Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-11-24
DR.. TALMkGE'S SERMON.

udy, draws TGDaF kaDie lessons OF SOOu
cheer and triumph. His subject is:
Wrestling with the Supernatural"
and the text: Genesis 1925, &c; 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 go,
for the day breaketh. And he said. l
will not let thee go except thou bless
me-"
There is cloud of dust from a travel
Ing herd OF cattle, and sheep, and
goats, and camels. They are the pres
sent that Jacob sends to gain the good
will 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
a severe struggle, that lasts until morn
ing, with an unknown visitor. They
each try to throw the other The un-
known visitor, to reveal his superior
power, by touch wrenches Jacobs
thigh-bone from it's socket, perhaps
manning him for life. AS on the morn
ing sky the clusters of purple cloud BE-
gin to ripen, Jacob sees it is an angel
with whom he has been contending,
and not one of his brothers coadju-
tors. LET me CO." cries the Angel,
lifting himself mp into increasing light,
the day breaketh.''
You see, in the first place, that God
allows good people sometimes to get
into terrible struggle. Jacob was a
good man; but here he is left alone
in the midnight to wrestle with ire
mendous influence by the brook Jab-
box. For Joseph, a pit; for Daniel,
wild beast den; for David, dethrone-
ment and exile; for John the Baptist.
wilderness diet and the executioner's
axe; for Peter, a prison; for Paul,
shipwreek; for John, desolate Patmos;
for Christ, the cross For whom the
racks. the gihbets, the prisons, the
thumbscrews? For the sons and
daughters Of the Lord Almighty. Some
one said to Christian reformer, The
world is against YOU" Then he
~pAo, "ii against INC WoIiu'
/ will go further, and say that every
Christian has his struggle. With
financial misfortune some of 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,
fled. The help you expected would
not come. Some giant panic, with long
arms, and grip like death. took hold
of you in 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 appe-
title. He knew not how stealthily it
MAS growing upon him. One hour he
woke lp--He<.sfd, For the sake of
my soul, of my family. of my children
and of my God, must stop tbis1 And
behold, he found himself alone, by the
brook of Jabbok; and it was midnight.
That evil appetite seized upon him,
and he seized upon it; and oh, the hor-
ror of the conflict! When once bad
habit hath reused itself up to destroy
q 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 all hell stretches itself in
myrmidons of spite to look up from
beneath. / have seen men rally them
selves for struggle; and they have
bitten their lip and clenched their fist,
and cried with a blood-red earnestness,
and rHin of scalding tears, God help
mel!
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 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 it's standing, and with force bor-
rowed from the pit, hurled it into outer
darkness.
But, thank God, l have often seen a
better termination than this | have
seen men prepare themselves for such
a wrestling. They laid hold of Gods
help as they went into combat. The
giant habit, RECALLED by the cup of many
di1sipations, came out strong and de-
fiant. They clenched. 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 I'M
to God, who giveth US the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ"
There is a widows heart, that first
was desolated by bereavement, and
since, by the anxieties and trials that
came in the support of family. 1t is
a sad thing to see man contending
for a livelihood under disadvantages;
but to see delicate woman, with help
less little ones at her back, fighting
the giants of poverty and sorrow. is
more affecting. II was humble home;
and passers-by knew not that within
those four walls were displays of cour-
age more admirable than that OF Han
nibal crossing the Alps. or in the Pass
of Thermopylae or at BalaklaVa where