St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-12-18
" OFF THE TRACK"
The Many Obstacles in the Way Of
Return.
Rev. t. De Witt Talmage Tells How tho
Shackles of Bad Habits May Be Unriv-
tied, and How the Paths of Viz
tue May he Regained.


preached in this city to-day. He took for hi
text the thirty-ffth verse of the twenty
third chapter of Proverbs: "When shall
awake! | will seek it yet again" His sub
iect was: 'Of the Track-How to Get OF
Again" The sermon is as follows:
With an insight INTO human nature, suct
as 40 other man ever reached, Solomon, il
10y text, sketches the mental operations OF
one who, having stepped aside from the
Path of rectitude, desires to return. With
wish for something better he said
"When shall l awake? When shall l come
out Of this horrid nightmare of iniquity! 81
But seized upon by uneradicated habit and
forced down hill by his passions, he cries
out: 81 will seek it yet again. will try
it once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an ele
CANT literature addressed to young men,
pointing out to them all the dangers and
peHils of life-complete maps of the voyage,
showing all the rocks, the quicksands, the
shoals. But suppose man has already
made shlpWreck, suppose he is already off
the track; suppose he has already gone
astray, how is he to get backs That is a
field comparatively untouched l propose
to address myself this morning to such
There are those in this audience who, with
every passion Of their agonized soul, are
ready to hear such a discussion They
compare themselves with what they were
ten years ago, and cry out from the bondage
IL which they are iRcarcerated Now, if
there be any II this house, come with an
earnest purpose, yet feeling they are be-
yond the pale Of Christian sympathy, and
that the preacher can hardly be expected to
address them, then, at this moment, | give
them my right hand, and call them brother.
Look up. There is glorious and triumph
ant hope for you yet. I sound the trumpet
OF Gospel deliverance. The church is
ready to spread banquet at your return,
and the hierarchs OF Heaven to fall into
line of hammered procession at the news of
your emancipation. So far as God may
help me, 1propose TO show what are the
obstacles to your return, and then how you
are to surmount these obstacles.
The first difficulty in the way of your re-
turn is the force OF moral gravitation just
as there is natural law which brings
down to the earth any thing you throw in
to the air, so there is a moral gravitation.
In other words, it is easier to go down than
it is to go up; it is easier to do wrong than
it Is to do right. Call to mind the comrades
OF your boyhood days-some Of them good |
some OF them bad. Which most affected
you? Call to mind the anecdotes you have
heard IN the last five OR ten years-some |
OF them pure and some Of them i'm |
pure. Which the more easily sticks to your
memory2 During the years Of your life you |
have formed certain courses of conduct
some Of them good, some of them bad. To |
which style Of habit did you most easily
yield!
All. my friends. we have to take but
moment of self-inspection to find out that
there IS in all souls force of moral gravi-
sation. But that gravitation may be re-
sisted Just as you may pick up from the
sarth something and hold it in your hand
towards Heaven, just SO, by the power of
Gods grace, a soul fallen may be lifted
towards peace, toward pardon, toward
Heaven The force of moral gravitation
is in every one Of US. but there IS power in
Gods grace to overcome that force of
moral gravitation.
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 up evil habits. l do not believe
them. Here is a man given to intoxication
lie knows it is degrading his family, de-
5troying his property, running him, body,
mind and soul. If that man, being an in
teiligent man, could easily give up that ]
1abit, would he not do 500 The fact that
ne does not give it up proves that it is hard {
70 give it up. 1t is q very easy thing to
sail down stream. the tide carrying YOU 6
With great force; but suppose you turn the ]
coat up stream, is 1T SO easy then to row it? t
As long as we yield to the evil inclinations G
n our hearts, and our bad habits, we are '
sailing down stream, but the moment we I
ry to turn we put our boat in the rapids t
ust above Niagara, and try to row up b
tream. il
Take man given to the habit of using a
obacco, as most Of you do, and let him re- b
olive to stop, and he finds it very,dificult
'wentyone years ago Iquit that habit, and 1
would as soon put my right hand into the b
re as once to indulge in it, Why! Be- p
ause 1t was such terrific struggle to get u
yer it. Now, let a man be advised by his I
MUSICIAN to give up the use of tobacco He o
oes around not knowing what to do with
imself. He can not add up line of fig r.
res; he can not sleep nights; it seems as a
the world had turned upside down; he a
7els his business is going to ruin; where Il
e was kind and obliging he is scolding and t.
'etful; the composure that characterized n
i'm has given way to a fretful rest b.
ssness, ard he has become a COM k
Iete fidget. What power IS it that fl
as rolled wave of woe over the P
nth and shaken a portent in the Heavenss Iii
e has tried to stop smokingl After awhile B
, says: II am going to do as please. The Il
octor does not understand my case. am OF
ping back to my old habit" And he re- d,
rms. Every thing assumes its usual COM OIL
osure; his business seems to brighten; tn
e world becomes an attractive place to VI
We in; his children, seeing the difference, st
I'll the return of their fathers genial dis ia
Osition. What wave of color has dashed w
ue into the sky, and greenness into the 10
ountain foliage, and the glow Of sapphire on
to the sunsets What enchantment has ia
ted a world of beauty and joy on his tr
uls He has gone back to smoking. of
Oh the fact is, as we oil know in our own SIT
that habit ia a fac |