Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-08-19
RISE INTO SUNSHINE.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches A SER
MON TO THE TROUBLED.

MON 10 IHE TROUBLED.
Seek Christ For Consolation When sorell
Pressed by the Trials of Life-A Help
full Lesson Drawn From Jonathan's Vic
tory over Difficulties.
Copyright. 1893. by American Press Asso.
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14.-This dis
course Of Dr. Talmage is full of encour.
agement for those who know not which
way to turn because of accumulated
misfortunes; text, l Samuel xiv, 4,
'There was a sharp rock on the one
side and a sharp rock on the other side. -
The cruel army Of the Philistines
must be taken and scattered. There is
just one man, accompanied by his body
guard, to do that thing. Jonathan is
the hero Of the scene. l know that Da-
vid cracked the skull of the giant with
a few pebbles well slung, and that 300
Gideonitcs scattered 20, 600 Amalekites
by the crash of broken crockery, but
here is a more wonderful conflict. Yon-
der are the Philistines on the rocks
Here is Jonathan with his bodyguard
in the valley. On the one side is rock
called Bozez; on the other side is rock
called Seneh. These two were as IA
nous in olden times as in modern times
are Plymouth Rock and Gibraltar
They were precipitous, unscalable and
sharp. Between these two rocks jena
than must make his ascent The day
comes for the scaling Of the height.
Jonathan, on his hands and feet, be-
gins the ascent With strain and slip
and bruise, | suppose, but still on and
up, first goes Jonathan, and then goes
his bodyguard. Bozez on one side,
Seneh on the other After a sharp tug
and push and clinging l see the bead
OF Jonathan above the hole in the
mountain, and there is a challenge and
a fight and a supernatural cOnsterDa.
tion. These two men, Jonathan and his
bodyguard, drive back and drive down
the Philistines over the rocks and open
Il AtllA lIAA-lA " .4ANn AiA4WAAN4ANH AAlt NAAi7
mics of Israel. l suppose that the over
hanging and oyershadowing rocks on
either side did not balk or dishearten
Jonathan or his bodyguard, but only
roused and filled them with enthusiasm
as they went up. "There was a sharp
rock on the one side and a sharp rock
on the other side. "
when Calamity Comes.
Ny friends, you have been or are now
some of you in this crisis Of the text
Ii man meets one trouble, he can go
through with it. He gathers all his en-
ergics concentrates them on one point,
and in the strength Of God OF by his
own natural determination goes through
it. But the man who has trouble TO the
right Of him and trouble to the left OF
him is to be pitied. Did either trouble
come alone he might endure it, but two
troubles. two disasters, two overshadOw-
ing misfortunes, are Bozez and Seneh
God pity him. There Is a sharp rock
on the one side and "a sharp rock on the
other side.
In this crisis Of the text is that man
whose fortune and health fail him at
the same time. Nine tenths Of all our
merchants capsize in business before
they come TO 10 years of age. There Is
some collision in commercial circles,
aud they stop payment. 1t seems As if
every man must put his name on the
back Of a note before he learns what a
fool man is who risks all his OWN
property on the prospect that some man
will tell the truth. 1t seems as If man
must have large amount Of unstable
goods on his own shelf before he learns
how much easier it is to buy than to
sell. Ii seems as if every man must be
completely burned out before he learns
the importance of always keeping fully
insured. 1t seems as if every man must
be wrecked in financial tempest before
he learns to keep things snug in case Of
sudden euroclydon.
When the calamity does come, it is
awful. The man goes home in despair,
and he tells his family, "We'll have to
20 to the poorhouse. He takes dolor-
Gus view Of everything. 1t seems as if
he never could rise But little time
passes, and he says, "Why, l am not so
badly off after all; l have my family
left"
Before the Lord turned Adam out of
paradise he gave him Eve, so that when
he lost paradise he could stand it. Per
nit one who has never read but few
novels in all his life, and who has not
n great deal Of romance in his compost
tion, to say that if when man 5 for
tunes fail he has a good wife-a good
Christian wife-he ought not to be de-
spondent. "Oh, you say, THAT only
increases the embarrassment, since you
have her also to take care of. " You are
an migrate, for the woman as often sup
ports the man as the man supports the
woman. The man may bring all the
dollars, but the woman generally brings
the courage and the faith in God.
A New Chapter.
Well, this man Of whom | am speak
ing looks around, and he finds his fami-
" is left, and he rallies, and the light
comes to his eyes, and the smile to his
face. and the courage to his heart. In
two years he is quite over it. He makes
his financial calamity the first chapter
in a new era of prosperity. He met that
one trouble-conquered it. He sat down
for little while under the grim shadow
of the rock Bozez, yet he soon rose, and
began. like Jonathan, to climb. But
how often is it that physical ailment
comes with financial embarrassment
When tho fortune failed, it broke the
mans spirit, His nerves were shatter-
cd. His brain was stunned. i can show
YOU hundreds of men in our cities
whose fortune and health failed at the
same time. They came promaturely to
the staff. Their hand trembled with
incipient paralysis. They never saw
we'll day since the hour when they call
ed their creditors together for a COM
promise. If such men are impatient and