Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-04-04

10th.
CHICAGO, March 25.-The Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, DID,, pastor of the Taber-
nacle, Brooklyn, N. Y, preached here this
evening. His subject was, 'Reformation
from Evil Habits" and his text Proverbs,
xiii, 35: "When shall 1 awake? I will
seek it yet again" He said:
With an insight into human nature such
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
shall 1 awake? When shall come out of
this horrid nightmare of iniquity p 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 elegant literature addressed to young
men, pointing out to them all the dangers
and perils of flife-complete maps of the
voyage, showing all the rocks, the quick
sands, the shoals. But suppose man has
already made shipwreck: suppose he is al
ready off the track; suppose he has already
gone astray, how is he to get back? That
is a field comparatively untouched. pro-
pose to address myself this evening to such.
There are those in this audience who, with
every passion Of their agonised soul, are
ready to hear this discussion. They COM
pare themselves with what they were ten
years ago, and cry out from the bondage in
which they are 1ncarcerated. Now, if there
be any in this house, come with an earnest
purpose, yet feeling they are beyond tue
pale of Christian sympathy, 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
deliverance. The Church is ready to spread
banquet at your return and the hierarchs
of heaven to fall into line of bannered pro-
cession 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
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 anything which you throw into
the air, so there is corresponding moral
gravitation. In other words, it is easier to
90 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.
Which most affected you? Cali to mind
the anecdotes that you have heard in the
last five or ten years-some of them are
pure and some of them impure. Which the
more easily sticks to your memory? Dur
ing 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!
nv 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 may pick up from the earth some
thing and hold it in your hand toward heav-
en-, Just so by the power Of Gods grace, a
soul fallen may be lifted toward psace, to-
ward pardon, toward heaven. Force CT
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. | know there are
those who say it is very easy for them to
give up evil habits. / do not believe them.
Here is man given to intoxicaton. He
knows it is disgracing his family, destroy
ing 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 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 carry
| ing you with great force; but suppose you
turn the boat up stream, is it 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, aud 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 ii
very difficult. Twenty-one years ago quit
| that habit, and l would as soon dare to put
| my right hand in the fire as once o'iudulge
in it. Why? Because it was such terri
| BILE struggle to get over it. Now, let man
be advised by his physician to give up the
use of tobacco. He goes around not know.
| lug what to do with himself. He cannot
add up line of figures. He cannot sleep
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 characterized him has given
| way to fretful restlessness, and he has be-
come a complete fidget What power is il
| that has rolled wave of woe over the earth
and shaken portent in the heavens? He
has tried to stop smoking. After while
be says 81 am going to do as l please
The doctor doesn't understand my case.
IN going back to the old habit' And he
returns Everything assumes its usual
composure. 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 sunset? What enchantment has
lifted a world of beauty and joy on his soul?
He has gone back TO smoking. Oh. the fact
is, as we all know in our own experience,
that habit is a task-master; as long as 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,
| Il. 49, Il 1. =.