News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-04-12
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TAIMAGE'S
STERLING DISCOURSEs.
Subject: Reformation From Evil
Habits" preached at
Chicago.)

TEXT: "When shall alr1keP ItciU seek /
get ugotn. Proverbs, xiii, s..
With an insight into human nature suct
as no other man ever reached, Solomon, ii
my text, sketches the mental operations OF
one who, having stepped aside from the patti
OF rectItude, desires to return. With wist
Tor somet hing better, he says: "When shall
awakea When shall l come out of TIL.
horrid nightmare of iniqultys" But seized
upon by L .eradicated habit, and forced
down hill by his passions, he cries out: II
viii seek 1t yet again. l 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
supPoSea man has already made shipwreck;
suppose he is already off the track; suppose
ae has already gone astray, how is he to get
back2 That is a field comparatively I'M
touched. propose to address myself this
evening to such. There are those iii this au-
dlence who, with every passion of their
agonized 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 up. There is glorious and triumphant
hope for you yet. L sound the trumpet of
Gospel 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 emanci-
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 "a natural law which brings down
20 the earth anything which you throw into
the air, so there is corresponding moral
gravitation. IN other words, it is easier to
go down than It IS to go up; it is easier to do
wrong than II 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
TO your memory! 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 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 gravitation
may be resisted Just as you may pick up
from the 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 70 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 to give
up evil habits. l do not believe them. Here
IS man given to intoxication. He knows it
IS disgracing his family, destroying his prop,
erty, running him, body, mind and soul If
that man, being an intelligent man, and Low.
ing 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 carrying you with great
force; but suppose ycu turn the boat up
stream, Is it SO easy tEen to row it! As long
as we yield to the evil inclinations il 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
man given to the habit of using tobacco as
most OF you do, and let him resolve to stop,
ana he finds 1t very difficult Twenty-one
years ago | quit that habit and | would
as soon dare to put my right hand in the fire
as once 60 indulge in it. Whyl Because it
was SUCH terrible struggle to get over it
Now, let a man be advised by his physician
60 give up the use of tobacco. He goes around
not knowing what to do with himself He
cannot add up line CT figures. He cannot
sleep nights. 1t seems as If the world had
turned upside down. He feels his business is
gong 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 fdget. What power is it that has
rolled wave of woe over the earth and
shaken portent In the heavensl He
mas freed 10 stop smoking. After a while
The doctor doesn't understand nv case.
I'm going back to the old habit And |
ne returns everything assumes its usual |
The world becomes attractive place |
to live in. His children see NJ 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
foliage, and the glow of sapphire
into the sunsetl What enchantment has
lifted world of beauty and JOY on his soull
de mas gone back to smoking. Oh, the fact
Is, as we all know in our own experience that !
habit Is taskmasteri as long as we obey it,
lt does not chastlSe US; but let US resist, and
we find that we are to be dashed with scorpion
whips, and bound with ship cable and thrown
INTO the track of bone breaking Juggernauts.
During the war OF 1872 there was snip set
on IRE just above Niagara Falls, and thel,
;ut loose from its moorings, it came on
Town through the night and tossed over
the falls. 1t was said to have been
scene brilliant beyond all description Well,
mere are thousands of men on fire of evil
L1aole, coming down through the rapids and
5hFQigh Che awful night of temptation to- |
yard the eternal plunge. Oh how hard it
s TO arrest them God only can arrest them |
Suppose man after FIVE or ten, or twenty
years of evil doing resolves to do right
w ny, 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 help mein He bites his lips He |
grlnds his teeth. He cLnches his fist in a de
termination teri to keep his purpose. He dare
not look at the bottles in the windows of
wine store. 1t is one long, bitter, exhaustive
1and to hand fight with inaame1, tantaliz-
ing and merciless habit. When he thinks
ne IS entirely free the old inclinations pounce
upon MIN like pack of hounds with their
muzzles tearing away at the TANKS of one
poor reindeer. In Paris there is a sculptured
representation of Bacchus, the god of
revelry. He is riding on a panther at |
tull leap. Oil how suggestive. Let every
one who is speeding on bad ways |
we'll broken stesd, but he is riding monster
wild and bloodthirsty, going at death leap. |
bow many there are who resolve on q better |
life, and say: when shall 1 awaken |
but, seized on by their old habits, cry: 81 |
VIA try it once more; l will seek it yet
again. Years ago, there were some Prince
ton students who were skating ami the ice |
was very thin, and some one warned the |
company back from the air hole, and |
finally warned them entirely to leave
the place. But one young man with bravado |
atter all the rest had stopped, cried out:
= One round more u He swept around, and
went down, and was brought out a corpse
Ny friends, there are thousands and tens of
thousands Of men losing their souls in that
way. 1t is the one round more.
have also to say that If a man wants to
return from evil practices society repulses
him. Desiring to reform, he says: Now,
will shake of my old associates, and 1 will
find Christian companionship." And he ap
i,
and the usher greets him with look as much
as to say: why, you herel You are the
last man | ever expected to see at church |
Come, take this seat right down by the
door" Instead Of saying, "Goo1 morning; |
L am glad you are here. Come, l will give |
you first rate seat, right up by the pulpit"
Well, the prodigal, not vet discouraged, en-
5ers prayer meeting, and some Christian /
man, with more zeal than common sense,
says: Glad to see you; the dying thief was |
saved, and l suppose there is mercy for you"
The young man, digus5et, chilled, throws
himself on his dignity, resolved he will never /
enter INTO the house Of God again Perhaps /
not quite fully discouraged aoout REFORM
ton, he sides up By some highly respectable
man he used to know, going down the street,
and Immediately the respectable man has an
srrand down some other street. Well, the |
prodigal wishing to return takes some men,
Der of Christian association by the hand,
or tries to. The Christi IN young man looks
at him, looks at the faded apparel and the
marks of dissipation, instead of giving him a |
warm grip of the hand, offers him the tip
ends of the long fingers of the left hand,
which is equal to striking a man in the facet
OH how few Christian people understand |
how much force and gospel there is in
good, honest hand shaking Sometimes,
when you have felt the need of encourage
ment, and some Christian man has taken
you heartily by the hand, have you not felt
thrilling through every fiber of your body,