Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-11-16
AN ANGEL " RESTLER
DR.. TALMAGE,S SERMON ON JACOBS
NIGHT NEAR JABBOk

A Struggle With the Supernatural-Eve
Christian Has His IsattIe-God's Help
Against the Giant Habit-The Unknown
Visitor In the Darkness by the Brook.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15.-Out Of this
strange scene Of Bible times DR.. Tai
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
xxi, %, &c: 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 a cloud Of dust from O 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 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 a severe struggle,
that lasts until 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 5high bone from its
socket, perhaps manning 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 been
contending, and not one of his brother s
coadjutors. ''Let me CO." cries the an
gel, lifting himself up into increasing
light, 'the day breaketh.
Left Alone TO VyrestIe.
You see, in the first place, that God
allows good people sometimes to get into
terrible struggle. Jacob was q good
man. but here he is left alone in the
midnight to wrestle with tremendous
influence by the brook Jabbok. For 10
geph, pit; for Daniel, wild beast
den; for David, dethronement and ex
lie; for John the Baptist, wilderness
diet and the executioner's ak; for Pc
ter, a prison; for Paul, shipwreck; for
John, desolate Patmos; for Christ, the
cross. For whom the racks, the gibbets,
the prisons, tho 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, 81 am against the
world -
I will go further and say that every
Christian has his struggle. With fnan-
ciaI misfortune some Of you have had
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 gil
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 q 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
itself in myrmidons of spite to look up
from beneath I have seen men rally
themselves for q struggle, and they
have bitten their lips and clinched their
fists and cried with blood red earnest
ness and q rain of scaIding tears, Good
help meP'
The Giant Habit.
From q wrestle with habit I have
seen men fall back defeated Calling
for no help, but relying Oh their own
resolutions. they have come into the
struggle, and for q time it seemed as if
they were getting the upper hand of
their habit, but that habit rallied again
its Internal power and lifted the soul
from its standing, and with a 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
wrestling They laid hold of God S
help as they went into combat. The
giant habit, RECALLED by the cup of many
designations, came out strong and def
ant. 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 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 Christ.
There is & widows heart that first
was desolated by bereavement and since
by the anxieties and trials that came in
c l.