The Monitor-register., 1896-11-20
AN ANGEL WRESTLER
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON ON JACOBS
NIGHT NEAR JABBOK

; Christian Has His Battle-God's He'll
Against the Giant Habit-The Unknown
Visitor In the Darkness by the Brook
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15.-Out of this
strange scene of Bible times DIR. Tai
mage. in his sermon today, draws re-
markable lessons of good cheer and TIL
umph. His subject is Wrestling With
the Supernatural, " and the text, Genesis
,xxxii, rs, 90: "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 60, 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 oamels. 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 un-
known visitor. They each try TO tnro"
the other. The unknown visitor, to re-
veal his superior power, by toucn
wrenohes Jacobs thigh bone from Its
socket. perhaps manning him for life
As on the morning sky the clusters of
puuple cloud begin to ripen, Jacob sees
Il is an angel with whom he has been
contending, and not one OF his brothers
coadiutors. "Let me GO" cries the an
gel, lifting himself up into increasing
light. "the day breaketh. "
Left Alone to Wrest1e.
You see, in the first place, that God
allows good people sometimes to get into
a terrible struggle. Jacob was good
man. Init here he is left alone in the
midnight to wrestIe with tremendous
influence by the brook Jabbok. For Jo-
seph, a 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
Der. a prison; for Paul, shipwreck; 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, 81 am against the
world"
will go further and say that every
Christian has his struggle. With finan-
oial 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 fed. 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 il,
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
itself in myrmidons of spite to look up
from beneath. I have seen men rally
themselves for 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 mep'
The Giant Habit.
From a wrestle with habit 1 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 il
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 force Dor.
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 &
help as they went into combat. The
giant habit, RECALLED by the cup of many
dissipations, 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
the support of a family. 1t is a sac
thing to see man contending for q
livelihood under disadvantages, but te
see delicate woman, with helpless lit.
tis ones at her back, fighting the giants
OF poverty and sorrow is more affect
ing. 1t was humble home, and pass
ersby knew not that within those foul
walls were displays Of courage more ad
Mlrable than that of Hannibal crossine
the Alps or in the pass of Thermopyla
or OF Balaklaya, where Unto the jaw
OF death rode the six hundred +" These
heroes had the whole world to chez
tAem Oh, but there were none to applaud
the struggle in that humble home.
To the Rescue.
She fought for bread, for clothing
fer fire, for shelter, with aching heae
and weak side and exhausted strength
through the long night by the brool
JRebok. Gould it he thatnone woul.
Bive her help? Had God forgotten to b,
graciousf No, contending soul. TIL,
midnight air is full of wings, comm,
to the rescue. She hears it now, in tn,
sough of the night wind, in the rippl,
Of the brook Jabbok, the promise mad.
SO long ago, ringing down the sky
Thy fatherless children, I will pie
serve them alive, and let thy widow
trust in me-" Some one said to a yer,
poor woman, "How is it that in sucl
distress you keep cheerful?'' She said
II do it by what call cross prayers
When I had my rent to pay and moth
ing to pay it with, and bread to bu,
and nothing to buy it with, used t,
sit down and cry. But now do not ge
discouraged. If 1 go along the street
when I come to a corner of the street,
say. The Lord help me. I then go OF
until l come to another crossing of tn
street, and again say, The Lord hell
me-. And SO utter prayer at ever,
crossing. and since I have gotainto tn
habit of saying these cross prayers
have been able TO keen Nm my onuraga >