Connecticut western news., 1896-11-19
AN ANGEL WRESTLER
DR. TALMAoE'S SERMON ON JACOBS
 NIGHT NEAR JABBOK.

Christian Has His Battle-God's Help Against the Giant Habit The Unknown Visitor In the Darkness by the Brook.
 WASHINGTON, Nov l5.-Out of this strange scene of Bible times Dr. Tal- mage, in his sermon today, draws re- markable lessons of good cheer and tri- umph. His subject is Wrestling With the Supernatural and the text, Genesis xxxii, 25, 26: And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touch ed 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, will not let thee go except thou bless me.
 There is cloud of dust from trav- cling 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 severe struggle, that lasts until morning, with an un- known visitor. They each try to throw the other. The unknown visitor, to re- veal ms superior power, by touch wrenches Jacobs thigh bone from its socket, perhaps maiming 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 heen contending, and not one of his brothers coadjutors. '.Let me go" cries the an gel, lifting himself up into increasing i. light, 'the day breaketh.
 Left Alone to wrestle.
 You see, in the first place, that God allows good people sometimes to get into Q terrible struggle. Jacob was a good man, but here he is left alone in the midnight to wrestle with tremendous influence by the brook Jabbok. For Jo- seph. pit; for Daniel, a wild beast den; for David, dethronement and ex- ile; for John the Baptist, wilderness diet and the eIeoutioner's ax; for Pe- ter, a prison; for Paul, shipwreok; for John, desolate Patmos; for Christ, the cross. For whom the racks, the gibbets, the prisons, the thumbscrews? For the sons and daughters of the Lord Al mighty. Some one said to Christian re- former. 'The world is against you. "Then," he replied, "I am against the world.
 I will go further and say that every Christian has his struggle. With finan- rsa al ,.efrr 0f hol the midnight wrestle. Redhot disasters have dropped into your store from loft to cellar. What you bought you could not sell. Whoyou trusted fled. The help you expected would not come. Some gi ant 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, of my children and of my God I must stop this And, behold, he found him. self along by the brook of 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 hath reused it. self up to destroy man, and the man has sworn that, by the help of the eter- nal God, he will destroy it, all heaven draws itself out in long line of light to look from above, and all hell stretches ,,,, of fr ,~., from beneath. I have seen men rally themselves for 8 struggle, and they have bitten their lips and clinched their fists and cried with blood red earnest. ness and rain of scalding tears, "God help meF'
 The Giant Habit.
 From Q wrestle with habit I 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 if they were getting the upper hand of their habit, but that habit rallied again it's internal power and lifted the soul from its standing, and with force bor- rowed from the pit hurled it into outer darkness
 But, thank God, have often seen a better termination than this. I have seen men prepare themselves for such 8 wrestling. They laid hold of God s help as they went into combat. The giant habit, regaled by the cup of many dissipations, came out strong and defi- ant They clinched. There were the writhings 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 Jabbok, the giant fell, and the triumphant wrestler broke the darkness with the cry, Thanks be un- to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christi
 There is widows heart that first was desolated by bereavement and since by the anxieties and trials that came in the support of family. It is sad thing to see 8 man contending for a livelihood under disadvantages, but tc see delicate woman, with helpless lit : tie ones at her back, fighting the giant: of poverty and sorrow is more affect ing. It was humble home, and pass ersby knew not that within those foul walls were displays of courage more ad mirable than that of Hannibal crossing the Alps or in the pass of Thermopyla or at Balaklaya, where "into the jaw of death rode the six hundred. " These heroes had the whole world to cheel them oD, but there were none to applaud the struggle in that humble home.
 To the Rescue.
 She fought for bread, for clothing for fire, for shelter, with aching heat and weak side and exhausted strength through the long night by the brool Iabhok. Gould it be that none woult give her help? Had God forgotten to b gracious: No, contending soul. Tn midnight air is full of wings, cominl