu
ton at the same time. The world treats I
man we'll just as long as it pays best to trea
him well. As long as it can manufactur
success out Of his bone and brain, an,
muscle, it favors him. The world fatten
the horse it wants to drive. But let maj