The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-30
WRESTLING WITH AN ANGEL
Tdmage breaches on The Spiritual
Conflicts Of Life.

GoOd People TO Get Into terrible
Struggle-Every Christian Has His
truggle-Prosperity Kills and
Trouble Saves.
Brooklyn, April 29.-The tabernacle
was crowded this morning with the usual
throng of eager listeners. DIR. Talmage
preached on the spiritual conflicts of life,
taking for his text Genesis 30; 24-26
sand Jacob was left alone and there
wrestled a man with him until the break
ing of the day. And when he saw that
he prevailed hot 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, 4 Will not let thee 60 except thou
bless me-
The dust arose from a travelling herd of
cattle aH1 sheep, and goats, and camels.
They are the present that Jacob sends TO
gain the goodwill 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 com bat,
that lasts until the morning, with An I'M
known visitor. They each try to throw
the other. The unknown visitor, to re-
veal 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 ii is an
angel with whom he has been cOntending,
and not one of his brothers coadiutors.
Let me go, cries the angel, lifting him
self up into increasing light, the day
breaketh. -
You see, in the first place. that God al
lows good people sometimes TO get into
terrible struggle. Jacobwas a good man
but here he is left alone in the midnight
wresJfe with tremendous influence by
the brook Jabbok. For Joseph pit; for
Daniel, a wild beast den; for David, de-
thronement and exile; for John the Bap-
fist, wilderness diet and the execution
er's axe; for Peter, a prison; for Paul,
shipwreck; for John, desolate Patmos;
for Nashti, most insulting cruelty; FOR
Josephine, Punishment; for Mrs. Sigour-
ney, the agony of a drunkard's wife; for
John Wesley, stones hurled by an in
furiated 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 Edinburg
the pistol-shot of Lord Claverhouse; for
Hugh McKail, the scaffold; for Latimer,
the stake; for Christ the cross. For
whom the rocks, the gibbets, the guillo-
tines, 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, II am against the world"
will 60 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 on 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 vet escaped, and it is unccr-
tain 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, 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 uponit and
oh, the horror of the conflict! When once
a bad habit has aroused itself up to de-
u,
by the help of the eternal God, he will de-
stroy 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. | have seen
men rally themselves for such a struggle:
and they have bitten their lip, and
clenched their fists, and cried with a
blood-red earnestness, and rain of
scalding tears, God help mel"
From wrestle with habit l have seen
men fall back defeated. Calling for no
help but relying on their own resolutions,
they have come into the struggle; and for
a time IL 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 force borrowed from the pit.
hurled II into utter darkness, First,
l saw the auctioneer'S mallet fall
on the pictures, and musical instru-
ments, and the rich upholstery of his
family parlor. After awhile l saw him
fall into the ditch. Then, in the midnight,
when the children We're dreaming their
sweetest dreams, and Christian house
holds are silent with slumber, angel
watched, l 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 at
bFdCllOus ne ISll IRON tl9 mouse OF God,
at whose affairs he had been consecrated !;
he fell-for ever! But, thank God, have
often seen better termination than that
have seen men prepare themselves for
such wrestling. They laid hold of
Gods help as they went into combat
The giant habit, RECALLED by The cup of
many temptations, came out strong and
defiant. They clenched. There We're the
writings and distortions of fear
full struggle. But the old giant be-
gan TO waver; and at last, in the midnight,
alone. with none but God to witness, by
the brook Jabbok, the giant fell: and
the triumphant wrestler broke the dark
ness with the cry, Thanks be unto God
who giveth us the victory, through our
Lord Jesus Christi There is a widow S
heart, that first was desolated by bereave-
ment, and since, by the anxieties and
trials that came in the support of a
family. 1t is sad thing to see a man
contending for livelihood under disad-
vantages; but to see a delicate woman,
with helpless little ones at her back.
fighting the giants of poverty and sorrow,
is more affecting. 1t was humble home,
and passers-by knew not that within
those four walls were displays of courage
more admirable than that of Hannibal
crossing the Alps, or the Pass of Their
mopylR, or Balaklava, where, Unto the
jaws of death rode the six hundred -
These heroes had the whole world to
cheer them on; but there were none to
aDplaud the StrI1 c~cylp in Tho hmm, hIa homo