Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-11-25
REV. DR., TALMAGE,
TIE Eminent Divine's Sunday
Discourse.
Subject: 'sWrestlins With the Su.
pernaturaI.''

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 tless me."-Genesis xxxii., IS, 26.
There is cloud of dust from a traveline
herd OF cattle and sheep and goats and
camels. They are the present that Jacob
sends to gain the good viii 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 n severe
struggle that lasts until morning with an un-
known visitor. They each try 10 throw the
other. The unknown visitor. to reveal his
superior power, by touch wreuches Jacobs
tntgh 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 net one of his brothers
coadjutors. 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 a terrible
struggle Jacob was good man, but here
ne is LETT alone in the midnight to wrestle
with tremendous influence by the brook
Jabbok. For Joseph. Il pit; for Daniel, a
Wild beast 5 den; for David. .dethroneuent and
exile; Tor John the Baptist, wilderness diet
and the executioners AK; for Peter, prison;
! for Paul, shipwreck; for John. desolate Pat
mos; 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
reiormer, 1.-The world Is against you."
''Then." he replied, III am against the
world"
will go further and say that every Chris
t!an has his struggle. With financial mis-
fortune some of you have had the midnight
wrestfe. Redhot disasters 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 uncertain whether
It will throw you or you will
in struggle with some bad appetite. He
knew not how stea athly 1t 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
| by the brook Of Jabbok, and it was mid
night. That evil appetite seized upon him,
and = seized upon it. and. on, the horror OF
the conflict! When once bad habit hath
reused itself up to destroy a man, and tho
man has sworn that by the help of the eter.
nal God he will destroy 1t, 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
clinched their fist, and cried with blood
red earnestness and a rain q scalding tears
"God help mel
From wrestle with habit Ihave 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
| nd Nf shasS h0k Dee 81 Iii m. =
again its Internal power and lifted the soul
from its standing. aud with u force borrowed
from The pit hurled it into darkness.
But, thank God. 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, regaied by
the cup of many designations, came out
strong and defiant. They clinched. There
were the writings and distortions Of fear
ful struggle. But the old giant began to
waver, and at last, In the midnight alone,
with none but GOD to witness, by the brook
Jsbbok, the giaut fell, and the triumphant
wrestler broke the darkness with the cry.
"rhanks be unto God, who giveth us the
victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ"
There is a widows heart tuat first was
desolatei by bereavement and since by the
anxietieS and trials that came in the support
OF a family. 1t is a sad thing to sea msu
contending for livelihood under disadvan-
tages. but to see delicate woman, with
helpless little ones at her back, fighting the
giants of poverty and sorrow Is moro
Affecting. 1t was a humble home, and
passersby knew not that within those four
walls were displays OF courage more admir-
able than that of Hsnfbal crossing
at Balakiava, where int the jaws OF death
rode the six hundred." These heroes had
the whole world TO cheer them on, but there
was no one TO applaud the struggle in that
humble home. She fought for bread. for
clothing, for fire, for shelter. with aching
head and weak side and exhausted strength,
through the long night by the brook Jabbok.
Could II be that none would give her helps
Had God forgotten to be gracious? No, con-
tending soul. The midnight air Is full of
wings coming to the rescue. She hears it
now, in the soueh of the night wind, in the
made so long ago, ringing down the sky,
"Thy fatherless children, I will preserve
them alive, and let thy widows trust in mel''
Some one said to a very poor woman, "How
Is II that In such distress you keep cheerful?"
She said: Il do 1t by what call cross pray
ers. When had my rent to pay and moth
Ing to pay IT with and bread to buy and moth
ing to buy it with. used to sit down and
cry. But now do not get discouraged. II
20 along the street, when come 10 a cor
ner Of the street, suy The Lord help mel
l then 60 on until come to another cross
help mel And so utter a prayer at every
crossing, and since have got into the habit
OF saying these cross prayers / have been
able to keep up my courage"
Learn again from this subject that people
sometimes are surprised to find out that
what they have-been struggling with in the
darkness is really an ''angel OF blessing.''
Jacob found in the morning that this
strange personage-was not an enemy, but a
God dispatched messenger to promise pros
perity for him and for his children. And so
many q man at the close OF his trial has
found out that he has been trying to throw
down his own blessing. II you are a
Christian man, / will go back In your his
tory and find that the grandest things that
have ever happened to you have been your
trials. Nothing short of scourgng, I'm
prisonment and shtpwreck could have made
Paul what he was. When David was fleeing
through the wilderness, pursued by his own
son, he was being prepared to become the
SWEET singer Of Israel. The pit and the
dungeon were the best schools at which
Joseph ever graduated. The hurricane that
upset the tent and killed Jobs children pre-
pared the man Of Uz to be the subject Of the
magnificent poem that has astoundet the
ages. There is no way to get-the wheat out
Of the straw but 10 thrash 1t. There Is no
way to purify the gold but to burn it. Look
at the people who have always had it their
own way. Thev are proud, discontented,
use ess and unhappy. II you want to End
cheerful folk, go among those who have been
purified by the fire. After Rossini had rem.
dered "William Tell the five bundreith
time company OF musicians came under his
window in Paris and serenaded him. They
put upon his brow a golden crown OF laurel
leaves. But am all the applause and en-
tbusia.m RossiniturDedto friend and said,
II would give all this brilliant scene for g
few Gays OF youth and ove." Contrast the
me ancholy feeling of Rcssini, who had
everything this world couId Give bin. with
khe joyful experience Of Isaac MattA Waoee
sortows were great, when he sayss
The hill Of Zion yields
thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets,
Then let our SONGS abound
And every tear be dry,
We're marching through 1mmanuel's
ground
n