The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-11-27
THE SUPERNATURAL.
Rev. DIR. Talmage Talks Upon
Strange Bible StoTias.
Remarkable Lessons of Good Cheer and
Triumph Over Apparent Obstacles
Placed Before the Conscien-
tIous Christian.


tling with the Supernatural" was de-
livered by Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage be-
fore his Washington congregation. 1t
was based on the text:
And when he saw that he prevailed not
against Him, he touched the hollow OF MS
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,
1 will not let Thee go except thou bless me-
Gensis, xxi, 1928
There is cloud of dust from trav-
cling herd of cattle, and the sheep, and
the goats, and camels. They are the
present that Jacob sends to gain the
good will of his offended brother.
THAT night Jacob 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
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
begin to ripen, Jacob sees it is an
angel with whom he has been contend
ing, and not one of his brothers coad-
tutors. .'Let me CO." cries the angel,
lifting himself up 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
good man, but here he is left alone in
the midnight to wrestle with tre-
mendous influence by the brook Jab-
box. For Joseph, a pit; by Daniel. a
wild beast den; for David, dethrone-
ment and exile; for John the Baptist.
a wilderness diet and the executioner's
NIX; for Peter, prison; for Paul, ship
wreck; for John, desolate Patmos; for
Christ, the cross. For whom the racks,
the gibbets, the prisons, the thumb
screws? For the sons and daughters
of the Lord Almighty. Some one said
to Christian reformer: 1.-The world
is against you" "Then," he replied:
81 am against the world"
/ will 20 further, and say that every |
Christian has his struggle. With finan-
clal misfortune some of you have had
the midnight wrestle. Red-hot dis |
asters have dropped into your store |
from loft to cellar. What you bought |
you could not sell Whom you trusted, |
fed. 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 un-
,.,Lokhar will fbrovv Won or |
you will throw it. Here is another
soul, in struggle with some bad appe-
tite. 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, must stop this. p" Aud
behold, he found himself alone, by the
brook of Jabbok; and it was mid
night. That evil appetite seized upon
him, and he seized upon it; and oh, the
horror of the conflict. When once a
bad habit hath reused itself up to de-
stroy a 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
themselves for a struggle; and they
have bitten their lip, and clenched
their fists, and cried with a blood-red
earnestness, and rain of scalding
tears: God help me"
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 a 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 stands, and with a
force borrowed from the pit, hurled it
into outer darkness.
But, thank God, have often seen a
better termination than this. l have
seen men prepare themselves for such
q wrestling. They laid hold of Gods
help as they went into combat. The
giant habit, RECALLED by the cup of
many descriptions, came out strong
and defiant. They clenched. There
were the writings and distortions of
q 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 unto 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 a family. 1t Is
q sad thing to see q man contending
for livelihood under disadvantages;
LIT "a .aa n daIIcata Woman. with