The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-05-04
AN AWFUL STRUGGLE
REV. DR.. TALMAGE BREACHES UPON
LIFE'S SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS.


itor That Lasts Until Daybreal-Whel
Waves of Trouble Almost OverwheIm
The Cry to God of Dying Soul.
BROOKLYN, April 29.-The Tabernacle
was crowded this morning with the usu
al throng of eager listeners. DR.. Tai
mage 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 breaking Of the day. And when he
saw that he prevailed not against him
he touched the hollow of his thigh, and
the hollow 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, will not let thee go ex-
cept thou bless me"
The dust arose from travelling herd
of cattle and sheep and goats and cam
els. They are the present that jacob
sends to gain the good will of his Of
Tended brother. That night Jacob halts
by the brook Jabbok. But there is nc
rest for the weary man, no shining lad
der 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 superb
or power, by touch wrenches Jacobs
thigh bone from it's socket, perhaps
manning him for life. AS on the morning
sky the clusters of purple cloud begin tc
ripen Jacob sees it is an angel with
whom he has been contending, and not
one of his brothers. coadjutors. "Let me
CO." cries the angel, lifting himself ur
into increasing light, ''The day break.
ethp' .,.. s..
Christian Struggles.
You see, in the first place, that God
allows good people sometimes to get
into terrible struggle. Jacob was a
good man, but here he is left alone in
the midnight to wrestle with tremen-
dous influence by the brook Jabbok. For
Joseph, pit; for Daniel, wild beast
den; for David, dethronement and ex-
lie; for John the Baptist, a wilderness
diet and the executioner's AK; for Peter,
prison; for Paul, shipwreck; for John,
desolate Patmos; for Vashti, most in
sulting 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
Catherine, the Scotch girl, the drown
ing surges of the sea; for Mr.. Burns,
the buffeting of the Montreal populace;
for John Brown of Edinburgh, the pis-
tol shot of Lord Claverhouse; for Hugh |
McKail, the scaffold; for Latimer, the
stake; for Christ, the cross. For whom
the rocks, the gibbets, the guillotines,
the thumbscrews? For the sons and
daughters of the Lord God Almighty. |
Some one said to a Christian reformer,
1.-The world is against you. - "Then,"
he replied, II 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 Lom-
bard street; this one on the bourse
With financial misfortune you have
had the midnight wrestle Redhot dis
asters have dropped into your store from
loft to cellar. What you bought you
could not sell. Whom you trusted fled.
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 throw it. '
Here is another soul in struggle with
some bad appetite. He knew not how {
'tealthlly it was growing upon him /
One hour he woke up. He said, "For {
he sake of my soul, Of my family, and
IT my children, and Of my God, | must 6
top thisp behold, he found him i
elf alone by the brook Jabbok, and it '
vas midnight That evil appetite seiz- /
ID upon him, and he seized upon it, and. t
N, the horror of the conflict When
nee bad habit has aroused itself I'D
o destroy man and the man has sworn
hat, by the help of the eternal God, he
Will destroy it, all heaven draws itself
ut in long line of light to look from
bove, and hell stretches itself in myr-
nidons of spite to look up from beneath.
have seen men rally themselves for
UGH struggle, and they have bitten
heir lip and clinched their fists and t
ried, with blood red earnestness and a o
ain of scalding tears, God help mep' a
The Giant Habit. a
From a wrestle with habit l have s.
cen men fall back defeated Calling for q
o help but relying on their own reso- n
1tions, they have come into the strug- T;
lie, and for time it seemed as if they S,
'ere getting the upper hand of the;= ii
abit, but that habit rallied again its Il
lfernal power and lifted soul from p
S standing and with force borrowed Il
'om the pit hurled it into utter dark Il
ess. First saw the auctioneer's NAL "
It fall ON the pictures and musical in b,
and the rich upholstery of OF
is family parlor. After awhile saw
i'm fall into the ditch. Then, in the W
idnight, when the children were dream m
g their sweetest dreams and Christian u
)useholds are silent with slumber, an to
j watched, heard him give the sharp fir
rick that followed the stab of his own Iii
,niard He fell from an honored social th
'sition; he fell from family circle of 10