The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-12-09
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
IN eLEVELAND-"oFF TRAcK-How
TO GET ON AGAIN.

The Gospel in HanashaIsin g-ohristian
People Do Not Give Proper Encour-
agement to the OGtcast Who Is VIII
ing to Return.
CLEVELAND, Dec. 5.-The Rev. T. Dewitt
Talinage, D. D., preached here to-day. Fol,
lowing Is his sermon; Subject, "OR the
Track; How to Get on Again"
Text: Proverbs xiii, IS :'When shall
awake? viii seek it yet again"
With an insight into human nature such as
no other man ever reached. Solomon, in my
text, sketches tho mental operations Of one
who, having stepped aside from the path OF
rectisude, desires to return. With wish for
something better he said: "When shall l
awake? When shall I come out of this horrid
nightmare Of iniquityz' But seized upon by
uleradicated habit and forced down hill by
his passions be cries out: u viii seek it yet
nsain. viii try it once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an elegant
literature addressed to young men, pointing
out to them all the dangers and peTils Of life
complete maps Of the voyage, showing all
the rocks, the quicksands tho shoals But
ssIlJ1oSe A man has already made shipwreck; /;
suppose he is already or the track; suppose
be has already gone astray, how is he to get
touched 1 propose 10 address myself this
morning to such. There are those in this
audience who, with every passion Of their
ngouized soul, are ready 70 hear such a dis
cussiou They compare themselves with
what they were ten years ago, and cry out
from the bondage in which they are iDcar-
cerated Now, if there be any in this house,
come with an earnest purpose, yet feeling
they are beyond the pale of Christian sympa-
-. Al fa
pected to address them, then, at this moment,
give them M right hand, and call them
brother. LooI mp. There is glorious and
triumphant ha Js for you yet. l sound the
trumpet of goJpel dehverance. The church
Is ready to spread banquet at your return,
end the hierarchs of heaven to fall into line
of hammered procession at the news OF your
emancipation. So far as God may help me.
Ipropose TO show what are the obstacles of
vour return. and then how you are to sur
mount those obstacles.
The first difficulty in the way of your re-
turn is the force of moral gravitation just
as there is a natural law which brings down
10 the earth anything you throw into the air, SO
there is a corresponding moral gravitation-
In other words it is easier to go down than it is
10 70 up; it is easier to do wrong than 1t Is to
do right Call to mind the comrades Of your
boyLiood days-some of them good, some of
them bad. w llCl IlOSb duStOtu 1Ous OttA4
10 mind the anecdotes that you have heard in
the last five or ten years. Some of them are
pure and some of them impure. Which the
more easily sticks TO your memoryf During
the years of your life you have formed GER
tain courses of conduct-some Of them good,
sone of them bad. To which style of habit
did YOU the more easily yieldl Ahl my
. friends. we have to take but moment of
self-inspection to 6nd out that there IS in all
70. a,,f ovit
that gravitation may be resisted. just as
You may pick up from the earth something
ead hold it in your hand toward heaven, just
SO, by the power of Gods grace, soul fallen
may be lifted toward peace, toward pardon,
toward heaven Force of moral gravitation is
in every one of US, but there ispower in Gods
grace to overcome that force of moral gravi-
tation.
The next thing in the way of your return
Is the power of evil habit know there are
those who say it is very easy for them to give
aIp evil habits. / do not believe them. Here
is a man given to intoxication. He knows it
IS disgracing his family, destroying his prop
erty, running him, body, mind and soul II
thai man, being an intelligent man, and low
ing his family, could easily give up that
habit. would he not do so7 The fact that he
does not give it up proves 1t is hard to give 1t
up. It is a very easy thing to sail down
stream, the tide carrying you with great
force; but suppose you turn the boat UP
stream, is it so easy then to row itl As long
as we yield to the evil inclinations in our
hearts. and our bad habits, are sailing
down stream, but the moment we try to turn
we put our boat in therapids just above Nj
ngara, and try to row up stream.
Take a man given to the habit of using
tobacco, as most of you do, and let him re-
solve to stop, and he finds it very difficult.
Twenty-one years ago quit that habit, and
would as soon dare to put my right hand in
the fire as once to indulge in it. Why? Be
cause it was such terrific struggle to get
over It. Now, let a man be advised by his
physician to give up Ale use of tobacco He
goes around not knowing what to do with
himself. be cannot add up a line of figures.
He cannot sleep nights. 1t seems as if the
world had turned upside down. He feels his
business is going to ruin Where he was
kind and obliging no is scolding and frettuL
The composure that characterized him has
given way to a fretful restlessness, and he
has become a complete fldget What power
IS it that has rolled of woe over the
earth and shaken portent in the heavensl
He has tried to stop smolIingi After while
be says: II am going TO do as please. The
doctor doesn't understand my case. am
geing back to my old habit" And he re-
turns. Everything assumes its usual COM
world becomes an attractive place to live in.
Ills children, seeing the difference, hail the
return of their fathers genial disposition.
What wave OF color has dashed blue into the
sky and greennsss into the mountain foliage,
and the glow Of sapphire into the sunsetl
What enchantment has lifted a world of
beauty and JOY on his soull he has gone
back to smoking.
Obi the fact is, as we all know in our own
experience that habit is a tas1naster; as
long as we obey it it does not chastise us, but
let us resist and we find we are to be lsshed
with scorpion whips and bound with ship
cable, and thrown into the track of bono
breaking juggernauts. During the war of
1912 there was a ship set on fire Just above
Niagara Falls and then, cut loose from its
Hnoorings, it came on down through the night |
and tossed over the falls. 1t was said to have
been a scene brilliant beyond description. !
Well, there are thousands of men ON fire of |
evil habit, coming down through the rapids |
and through the awful night of temptation |
toward the eternal plunge. Oh, how hard it
l. to arrest them. God only can arrest theul |
Suppose a man, after five or ten or twenty |
years of evil doing, resolves to do rightl |
Why, all tho forces of darkness are allied /
against him. He cannot sleep nights. He |
gets down ON his knees in the midnight and |
cries, "God help mel7 He bites his lip. He |
f.rinds his teeth. He clenches his fist in
determination to keep his purpose. He dare
not look at the bottles in the window of a |
wine store. 1t was one long, bitter, exhaus-
tive, hand to hand fight with infamed tan
talizing and merciless habit When he thinks
be is entirely free, the old inclinations pounce
upon him like pack of hounds with their