Milford chronicle., 1888-03-30
DIR. TALMAGE In THE WEST
REFORMATION FROM EVIL HABITS" /"
HIS SUBJECT IN CHICAGO.

Power in Gods Grace to Overcome the
Force of Moral Gravitation-Few People
Understand the Gospel That Is in a
Hearty Handshake.
CHICAGO, March 25.-The Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage, d. D., pastor Of the Tabernacle,
Brooklyn, n. Y, preached here this morning
His subject was, Reformation from Evil
Habits" and his text, Proverbs xiii, 30:
''When shall l awakel l will seek it yet
again. He said:
With an insight into human nature such
rs 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 says: "When shall
l awake? When shall come out of this
horrid nightmare of iniquityPs But seized
upon by unerGdicated habit, and forced
down hill by his passions, he cries out; Il
will seek it yet again l will try it once
more.n
Our libraries arc adorned with an elegant
1 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 a man has already made shlpwrecki ;
suppose he is already off the track; suppose
he has already gone astray, how is he to get
bacl,2 That is a field comparatively un-
touched. 1 propose to address myself TINS
evening to such. There are those in this sau-
| dience who, with every passion Of their
/ aronized soul, are ready to hear this discus
/ sion. They compare themselves with what
they were 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 sympathy, and
that the sermon can hardly be expected to
address them, then at this moment l give
them my right hand and call them brother
/ Look I'D. There is glorious and triumphant
hone for YOU yet. / sound the trumpet Of
p-osoel deliverance. The church is ready to
spread a banquet at your return and the
hierarchs of heaven to fall into line Of BAN
nered procession at the news of your eInanci-
patton. So far as God may help me, l pro
nose to show what are the obstacles Of your
return, and then how you are to surmount
those obstacles.
The first difficulty in the way Of your re
turn is the force of moral gravitation. just
rs there is a natural law which brings down
to tho earth anything which you throw into
the mir. so there is a corresponding moral
eravitation In other words, it is easier to
20 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-somo OF
them good some of them bad. Which most
affected you? Call to mind the anecdotes
that you have heard in the last five or ten
years-sOnIe OF them are pure and some OF
them impure. Which the more easily sticks
to Your memoryl During the years of your
life You have formed certain courses Of con-
duct-some of them good, some Of them bad.
To which style of habit did you the more
easily yieldl Ahl my friends, we have to
fake but a nOment of self inspection to find
out that there is in all our souls force OF
moral lIavitation. But that gravitation
nav be resisted just as you may pick up
from tho earth something and hold it in your
hand toward heaven, just so, by the power
of Gods grace, a soul fallen may be lifted
toward peace, toward pardon, toward heaven.
Force Of moral gravitation in every one Of
US, but 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 I know there arr
those who say it is very easy for them to give
up evil habits. do not believe them. Here
is a man given to intoxication. He knows il
is disgracing his family, destroying his prop
: erty, running him, body, mind and soul. Il
that man, being an intelligent man, and Low
fng his family, could easily give up thai
habit, would he not do sol The fact that l.,
does not give it up proves it is hard to givei
up 1t is a very easy thing to sail dow
/ stream, the tide carrying you with greai
force; but suppose you turn the boat W
stream, is it so easy then TO row it, As long
as We yield to the evil inclinations in oul
hearts and our bad habits, we are sailing
down stream; but the moment we try t
turn, we put our boat in the rapids just abov'
niagara, and try to row up stream. Take
man gwen to the habit Of using tobacco, a
} most Of you do, and let him resolve to stop
and he finds it very difficult. Twenty-on
years ago / quit that habit, and woul'
I as soon dare to put my right hand in the fir
as once to indulge in it. Whyl Because j
was such q terrible struggle to get over it
Now, let a man be advised by his physician
to give up the use Of tobacco. He goes aroun,
not knowing what to do with himself. h
cannot add up line of figures. He cannO
sleep nights. 1t seems as if the world ha,
turned upside down. He feels his business /
! going to ruin. Where he was kind am
obliging, he is scolding and fretfuL The com
: posure that characterized him has given wa,
to fretful restlessness, and he has become
complete iidget. What power is it that ha
: rolled a wave Of woe over the earth an
shaken a pOrtent in the heavensl II
I has tried to stop smoking. After a Will
he says: II am going 10 do as l please
The doctor doesn't understand my case
I'm going back to the old habit" An
be returns. Everything assumes its usua
composure. His business seems to brighten
The world becomes an attractive plac
to live in His children, seeing the dii
ference, hail the return Of their fathers genia
disposition. What wave Of color has dashe
! blue into the sky, and greenness into tn
mountain foliage, and the glow OF sapphir
into the sunseti What enchantment ha
lifted a world Of beauty and JOY on his soul
He has gone back to smoking. Oh, the fac
is, as we all know in our own experience, tina
habit is a taslSmaster; as long as we obey II
it does not chastise US; but let US resist, an
wa find that We are 20 helashed withseorpio