The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-12-10
"OFF THE TRACK"
The Many Obstacles in the Way OF
Return.
Rev. T. De Witt TalmsRe Tells How the
Shackles of Bad Habits May BE Cnriv-
tied, and How the Paths Of Vlr-
tue May He Regained.

tue May He Regained.
CLEVELAND. O., Dec. 5-Rev. DR.. Talmage
preached in this city today. He took for his
text the thirty-fifth verse of the twenty
third chapter Of Proverbs: "When shall I
awakel will seek it yet again" His sub
iect was: "Of the Track-How to Get on
Again" The sermon is as follows:
With an insight INTO human nature, such
as no other man ever reached, Solomon, in
nv text. sketches the mental operations of
one who, having stepped aside from the
path of rectitude, desires to return. With
q wish for something better he said:
~When shall awake! When shall come
out of this horrid nightmare of iniQuityf'
But seized upon by uneradicated habit and
forced down hill by his passions, he cries
out: 81 will seek it yet again. Twill try
1t once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an ele-
giant literature addressed to young men.
pointing out to them all the dangers and
perils of life-complete maps of the voyage,
showing all the rocks, the Quicksands, the
shoals But suppose man has already
made shipwreck: suppose he is already of
the track; suppose he has already gone
astray, how is he to get backs That is a
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 We're
ten years ago. and cry out from the bondage
in which they are incarcerated. Now, if
there be any in 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, l give
them my right hand, and call them brother.
Look up. There is glorious and triumph
ant hope for you yet. ! sound the trumpet
Of Gospel deiiverance. The church is
ready to spread banquet at your return,
and the hiera-chs 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 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 a natural law which brings
down to the earth any thing you throw in
10 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
youl 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
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 most easily
yield.
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 man given to intoxication.
He knows it is degrading his family, de
stroying his property. running him, body,
mind and soul. If that man, being an in
telligent man, could easily give up that
habit. would ne not DO so. The fact that
he does not give it up proves that it IS hard
to give it up. 1t is very easy thing to
sail down stream, the tide carrying you
with great force; but suppose you turn the
boat up stream, is II so easy then to row it:
AS long as we yield to the evil inclinations
in our 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 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 Iquit that habit, and
would as soon put my right hand into the
fire as once to indulge in it. Whys Be-
cause II was such a terrific 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 can not add up a line of fig
ures; he can not sleep nights: it seems as
if the world had turned upside down; he
feels his business is going to ruin; where
he was kind and obliging he is scolding and
fretful; the composure that characterized
him has given way to fretful rest
lessness. and he has become a COM
plete fdget What power Is it that
has rolled wave Of woe over the
earth and shaken aportent in the Heavensl
He has tried to stop smoking! After awhile
he says: 81 am going to do as please. The
doctor does not understand my case. am
going back to my old habit" And he re-
turns. Every thing assumes its usual COM
posure: his business seems to brighten !;
the world becomes an attractive place to
live in; his children, seeing the difference,
hail the return of their fathers genial dis
position. What wave of color has dashed
blue into the sky, and greenness into the
mountain foliage, and the glow of sapphire
into the sunsets What enchantment has
lifted world of beauty and JOY on his
soul! He has gone back to smoking.
Oh, the fact is as we all know in sur own
experience, that habit is a taskmas:er; as
or1o - l1ae ,,n@a
but let US resist and we find we are to be
dashed with scorpion whips and bound with
ship cable. and thrown into the track Of
bone-breaking juggernauts.
During the war of 1872 there was ship
Set on fire just above Niagara Falls. and
then, cut loose from its moorings, 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 is to arrest them. God only can arrest
them. Suppose man, after five or ten
or twenty years of evil doing, resolves to
do right. Why, all the forces Of darkness
are allied against him. He can not sleep
nights: he gets down on his knees in the
midnight and cries: ''God help metz he
bites his lip; he grinds his teeth; he
clenches his fist in q determination to keep
his purpose; he dare not look at the bottles
in the window of a wine store. It is one
long, bitter, exhaustive hand-to-hand fight
with infamed, tantalizing and merciless
habit When he thinks he is entirely free,
the old inclinations pounce upon him like
pack Of hounds with their muzzles tearing
away at the tanks of one poor reindeer.
In Paris tt re is a sculptured represen-
tation of Bacchus, the god of revelry. He
is riding on panther at full leap. Oh,
how suggestive! Let every one who is