The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-04-11
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Reformatiou From Evil
Habits" preached at
Chicago.)

as no other man ever reached, Solomon, in
my text, sketches the mental operations OF
one who, having stepped aside from the pain
Of rectitude, desires to return. with WlSn
for something better, he says: "When snail
I awakel When shall come out OF this
horrid nightmare of ini9uity!n But seized
upon by uneradicated habit, and forced
down hill by his passions. he cries out: II
will seek 1t yet again. l will try 1t 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;
complete maps of the voyage, showing an
the rocks, the quicksands, the shoals But
suppose n man has already made shipwreck;
suppose he is already off the track; suppose
he has already gone astray, how is ne 20 get
back! That is a field comparatively un-
touched. propose to address mrself this
evening to such. There are those in this au-
dience who, with every passion OF their
! agonized soul, arc 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, il there be any in this house, come
with all 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 give
them my right hand and call them brother:
| Look up. There is glorious and triumphant
| hope for you yet. l sound the trumpet OF
Gospel deliverance. The church is ready to
| spread banquet at your return and the
| kierarchs of heaven to fall into lipe OF ban
| nered procession at the news OF your emancl-
patton So far as God may help. me, pro-
pose 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 a corresponding moral
gravitation. in other words, it Is easier to
20 down than it is to SO up: it IS easier to DO
wrong than it is to do right Call to mind
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-some of them are pure and some or
| them impure. Which the more easily sticks
to your me:nory' During the years OF your
lie you have formed certain courses of con-
duct-some of them good, some Of them bad
easily yield! All! 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 gravltatlon
may be resisted. Just as you may PICK up
from the earth something and hold 1t In your
hand toward heaven, just so, by the power
of Gods grace, a soul fallen fmay be lifted
toward peace, toward pardon. toward heaven:
Force of moral gravi.ation i'll every one OF
rs, 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. l know there are
those who say it is very easy for them toglve
up evil habits do not believe them. Here
is man given to intoxication. He knows 1t
is sdisgracing his family, destroying his prop.
erty, running him, body, mind and soul; II
ing his family, could easily give up that
habit, would he not do so The fact that ne
does not give it up proves it is hard to give it
I'D. 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 tiien to row it? As long
as we yield to the evil inclinations IN our
hearts and our bal habits we are sailing
down stream; but the moment we try to
turn, we put our boat in the rapids jrstabove
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. Tweuty-one
wears ago l quit that habit, and l would
as soon dare to put my right hand IN the hre
as once to indulge in it. Why! Because IL
was such terrible struggle to get over 1t.
NOW. leu u Iudu Do duNloCl ~ LILO Pay S'S'.
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 nights It seems as il the world had
turned upside down. He feels his business Is
going to ruin. Where he was kind and oblig-
ing, he is scolding and fretful. The COM
poSure that characterized him has given way
to fretful restlessness, and he has become
complete fidget. What power is it that has
rolled q wave of woe over the earth and
shaken q portent in the heavens! He
has treed to stop smoking. After while
he says: II am going to do as l please.
The doctor doesn't understand my case.
Pm 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, see ng the diff.
ference, hail the return Of their fathers genial
disposition. 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 world of beauty and Joy on his souls
He has gone back to smoking. On, the tact
| is. as we all know in our own experience, that
habit is a taskmaster; as long as we obey 1t,
! it does not chastise us; but let us resist, and
we find that we are to be lashed 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 1t came on
J down through the night, and tossed over
the falls 1t was said to have been a
scene brilliant beyond all description. Well.
there are thousands Of men on fire OF evil
habit, coming down through the rapids and
through the awful night Of temptation to-
ward the eternal plunge. Oh, how hard it
is to arrest them God only can arrest them
Suppose a man after five, or ten, or twenty
years Of evil doing resolves to do riShsdi aSSiiad
against him. He cannot sleep nights; He
| gets down on his knees in the midnight and
cries: "God help mel" He bites his lips. He
grinds his teeth He clenches his fist in de-
termination to keep his purpose He dare
| not look at the bottles in the windows OF a
wine store. 1t is one long, bitter, exhaustive
! hand to hand fight with intiamed, tantallz-
| ing 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 flarks OF one
| poor reindeer. In Paris there Is q sculptured
representation of Bacchus the god of
revelry. He is riding on a panther at
one who is speeding on bad ways
understand he is not riding a doclle and
we'll broken stesd, but he is riding monster
wild and bloodthirsty, going at death leap.
How many there are who resolve on better
life, and say: "When shall I awake"
but, seized on by their old habits, cry: II
will try it once more; will seek it yet
again" Years ago, there were some Prince
ton students who were skating ami the ice
was very thin, and some ons warnel the
company back from the air hole, and
finally warned thsm entirely to leave
the place But one young man with bravado,
after all the rest had stopped, cried out:
Zone round more !" He swept aroun1 and
went down, and was brought out corpse.
Nv friands tbere ara thousands and tens of