The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-05-26
AT THE TABERNACLE.


BBooEtYN. April go-Tho Tabernacle
was crowded this morning with The usual
throug of ongcr listeners. nr ralmaRe
preached ON the spiritual conflicts OF life
taking for his text Genesis xXXh, "a go:
And Jacob was left alone, and thorc
vrrstlcd % man with him until The break
ing of the day. And when he saw that he
prevailed not against him hc touched the
hollow of his thigh, and the hollow Of
Jacobs thigh was out Of joint ms he WINS
tied with him. And he said Lot me 10,
for the day broakoth And he said I will
not let thee 90 except thou bless me.
The dust arose from u travelling herd Of
cattle and sheep and goats and camels.
They are the present that Jacob sends to
gain the good win of his offended brother
Thot night Jacob halts boy the brook Jab-
box. But there Is no rest for the weary man.
No shining ladder to let the angels down
into his dream, but fierce combat that
lasts until the morning with an unknown
visitor. They each try TO throw the other
The unknown visitor, to reveal his SUI
perior power, by touch wrenchcs Jacobs
Jhigh bone from It's socket, perhaps MAIN
ing him for life. As on the morning sky
the clusters Of purple cloud begin TO ripen
Jacob sees it Is an angel with whom he
Nus Dttll confirming anu lbl bilt VI MS
brother coadiutors Let me go, cries
the angel, lifting himself up into increas-
ing light. Tho day breaketh."
You see in the first place that God al
lows good people sometimes to get into
terrible struggle Jacob was a good NAV
but here "" IS loft done in the ununight to
Eyrestle witn sa tndous influence by the
h'c,k Jab,'Jl. For Joseph, pit; for Daniel,
wild beast den; for David, dethronement
and exile for John the Baptist, a wilder
ness diet and the executioners AK; for Pc
ter, prison; for Paul, shipwreck; for
John, desolnte Patmos; for Nashti, most
insulting cruelty; for Josephine, Danish
ment; for Mrs. Sigourney, the agony Of a
drunkard's wife; for John Wesley, stones
hurled by an Infatuated mob; for Cathe-
rine, the Scotch girl, the drowning surges
Of the sea; for Mr.. Burns, the buffeting of
the Montreal populace; for John Brown of
Edinburgh, the pistol shot Of Lord Claver-
house; for Hugh McKail, the scaffold for
I.atimer, the stake; for Christ the cross
For whom the rocks, the gibbets, the gull
lotines, the thumbscrews' For the sons
and daughters of the Lord God Almighty.
Some one said to a Christian reformer,
The world is against you" Then, " he
replied, Il am against the world"
Redhot Disasters.
1 will go further and say that every
Christian has his struggle. This man had
his combat in Wall street; this one on
Broad street; this one on Fulton street;
this one ON Chestnut street; this one on
State street; this one on Lombard street;
this one on the boursc. With financial
misfortune you have had the midnight
wrestle Redhot disasters have dropped
into your store from lof5 to cellar What
you bought you could not sell. Whom you
trusted fed. The help you expected would
not come. Some giant panic with long
arms and grip like death, took hold of you
in an awful wrestle, from which you have
not yet escaped, and it is uncertain wheth-
er it viii throw you or you will throw it.
Here is another soul in struggle with
some bad appetite. He knew not how
sJealthily it was growing upon him. One
hour he woke up He said, For the sake
Of my soul, Of my family and Of my chill
dren and Of my God, l must stop this!'
and behold, he found himself alone by the
brook Jabbok and it was midnight. That
evil appetite seized upon him. and he seizet
upon it, and, oh, the horror of the con
fictl When once bad habit has aroused
itself up to destroy man, and the MAJ
has sworn that, by the help of the eterna
Cod, he will destroy it, all heaven draw
Itself out in a long line of light to look
from above, and hell stretches itself in
nyr1nidons of spite to look up from be
meath. / have seen men rally themselves
for such a struggle, and they have bitten
their lip and clinched their fists and cried
with a blood red earnestness and "a rain OF
scalding tears, God help mel'
From wrestle with habit l have seer
men fall back defeated Calling for nc
help, but relying on their own resolutions
they have come into the struggle, and fol
a time it seemed as if they We're getting
the upper hand of their habit, but thai
habit rallied again its Internal power anC
lifted a soul from its standing and with
force borrowed from the pit hurled it int
utter darkness. First / saw the auction
eer's mallet fall on the pictures, and mu
steal instruments, and the rich upholstery
of his family parlor. After awhile l saw
him fall into the ditch. Then, in the mid
night, when the children were dreaming
their sweetest dreams and Christian house
holds are silent with slumber angel watch
ed / heard him give the sharp shrek thai
followed the stab of his own poniard. HI
fell from an honored social position; he fell
from a family circle of which once he was
the grandest attraction; he fell from the
house of God, at whose affairs he had beer
consecrated; he fell-foreverl But thank
God, ! have often seen better termina
ton than that.
l have seen men prepare themselves fol
such a wrestling. They laid hold of God'i
help as they went into combat. The giant
habit, RECALLED by the cup of many tempta
tions, came out strong and defiant. They
clinched. There were the writings anC
distortions of a fearful struggle. But tn,
4 10 60. I..t a..
the midnight alone, with none but God t,
witness, by the brook Jabbok, the gian
fell, and the triumphant wrestler brok
the darkness with the cry, Thanks b.
unto God, who giveth US the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ"
A Glorious Promise.
There is a widows heart, that first wa
desolated by bereavement and since b.
the anxieties and trials that came in tn
support of family. 1t is "A sad thing 3
see a man contending for livelihood un
der disadvantages, but to see a delicat
woman, with helpless little ones at he
back, fighting the giants Of poverty ant
sorrow, is more affecting. 1t was a humbl
home and passersby knew not that with
in those four walls were displays of coul
age more admirable than that Of Hanniba
crossing the Alps, or the pass Of ThermoI
ylB or Balaklaya where, into the jaw
OF death rode the six hundred "
These heroes had the whole world I
cheer them on, but there were none TO al
plaud the struggle in the humble home
She fought for bread, for clothing for fire
for shelter with aching head and wea
side and exhausted strength through tn
long night by the brook Jabbok. Could
be that none would give her helpi Ha
God forgotten to be graoiousi No, COZ
tenuing soull The midnight air is full o
wings coming TO the rescue. She hears i
now, in the sough Of the night wind, II
the ripple Of the brook Jabbok, the prom
ise made 50 long ago ringing down tn
sky, Thy fatherless children / will pre-
serve them alive and let thy widows trus
In met"