Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1894-05-03
AT THE TABERNACLE,
REV. DR.. TALMAeE DISCUSSES WRIST
: LING WITH THE SUPERNATURAL.

REV. DR.. TALMAGE DISCUSSES wRasT-
LING WITH THE SUPERNATURAL.
A Sermon Of Beautiful Imagery ON tho
Spiritual Conflicts Of Lifs-The Famous
Preacher Has Something TO Say ON the
Nonessentials Of Religion.
BRooKLYH, April 2e.-The Tabernacle
was crowded this morning with the usual
thTpng Of eager listeners. DR.. Talmage
preached ON the spiritual conflicts Of life
taking for his text Genesis xxxii, 24-26:
"And Jacob was left alone, and there
wrestled man with him until the break
Ing 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 wres-
tied with him. And he said, Let me go,
for the day breaketh. And he said, will
not Let thee 60 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 win 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 combat that
lasts until the morning with an unknown
visitor. They eaeh try to throw the other.
The unknown visitor, to reveal his su-
perior power, by o touch wrenches Jacobs
thigh bone from Its socket, perhaps MAIN
ing him for hte As ON the morning sky
the clusters Of purple cloud begin 10 fipen
Jacob secs 1t is an angel with whom he
has been contending and not one Of his
brothers coadjutors- LET me CO." cries
the angel, lifting himself up into increas-
ing light "The day breaketh"
You see IN the first place that God al
lows good people sometimes to get into q
terrible struggle. jacob was good man,
but here he is left alone In the midnight to
wrestle with tremendous influence by the
brook Jabbok. For Joseph, pit; for Daniel,
q Wild beast den; for David, dethronement
and exile; for John the Baptist, wilder
ness diet and the executioner's ak; for Pc
ter, q PRISON. for Paul, shipwreck; for
john, desolate Patmos; for Vashti, most
insulting cruelty; for Josephine, Danish
ment; for Mrs. Sigourney, the agony of o
drunkard's wife; for John Wesley, stones
hurled by an Infatuated mob; for Cathe-
rine, the Scotch girl, the drowning surges
of the sea; for Mr.. Burns, the buffeting of
the Montreal populace; for John Brown of
Edinburgh, the pistol shot of Lord Claver-
house; for Hugh McKail, the scaffold; for
Latimer, the stake; for Christ, the cross.
For whom the rocks, the gibbets, the gull
lotines, the thumbscrewsp For the sons
and daughters Of the Lord God Almighty.
Some one said to Christian reformer,
1.-THE world is against you" Then" he
replied, II am against the world"
RedhOt Disasters.
I will go further and say that every
Christian has his struggle This man had
his combat in Wall street; this one on
Broad streeE this one on Fulton street;
this one 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. 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 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 wheth-
er it will throw you or you will throw 1t.
Here is another soul in struggle with
some bad appetite. 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 chill
dren and Of my God, must stop thisl''
And, behold he found himself alone by the
brook Jabbok, and 1t was midnight That
evil appetite seized upon him, and he seized
upon it, and, oh, the horror Of the con-
fictl When once bad habit has aroused
itself up to destroy man, and the man
has sworn that, by the help of the eternal
God, he will destroy it, all heaven draws
itself out in long line Of light to look
from above, and hell stretches itself in
myrmidons Of spite to look up from be-
meath. have seen men rally themselves
for such struggle, and they have bitten
their lip and olinched their fists and cried
with blood red earnestness and rain of
scalding tears, God help mel"
From q wrestlo with habis 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 1t seemed es 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 1t into
utter darkness First I saw the auction
eer's mallet fall on the pictures, and mu-
steal instruments, and the rich upholstery
Of his family parlor. After awhile saw
him fall into the ditch. Then, in the mid
night, when the children were dreaming
their sweetest dreams and Christian house
holds are silent with s1umber angel watch
ed heard him give the sharp shrek that
followed the stab of his own poniard He
fell from an honored social position; he fell
from family circle Of which once he was
the grandcst attractions; he fell from the
house of God, at whose affairs he had been
consecrated; he fell-foreverl But, thank
God, have often seen, q better termina-
tion than that.
have seen men prepare themselves for
such wrestling. They laid hold Of Gods
help as they went into combat The giant
habit, regaled by the cup Of many tempta-
tions, came out strong and defiant They
clinched There were the writings and
distortions Of fearful struggle But the
old giant began to waver, and at last in
the midnight alone, with none but God to
witness, by the brook tabbok, the giant
fell and the tFiumphant wrestler broke
the darkness with the cry, Thanks be
unto God, who giveth us the victory.
through our Lord Jesus Christ
4 A Glorious Promise.
There is q Widows heart, that first was
desolated by bereavement and since by
the anxieties and trials that came In the
sanpost Of . family. u 70 a. khinG to