Arizona republican., 1899-05-07


 has gained in the land of Haran, anC
 with the thought there proudly riseS
 in his soul the conceit that he can pos
 sibly buy off his brother hv the pres
 ents of camels and flCcks. which he has
 sent on before him. The same old
 crafty self to be struggled against rises
 before him.
 Then it was that God appeared to
 him and touched the hollow of his
 thigh; and the hollow of Jacobs thigh
 was out of joint as he wrestled with him" God came to his soul and
 touched it and revealed ito him his
 weakness He showed him that it did
 not consist of one act of sin, commit ted years ago, for which he was striv- | ing to atone. It was a far greater evil than that It was bound up with his own constitution and self. That sin against his brother was but one mani festation of an incomplete, a partially developed, and hence sinful state. He needed to have self readjusted in the light of a perfectly holy life, before his struggle could end. before he could be victorious over self, and the calm light Of the peaceful day Of God dawn in his soul Before he could thorough " huOH SE1l lie nuSI SS0 AIOu 1dGS lO face; he must look face to face upon perfection, upon perfect holiness, be- fore he could realize his own imper- feotiOns, before his earnest struggles d-ulld be directed against the real evils of his nature and of his surroundings. Thus it was that God touched him, and revealed to him his real self.
 Then followed his prolonged strug . was in that struggle that he was blessed by God, that his name was changed, that tho transformation of his character was begun-from Jacob, ''the craf5y,' the humanly weak, to Israel, t&he prince of God" the God warrior,'' ''the divinely strong" What a crisis in Jacobs life! What a great strugglei What a glorious victory! To the entreaty, Let me go," Jacob had replied: 'I will not let thee go bless him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for, he said, I have seen God face to face.'
 What a grand picture this gives us of the struggle which must come to every human soul before it can know wherein it's weakness lies; before it can master it, God must touch that soul and reveal it to itself That soul must look face to face upon God, and receive his blessing upcn it's struggles, must be transformed from Jacob, the crafty to Israel, 'fthe GCd-warrior.
 Such a crisis as that which came to Jacobs life must come ito each one of us before we can truly understand, be- fore we can completely master self.
 One man is brought to that crisis in some great sickness. He is led by it to the very gate Of death, as Jacob was brought to what he expected would be death in meeting his brother. He looks through that gate face to face Ipon God, and, in the light of the reve- aticn of heavens holiness, streaming through that gate, he turns about and ,ooks face to face upon his incomplete, weak life. God has touched it and shown to him wherein its weakness ies, and he has resolved in the power of God, if permitted by him, to g3 back and struggle earnestly and persever- ngly with that weakness.
 Another man is brought face to face l With God in some financial crisis, such | Is that which swept over Jacobs life l tt this time, when, if Esau persisted in | lis wrath (as he did not), all that he l Lad accumulated by hard and persist ,nt toll would be taken from him. Such a man has been thinking all ! Llcng, with Jacob, that he could alone | or this or that particular sin by some ,reat charitable gift. Then God has ouched his life by this crisis, and howed him that his weakness, his sin, vas infinitely deeper footed than that, md that his cure must be infinitely nore enduring; that the weakness was pirftual, and that the development ould only come by persistent spiritual truggle, the going forth tc that strug- le with the blessing of God, as GOd-warrior.
 Jacobs household his sons, his iaughter5, his servants, al had rossed over the Ford JabEok, and he 7as left alone, face to face with God, lis was also the crisis Of solitude How lany a soul has been brought into the onscious presence of God by such risis! A friend, a brother, a sister,
 child-one in whom all our hopes ad centered, and upon whom, perhaps Te had strongly relied-has passed cross the earthly stream Of life, and e are left alone to struggle with self. In the exuberance of some heaven ent joy the crisis may come to us, and l the smiles of our heavenly Fathers tee we may learn to recognize and to -ruggle to dc that Fathers wiH-to ecome "God-warriors.' What a glorious result of struggle as that which Jacob won-the bless { lg of God! So will God, in his infinite we, endiue you and me with divine r rength, just in proportion as we en- 1 T into the spirit of Jesus Christ, that : Dirit which was so beautifully DOT ayed in the reconsecrated character l Jacob, spirit of deep humility, mich shall seek, and seek earnestly, { be brought by God to divine reve- tion of self-self in all our weakness, If in all our capabilities for Gods ost holy life.
 Thus will the events of our life be ansformed into Peniels, holy places revelation, in which God will come 1r.V ploaT- tn TS will tOI1ch ne bo