The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-11-27
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse Upon "Wrest ting with
the Supernatural"
Let Not the Spirit IF Christianity Quail
at Temporary Obstacles-FIEht That
You May Enter Into
Christ's Kingdom.

/ w ISSIlluR Will Juo OupcEudGuTdls
taking for his text:
And when he saw tkat he prevailed mo-
against Him, he touched the hollow of his
thigh; and the hollow of Jacobs thigh was ob
! OF joint as he WreStled with him: and he said
| Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said
viii not let Thee 60 except thou bless me-
Gensis, xxxii., 25-26
There is a cloud Of dust from a 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 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 a 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. I"
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 tre-
mendous influence by the brook Jab-
box. For Joseph, a pit; by Daniel, a
nox Iofl
ment and exile; for John the Baptist,
a wilderness diet and the eXecutioner's S
ak; 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 go further, and say that every
Christian has his struggle. With fnan-
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,
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-
certain whether it will throw you, or
you will throw it. Here is another
soul, in struggle with some bad appe-
tite. He knew not how stealthily it
was Azowing 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, l must stop this. " 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 man, and the man has sworn
that, by the help of the eternal God,
he will destroy it, all Heaven draws
itself out in a long line of light, to
look from above, and all hell stretches
itself in myrmidons of spite to look up
from beneath. l have seen men rally
themselves for struggle; and they
have bitten their lip, and clenched
their fsts, and cried with a blood-red
earnestness, and rain of scaldiug
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 stands, and with
force borrowed from the pit, hurled it
into outer darkness.
But, thank God, / have often seen
better termination than this. l have
seen men prepare themselves for such
wrestling. They laid hold of Gods
help as they went into combat. The
giant habit, regaled by the cup of
many descriptions, came out strong
and defiant. They clenched. There
were the writings and distortions of
a 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
a sad thing to see a man contending
for livelihood under disadvantages;
but to see a delicate woman, with
hoa al Gnh
ing the giants of poverty and sorrow,
is more affecting. 1t was humble
home; and passers-by knew not that
within those four walls were displays
of courage more admirable than that
of Hannibal crossing the Alps, or in
the Pass of Thermopyls, or at Bala-
klava, where Into the jaws of death
rode 6OO." These heroes had the whole
world to cheer them on; but there
were none to applaud the struggle in
that humble home. She fought for
bread, for clothing, for fire, for shell
ter, with aching head, and weak side,
and exhausted strength, through the
long night by the brook Jabbok.
Could it be that none would
give her help2 Had God forgotten
to be gracious? Mol contending soul.
The midnight air is full of wings,
coming to the rescue. She hears it
now, in the sough of the night wind.
in the ripple of the brook Jabbok, the
promise made so lcug ago, ringing
down the skys ''TbY tatherless chill
ersR, wiz preserve them sliVei and