Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-12-15
Off the Track.
HOW TO GET ON AGAIN.
DR.. TALMAGE's SERMON SUNDAY,
DEC. 9TH.

i
DR.. TALMAGE's SERMON SUNDAY
DEC. 9TH.
IHE GAVE UP TOBACCO CHEWING
TWENTY ONE YEARS AGO.
HABIT is A GREATTAsK.MAsTER.
WHEN 4 NAN WANTS TO RETURN
FROAETIL PRACTICES SOCL
ETY. REPULSES HIM.
No Time to Be Discussing Denominations
Questions.
CLEVELAND, O., December 5.-Ths Rev
T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D., preached here
to-day. Following il his sermon: Subject:
'Of Track-How to Get on. Again"
Tsxt-Pfoverbs xiii, 35: 'sWhen shall
| awake? / will seek it yet again"
| With an insight into human nature suck
as no other man ever reached, Solomon, in
my 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 Iawake? When shall come out OF
this horrid nightmare of iniquity" But
| seized upon by uneradicated habit and
forced down hill by his passions he cries
out: Il will seek it yet again. will try
it once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an elegant
literature addressed to young men, pointing
out to them all the dangers and perils OF
|life-cemplete maps of the voyage, showing
all the rocks, the quicksands, tho shoals.
But suppose = man has already made ship
wreck; suppose he is already off the track:
suppose he has already gone astray, how ID
he to get back? That is . field compare
lively untoushed. I propose to address
myself this morning to such. There are
those in this audience who, with every
passion of their agonissd soul, are ready to
hear such discussion. They compare
themselves with what they were ten years
ago, and cry out from the bondage in which
they are insarceratsd. Now, if there be
any in this house, come with an earnest
purpose, yet feeling they are beyond the
pale of Christian sympathy, and that the
sermon can hardly be expected to address
them, then, at this moment, I give them
my right hand, and call them BROTHER
Look up. There il glorious and triumph
ant hope for you yet. I sound the trumpet
of Gospel deliveranes. The Church il
ready to spread q banquet at your return,
and tho hierarchs of heaven to fall into line
of hammered procession at the news of your
emancipation. So far as God may help me,
| propose to show what are the obstacles OF
your 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
to the earth anything you throw into the
air, SO there is corresponding moral
gravitation. In other words, it is easier to
go down than it is to 60 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
anecdotes that you have heard in tho last
five years-some of them are pure and some
of them impure. Which the more easily
sticks to your memory? 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
the more easily yield? All! my friends, we
have to take but a moment of self-inspsc-
tion to find out that there is in all our souls
force of moral gravitation. But that
gravitation may be rosisted. just as you
may pick up from the earth something and
hold it in your hand toward heaven, just
so, by the power of Gods grace, a soul fall
en- may be lifted toward peace, toward par
don, toward heaven. Force of moral gravi-
alton in every one Of US, but power in Gods
grace to overcome that force of moral gravi-
tation.
The next thing in the way ofyour return
is the power Of evil habit. I know there
are those who say it is very easy for them
to give up evil habits. l do not believe
them. Here is o man given to intoxica-
ton. He knows it is disgracing his family,
destroying his property, running him, body,
mind and soul. If that man, being an in
tellIgent man, and loving his family, could
easily give up that habit, would he not do
so? The fact that he does not give it up
proves it is hard to give it up. 1t is a very
easy thing to sail down stream, the tide
carrying you with great force; but suppose
you turn tho boat up stream, is it SO easy
then to row it? AS long as we yield to the
evil inclinations in cur hearts, and our bad
habits, we are sailing down stream, but the
moment we try to turn we put our boat in
the rapids just above Niagara, and try to
row up stream.
Take nan 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? Because it was such a terrible
struggle to get over it. Now, let man be
advised by his physician to give up the use
of tobacco. He goes around not knowing
what to do with himself. He cannot add
up line of figures. He cannot sleep Of
nights. 1t seems as if the world had turn
ed upside down. He feels his business is
going to ruin. Where he was kind and
obliging he is scolding and fretful. The
composure that characterised him has Civ en-
way to a fretfnl restlessness, and he has be-
come complete fidgst. What power is it
that has rolled a wave of wee over the earth
and shaken portent in the heavensp He
has tried to step smoking. After while
he says: 81 am going to do as l please.
The doctor doesn't understand my case.
Pm going back to my old habit" And he
returns. Everything assumes its usual
composure. His business seems to bright.
en-. The world becomes an attractive place
to live in. His children, seeing tho differ
ence, hail the return of their fathers genial
disposition. What wave of color has dash.
| GU Dluc IHtO tuC ehy3 dHu SiCoAueeo iu1e
the mountain foliage, and the glow of sap
phire into the sunset? What enchantmeni
has lifted a world of beauty and joy on hi'
soul? He has gone back to smoking.
Oh! the fact is, as we all know in oul
own experience, that habit is a taskmaster
as long as we obey it, it does not chastis'
us; but let US resist, and we find we are tt
be lashed with scorpion whips and beunt
with ship-cable and thrown into the tract
of bone ne-breaking juggernauts. During tn
war of 1912 there was ship set on fire jus
above Niagara Falls, and then, cut loos'
from its moorings, it came on down through
the night and tossed over the Falls.
was said to have been scene brilliant be
yond all description. Well, there are thou
sands of men on fire Of evil habit, comm
down through the rapids and through th
awful night Of temptation toward tn
eternal plunge. Oh! how hard it is to arres
them. God only can arrest them. Suppos
man after five, or ten, OF twenty years o
evil-doing, resolved to do right? Why, q
the ferces of darkness are allied agains
him. He cannot sleep of nights. He get
down on his knees in the midnight an
cries, ''God help mep' He bites his liz
| H. v,;rJe b;e H. ol>nobac b;u e.