The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-05-04
AN AWFUL STRUGGLE
REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches UPON
llFE'S SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS.

REV. DR.. TAlMAGE breaches UPON
LlFE'S SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS.
The Fierce Combat with an Unknown Wis
itor That Lasts Until Daybreak--when
Waves of Trouble Almost, Overwhelm.
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,
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 hollow of Jacobs thigh was out of
joint as he wrestled with him. And he
said, Let me go, for the day breaketh.
And he said, I 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 Jabbol. But there is no
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 visitor to reveal his superb
or power, by 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 contendirg, and not
one of his brothers coadjutors. "Let me
CO." cries the angel, lifting himself up
into increasing light, 1.-THE Gay break
ethr'
Christian Struggles.
You see, in the first place, that God
allows good people sometimes to get
into a 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, wilderness
diet and the oxecutioner's ak; for Peter,
a 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 thulnbscrews? For the sons and
daughters Of the Lord God Almighty.
Some one said to Christian reformer,
THE world is against you. - '"Then, :"
he replied, II am against the world. "
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 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 bouglA 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
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, l must
stop this" And, behold, he found him
self alone by the brook Jabbok, and il
was midnight That evil appetite seiz-
ed upon him, and he seized upon it, and,
oh, the horror Of the conflict When
Cnce bad habit has aroused itself uL
to destroy man and the man has sworn
that, by the help of the eternal God, he
will destroy it, all heaven draws itself
outin long line of light to look from
above, and hell stretches itself in myr-
lnidons of spite to look up from beneath.
| have seen men rally themselves fol
such a struggle, and they have bitten
ft.f,i, I'm, oil thniv Gcte
cried, with q blood red earnestness and Q
rain Of scalding tears, God help mep
The Giant Habit.
From a wrostle with habit l have
seen men fall back defeated. Calling fol
no help bpt relying on their own reso
lutiol.s, they have come into the strug
gle, and FOR time it seemed as if they
Were getting the upper hand of theil
habit, but that habit rallied again it!
internal power and lifted soul from
its standing, and with force borrowed
from the pit hurled it into utter dark
ness. First / saw the auctioneer's NAL
| let fall on the pictures and musical in
struments and the rich upholstery o.
his family parlor. After awhile saw
him fall into the ditch. Then, in tn,
midnight, when the children were dream
ing their sweetest dreams and Christian
! households are silent with slumber, an
( gel watched, heard him give the sharJ
shrek that followed the stab of his owl
! poniard He fell from an honored socia
j position; he fell from family circle o
I which once he was the grandest attrac
ton; he fell from the house of God, a
whose affairs he had been consecrated
he fell-foreverl But, thank God,
have often reen better termination
than that
have seen men prepare themselves
for such wrestling. They laid hold o
! Gods help as they went into combat
The giant habit, RECALLED by the cup O
many temptations, came out strong ant
defiant. They clinched There were tn,
writings and distortions of fearful
struggle. But the old giant began t,
waver, End at last, in the midnigh
alonc, with aonc but God to witness
ty tto brook Iahhok tho piaut fall am