Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-05-03
TABERN AGILE PULPIT.
DR.. TALMACE TALKS ABOUT
THE SUPERNATURAL.
The Enemies of Our Dreams and What
They May Signify-The Dawn OF Higher
Civilization Is Breaking on the World
A Remarkable Sermon.

BROOKLYN, April ~, 1S94.-The
Tabernacle was crowded this morn
ing with the usual throng of eager
listeners. DIR. Talmage preached on
the spiritual conflicts of life, taking his
text Genesis xxi: 1926: And Jacob
was left alone; and there wrestled
man with him until the breaking OF
the day. And when he saw that he
prevailed not against him, he touched
the hollow of his thigh; and the hol-
low of Jacobs thigh was out'of joint as
he wrestled with him. And he said,
Let me 60, for the day breaketh.
And he said, 4 will not let thee go ex-
ccpt ti.ou bless me-"
The dust arose from a travelling
herd of cattle, and sheep, and goats
and camels. They are the present
that Jacob sends to get the goodwill
of his offended brother That night
Jacob halts by the brook Jabbok. But
there is no rest for the weary man.
No shining ladder to let the angels
down into his dream; but fierce COM
bat, that lasts until the morning,
with an unknown visitor. They each
try to throw the other. The unknown
visitor, to reveal his superior power,
by a touch wrenches Jacobs thigh bone
from its socket perhaps manning 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 has been contenoing. and not one
of his brothers coadjutors. Let me
CO." cries the angel lifting himself
up into increasing light, the day
breaketh."
You see, in the first place, that God
allows good people sometimes to get
into a terrible struggle. Jacob was
good man; but here he is left alone
in the midnight to wrestle with ire
mendous influence by the brook
Jabbok. For Joseph, a pit; for
Daniel, wild beast den; for David,
dethronement and exile; tor John the
baptist, wilderness diet and the ex-
ecutioners axe; for Peter, prison;
for Paul, shipwreck; for John, desc
late Patmos; for Vashti, most insult
ing cruelty; for Josephine, Danish
mcnt; for Mrs Sigourney, the agony
of drunlSard's wife; for John Wesley,
stones hurled by an infuriated mob;
for Catherine, the Scotch girl, the
drowning surges Of the sea; for Mr..
Burns, the butfeting of the, Montreal
populace; for John Brown of Edin-
burgh, the pistol-shot of Lord Claver-
house; for Hugh Mckail, the scaffold;
for Latimer, the stake; for Christ, the
cross. For whom the rocks, the glib
bets, the guillotines, the thumb
screws? 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"
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.
Red hot disasters have dropped into
your store from loft 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 whether
it will throw you, or you will
soul, in struggle with some bad
appetite. He knew not how stealthily
it was growing upon him. One hour
he woke up. He said, For the sake
of my soul, of my family, and of my
children, 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 conflict!
When once 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 a long line
of light, to look from above, and hell
stretches itself in myrmidons of spite
to look up from beneath. l have seen
men rally themselves for such strug-
gle; and they have bitten their lips,
and clenched their fists, and cried with
blood-red earnestness, and a rain of
scalding tears, God help me!''
From wrestle with habit I have
seen men fall back defeated. Calling
for no help, but relying on their own
resolutions, they have come into the
struggle; and for time it seemed as
Il 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 it
into utter darkness. First, / saw the
auctioneers mallet fall on the pict-
ures, and musical in Instruments, and the
rich upholstery of his family parlor.
After awhile / saw him fall into the
ditch. Then, in the midnight, when
the children were dreaming then
sweetest dreams, and Christian house
holds are silent with slumber
angel-watched, / heard him give the