Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1894-05-09
STRUGGLES.
rhej Come to Christians in Every
Day Life.
FOR God Allows Good People tn Eneoun-
ter Tbem-They All Have Their strux-
giles But In the End They Step Into
the Light-Taimags'ss Sermon.

giles But In the End They Step Into
the Light-Talmage's Sermon.
DR.. Ialmage preached Sunday on the
spiritual conflicts of life. taking for
his text Genesis xxi, 1925: And
Jacob was left alone; and there wres-
tied n 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 go. for the day breaketh.' And
he said: 4 will not let thee go except
thou bless me-"
The dust arose from travelling herd
of cattle, and sheep, and goats, and
camels- They are the present that
Jacob sends to gain the good will of
his offended brother. That night ia
cob 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 Wis
itor, to reveal his superior power, by a
touch, wrenches Jacobs thigh bone
from les socket perhaps manning him
for life. AS on the morning sky the
clusters of purple cloud begin to ripcn.
Jacob sees it is an angel with whom he
has been contending, and not one of his
brothers coadjutors. Let me 60"
cries the angel, lifting himself up into
increasing light, 1.-The day breaketh."
You see, in the first place, that God
allows good people sometimes TO get
into n terrible struggle. Jacob was n
good man; but here he is left alone in
the midnight to wrestle with n ire
mendous influence by the brook Jab-
box. For Joseph, pit; for Daniel, a
wild beast den; for David, dethrone-
ment and exile; for John the Baptist, a
wilderness diet and the executioner's
AK; for Peter, n prison; for Paul,
shipwreck; for John, desolate Pat
mos; for Vashti, most insulting
cruelty; for Josephine Punishment; for
Mrs. Sigourney, the agony of drunk
ards wife; for John Wesley, stones
hurled by an Infatuated mob; for Cath
crime, the Scotch girl, the drowning
surges of the sea; for Mr.. Burnes, the
buffeting of the Montreal populace; for
John Brown, of Edinburgh, the pistol
shot of Lord Claverhouse; for Hugh
McKall, the scaffold; for Latimer. the
stake; for Christ the cross. For whom
the rocks the gibbets, the guillotines,
the thum bscrews? For the sons and
daughters of the Lord God Almighty
Some one said to Christian reformer:
The world is against you" Then"
he replied, 81 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 Chestnut
street; this one on Lombard street; this
one on the Bourse With financial mis-
fortune you have had the midnight
wrestle. Redhot disasters have
dropped into your store from loft to
cellar What you bought you could
not sell. Whom you trusted fled. The
help you expected did not come Some
giant panic, with long arms and grip
like death, took hold of you with an
awful wrestle, from which you have
not escaped, and it is uncertain
whether it will throw you or you
will throw il. Here is another
soul, in struggle with some bad ap-
petite. He knew not how stealthily
1T 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, 1 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 it.
self up to destroy n man, and the man
has sworn that, by the help of the
eternal God, he will destroy il,
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. 1
have seen men rally themselves for such
a struggle; and they have bitten their
lips, and clenched their fists, and cried
with blood-red earnestness, and
rain of scalding tears: God help mel"
From wrestle with habit / 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 ii
they were getting the upperhand of
their habit; but that habit rallied again
It's internal power, and lifted soul
from its standing, and with a force
borrowed from the pit, hurled it into
utter darkness. First, saw the auc-
tioneer's mallet fall on the pictures,
and musical 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 their sweetest
dreams, and Christian households are
slept with slumber, angel-watched, /
heard him give the sharp shrek that
followed the stab of his own poniard.
He 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 h had been consecrated; ne fell
forever! But, thank God, / have
often seen n better termination than
that have seen men prepare them
selvea for such n wrestling. They laid
hold of Gods help as they
went into combat The giant
aabit RECALLED by the cup OF
many temptations came out strong and
defiant They clenched There we're
the writings and distortions OF fear
ful Struvvle. But the old giant bao,an