The Nicodemus cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Graham County, Kan.) 1887-1888, 1888-03-30
TALMAGE IN THE WEST.
"REFORMATION FROM EVIL HABITS. ;

Special TO the Ka7esaS Citu times.
! CHICAGO, March 25.=The Rev. T. Dewitt
1alnage, -. q, pastor of the Tabernacle.
s51ooklyn, n. Y, preached here this evening.
Ills subject was, Reformation f,c,n Evil
Habits" and his text P,'3FerDs xiii, 35:
when shall awake! 1 viii seek it vet
again" He said:
AftA an insight into human nature such as
40 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 a wish for
something better, he Says: "When shall I
awaket When shall come out Of this hor-
rid nightmare Of iniqultyl" But seized Upon
ey NneISdieated habit, and forced down hill
ey ais passions, he cries oft: II 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 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 off the track; suppose he
has already gone astray, how is he to get
backs That is field comparatively untouch-
to SUCH There are thr~a in this audience
who, with every passion Of their agonized
soul, are ready to hear this discussion. 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 ad-
dress 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 trumphet of
Gospel delverance. The church is ready to
spread banquet at your return and the
herarchs Of heaven to fall into line of banner
ed procession at the news of your emancipa-
ton. SO far as God may help me- propose
to show what are the obstacles Of your return,
and then how you are to surrnOunt those
obstacles.
The first difficulty In the way of YOUR re-
turn, is the force of moral gravtatOn. 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
gravtation. In other words, it is easier to go
down than 1t 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 you: Call 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
70 your memory. During the years of your
life you have formed certain courses of CON
0uct-some OF them good, some of them bad
10 which style of habit did you the more
easily yield. All! my friends, we have to
take but moment of self-inspectiOn to find
out that there is in all our souls G. force of
moral OraVita tim Rut hat vii
be resisted. Just as you may pick up from
the earth something and hold it in your hand
toward heaven, just as 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. | 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 intOXlcatiOn. He knows it
1t is disgracing his family, destroying his
property, running him, body mind and soul.
III 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 that it is hard to
give 1t up. 1t is a very easy thing to sail
down the stream, the tide carrying YOU with
great force; but suppose you turn the boat up
stream, is 1t 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 a
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. TWentY-one
years ago l quit that habit, and would as
soon dare to put my right hand in the fire as
once to indulge in it. Why? Because it was
such terrible 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 figures. He cannot
sleep nights. l. 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 COM
poSure that characterized him has given way
to trettul restlessness, and he has become a
complete hdget. What power is it that has
rolled wave Of woe over the earth and shak-
en- portent in the heavens! He has tried to
stop smoking. After while he says Il am
going to do as please. The doctor doesn't
b 6ack no tb my o ease . I'm going
he returns. Everything assumes its usu-
al 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 disposition.
What wave of color has dashed blue into the
sky, and greenness into the mountain foliage.
and the glow of the sapphire into the sunset?
What enchantment has lifted a world of beau
~ and joy on his soull He has gone back to
smoking. oh, the fact Is, as we all know in
our own experience, that habit is 4 task-mas-
ter; as long as we obey it, it does not chastise
US; but let us resist, and we find we are to be
dashed with scorpion whips, and bound with
ship cable, and throw into the track of bone
breaking Juggernauts. During the war Of
1872 there was a ship set on fire Just above
Niagara Falls, and then, cut loose from its
moOringS, 1t come 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 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 il 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 cannot sleep nights. He gets down
on his knees in the midnight and cries: God
held mer He bites his lip. He grinds his
4 teeth. He clenches his fist in a determination
TO keep his purpose. He dares not look at the
bottles in the windows Of a wine store IL Is
one long, bitter. exhaustive, haad-to-hand
fight with enfamed, tantalIZlng and merc!less
habit. When he thinks he is entirely free the
old inclinatiOns pOuncc upon him like pack
Of hounds with their muZZles tearing away al:
the fahkS OF one poor reindeer. In Paris