Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-06
OFF THE TRACK.
DR. TALNAGES DISCOURSE AS TO HOW TO
GET ON AGAIN.
A Sermon For the Erring and Repentant Millions
The Force Of Moral GravitaiOn 10 be Overcome
Special Prejudice Through Yourself
On Gods Mercy.
spscinl Tt,enam 70 he Reaiser.

to-day. Following Is his sermon SuDJect
"Off the Track-How to Get on Again. "
Text: Proverbs xiii, 35: "When shall
l awake? will seek it yet again"
With an insight into human nature such
as no other man ever reached, Solomon, in
my text, sketched the mental operations
of one who, having stepped aside from the
path of rectitude, desires to return. With
a wish for something better he said :
''When shall l awake? When shall |
come out of this horrid nightmare OF
iniquity?" But seized upon by unerad-
icated habit and forced down hill by his
passions he cries out 4: 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
perils of life-complete maps of the vOy-
age, showing all the rocks, the quicksands,
the shoals. But suppose man has already
made shipwreck; suppose he is already off
the track; suppose he has already gone
aStray, how is he to get back? That is q
field comparatively untouched. propose
to address myself this morning to such.
There are those in this audience who, with
every passion of their organized soul, are
ready to hear such 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 beyond the pale OF Christian SYM
pathy, and that the sermon 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 triumphant hope for you yet.
/ sound the trumpet OF gospel diliverance.
The Church is ready to spread banquet
at your return, and the hierarchs of Heav-
en- 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 surmount those OBJ
staCles.
The first difficulty in the way of your
return is
THE FORCE OF MORAL GRAVITATIoN.
Just as there is natural law which
brings down to the earth anything you
throw into the air, so there is correspond
ing moral gravitation. In other words,
it is easier to 90 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
| L 4 80
OF them bad-which most affected you?
Call to mind the anecdotes that you heard
in the last five or ten yerrs-sOme OF them
are pure and some of them are impure.
Which the more easily sticks to your men,
Ory? 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? Ah my friends, we have
| to take but moment of self inspection
| to find out that there is in all our souls
! force of moral gravitation. But that
gravitation may be resisted. Just as you
NAV pick up from the earth something
and hold it in your hand toward heaven,
Just So by the power of Gods grace, n
soul fallen may be lifted. toward peace,
toward pardon, toward heaven. Force
of moral gravitatiOn in every
one OF u.s. but power in Gods grace
to Overcmoethat force of moral gravitatiOn.
The next thing in the way of your re-
turn is the power of evil habit. know
there are those who say it is very easy for
them to give up evil habits. | do not be-
lieve them. Here isa man given to intOx-
ication. He knows it is disgracing his
family, destroying his property, running
him, body, mind and soul. If that man
being an intelligent man, and loving his
family, could easily give up that habit,
would he not do it? The fact that he does
not give it up proves 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 it so easy to row it? As long as
we yield to the evil inclinatiOnS in our
hearts, and our bad habits, we are sailing
down stream; butthe 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 resolve to
stop and he finds it very difficult. Twen-
ty-One years ago quit that habit, and
would as soon dare to putmy right hand in
the fire rs once to indulge in it. Why?
Because it was such 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 cannot add up n line of
figures. He cannot sleep nights. 1t
seems rs 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 away to
n fretfUl reStleSSness, and he has become a
complete fidget. What power is it that
has rolled 4 wave of woe over the earth
and shaken pOrtent in the heavens? He
has tried to stop smoking! After q while
he says: 81 am going to do rs | please. The
doctor doesn't understand my case. I'm
going back to my old habit" And he re-
turns. Everything assumes its usual COM
pOsure His business seems to brighten.
The world becomes an attractive place to
live in. His children, seeing the differ
ence, hail the return of their fathers gen.
ial disposition. What wave of color has
dashed blue into the sky, and greenneSs in
the mountain foliage, and the glow of sap
phire into the sunset? What enchantment
has lifted a world Ofbeauty and joy on his
soul? He has gone hack to smoking.
Oh! the fact is, as we all know in our
own experience, that habit is a taskmaster;
as long rs we obey it, it does not chastise
us; but let us resist and we find we are TO
be lashed with scorpion whips and bound
with ship cable, and thrown into the track
of bone-breaking JuggernautS.- Dur
ing the war of 1912 there was
a 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
all description. Well, there are thOus-
ands of men on fire of evil habit, coming
down through the rapids and through the
awful night of temptation toward
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