The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-05-11
SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Talks Upon the
Struggles Of Gods Children.
Severe Tests of Faith, I'm which, N They
Strive VaIiantly, Like Jacob of Old,
They VIII Receive the Divine
Blessing as Reward.

The following discourse on ''The Spir-
itual Conflicts of Life" was delivered bv
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage in the Brook
lyn tabernacle, being based on the text:
And Jacob was left alone; and there wres-
tied 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 90. for the day breaketh. And he said,
I will not let thee 60 except thou bless me-
Genesis xxxiL. 24-26
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 Ja-
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 a fierce combat
that lasts until the morning, with an
unknown visitor. They each try to
throw the other. The unknown Wis
itor, 10 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 il is an angel with whom he
has been contending, and not one of
his brothers coadjutors- Let me
go" cries the angel, lifting himself up
into increasing light, ''the day break
eth"
You see, in the FIRST place, that God
allows good people sometimes to get
] into terrible struggle Jacob was a
1 good man; but here he is left alone in
the midnight to wrestle with tre-
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. a prison; for Paul, ship
wreck; for John desolate Patmos; for
Vashti, most insulting cruelty;
for Josephine, Punishment; for
Mrs Sigourney, the agony of
a drunkard'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 buffeting of the Mon
treal 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 thumb
screws? For the sons and daughters
of the Lord God Almighty. Some one
said to a Christian reformer: "ThS
world is against YOU" ''Then," he re-
| piled. 81 am against the world"
1 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. LON
bard street; this one on the bourse.
With financial misfortune you have
had the midnight wrestle. Red-hot
disasters have dropped into yonr 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
1t is uncertain whether it viii throw
you or you will throw it Here is
another soul, in struggle with
some bad appetite. He knew
not how stealthily it was grow
ing upon him. One hour he woke up.
He said: For the sake of my soul, of
my family, and my children, and of my
God must stop thisI' And behold ne
found himself alone by the brook of
| Jabbol; and it was midnight. That
evil appetite seized upon him, and he
seized upon it, and oh, the horror of
the confetti When once a 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.
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
| mer'
From a 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 a time it seemed as ii
| NnCN WCrG getting bhC upper manu- VI
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 auctioneer's mallet fall on the pic
lures and musical instruments, and
the rich upholstery of his family par
lor. After awhile I saw him fall into
the ditch. Then, in the midnight,
when the children were dreaming their
sweetest dreams, and Christian house
holds are silent 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 one he was the grand
est attraction; he fell from the house
of God, at whose altars he had been
consecrated; he fell-foreverl But
thank God, have often seen a better
termination than that. have seen men
prepare themselves for such as wres-
Ting. They laid hold of Gods help as
they went into combat The giant
haEit RECALLED by the cup of many
temptations, came out strong and de-
FAINT They clenched. There were
the writings and distortions of q
fearful struggle. But the old giant
began to waver; and at last, in the
midnight, alone, with none but God tC
witness. by the brook Jabkok, the old
giant fell; and the triumphant wres
| -. 49, T.~l-varo nth 4Ia orr