Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-03
AT THE TABERNACLE.
REV. DR. TALMAGE DISCUSSES WREST-
LING WITH THE SUPERNATURAL.


NouesasnAials of Religion.
BROOKLYN, April 90 The Tabernacle
was crowded this morning with the usual
throng Of eager listeners Dr. Talmage
preached on the spiritual conflicts of life,
taking for his text Genesis xxi, 24-26:
And Jacob was left alone, and there
wrestled man with him until the break
ing of the day. And whom he saw that he
prevailed not against him he touched the
hollow of his thigh. and the hollow of
Jacob thigh was out Of joint as he wrcs-
tied with him. And he said, Let me go,
for the day breaketh And he said, l will
not lot thee go except thou bless me. "
The dust arose from a travelling herd OF
cattle and sheep and goats and cainels.
They are the present that Jacob sends to
gain the good will of his offended brother.
That night jacob halts by 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 su.
perior power by touch wrcnchcs Jacob $
thigh bone from its socket perhaps maiIr
ing him for life. AS on the morning sky
the clusters of purple cloud begin to ripHi
Jacob s. IS it is an angel with whom he
has becu contcndirg and not one of his
brothers coadjutols. Let mo 20, " cries
the angel lifting himself up into incroas-
ing light. Tho day breaketh."
You see il the first place that God al
lows coed people sometimes to get into n
terrible struggle. Jacob was good man,
but hero h is left alone in the midnight TO
wrest!e v iii a tremendous influence by the
brook iahhok. For Joseph, pit; for Daniel,
wild beast don; fo- David, dethronement
and exile; for John the Baptist wilder
ness diet and the cxecutiOnCr's AK; for Pc
ter u prison; for Paul, shipwreck; for
John. desolate Patmos; for Vashti, most
insulting cruelty; for Josephine, Danish
ment. for Mrs. Sigoumey, the agony of a
druIkarEj's wife; for John Wesley, stones
hurlci by an inturiated mob; for Catho-
rinc, the Scotch girl, the drowning surgcs
of tbs sea; for Mr.. Burns, the buifcting of
the Montreal pcpulaCc; for John Brown Of
Edinburgh, the pistol shot Of Lord Claver-
house; for Hugh McKail the scaffod; for
Iatimer, tho stake; for Christ, the cross.
or whom the rocks, the gibbets, the gull
lotipos, the thunbscrews? For the sons
and daughters Of the Lord God Almighty.
Some one said to Christian rcformer,
replied, II am against the world"
Redhot Disasters.
l 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 bourse With financial
misfortune you have had the midnight
wrestle. Redhot disasters have dropped
into your store from lof to cellar. What
you bought you could not sell Whom you
trusted fed. The help you expected would
no. come. Some giant panic, with long
arms end grip like death, took hold of you
in An awful wrcstle from which you have
not yet escaped, and it is uncertain wheth
er it will throw you or you will throw it.
Here is another soul in struggle with
ZONE bad appetite. lie knew not how
stealthily it was growing upon him. One
hour lie woke up. He said For the sake
of my soul, of my family and of my chill
uren and of my God, | 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 seized
upon it, and oh, the horror of the CON
6lCt! When once "a bad habit has aroused
itself up to destroy a man, and the man
has sworn that, by the help of the eternal
God, he will destroy it, all heaven draws
itself out in long line of light to look
from above, and hell stretches itself in
myrmidons Of spite to look up from be-
meath. l have seen men rally themselves
for such a struggle, ana they have bitten
their lip and cinched their fists and cried
with blood red earnestness and rain Of
al
From wrestle wirh habit have seen
men fall back defeated. Calling for no
help, bud relying on their own resolutions
they have come into the struggle, and for
a time it seemed as if they Were getting
the upper hand Of their habit but that
habit rallied again its Internal power and
lifted a soul from its standing and with a
force borrowed from the pit hurled 1t into
utter darkness, First l saw the auction.
GERS 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 ana Christian house.
holds are silent with slumber angel watch
ed heard him give the sharp shrek that
followed the stab OF his own poniard He
fell from an honored social position he fell
from family circle Of which once he was
the grandest attraction; he feb from the
house of God, at whose ALTA: he haG been
consecrated; he fcll-foreyer But, thank
God, l have often seen better termina-
ton than that.
have seen men prepare themselves for
such wrestling They laid hold of God S
help as they went into combat The giant
habit, RECALLED by the cup of many tempta-
tons, came GUS strong and defiant. They
clinched. There were the writings and
distortions of fearful struggle. But the
old giant began to wayer, and at last, in
the midnight alone with none but God ia
witness, by the brook Jabbok, the giant
fell and the triumphant wrestler broke
the darkness with the cry, Thanks be
unto God who giveth us the victory,
through our Lord Jesus Christ"
A Glorious Promise.
There is q widow 5 heart, that first was
iesoated by bereavement, and since by
the anxieties and trials that came in the
lupport of family, 1t is "A sad thing to
tee man contending for a livelihood I'M