Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-04-06
DR.. 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 Il
Hearty Han,ishakc.
CHICAGO, March 25.-The Rev. I. De
Witt Talmage, u. d., 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 / awake? I will
seek it vet again" He said:
With an insight into human nature such
as no other nan 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 awake? When shall I come
out of this horrid nightmare of iniquity?"
and forced down hill by his passions, he
cries out: II will seek it again. | will
try it once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an elegant
literature addressed to young men, pe!nt-
ing out to them all the dangers and perils
of life-complete with 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 back9 That is a
field Comparatively untouched. I propose
to address myself this evening to such.
There are those in this audience who, with
every passion of their organized soul, are
ready to hear this discussion. They COM
pare themselves with what they were ten
wears 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, vet feeling they are be-
You'd 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 triumph
ant hope for you yet. sound the trum-
pet of gospel deliverance. The church is
ready to spread banquet at your return
and the hierarchs of Heaven to fall into
line of hammered procession 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 i'll the way of your
return is the force of moral gravita-
ton. Just as there is a natural law which
brings down to the earth anything which
you throw into the all, SO there is cor.
responding moral gravitation. In other
NOTuS. IL lS custer W 10 uO"u luuu IL IS W
go up: it is easier to do wrong than it is to
do right. Gail 10 mind the comrades of
your boyhcod days-some or 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
conduct-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-in-
spectien 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 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 re-
turn 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 be-
cation. He knows it is disgracing his
family. destroying 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
Itis 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 then to rowit? AS long as we yield
to the evil inclination 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 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. Tweutv-one years
ago l quit that habit, and l 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 ur the use of tobacco. He goes
around not knowing what TO do with him
self. He cannot add up a line of figures.
He cannot sleep nights. 1t seems as if the
world has turned upside down. He feels
kind and obliging he is scolding and fret
full. The composure that characterized
him has given way to fretful restlessness.
and he has become complete tidget.
What power is it that has rolled wave of
woe over the earth and shaken portent in
the heavens? He has tried:to stop smok-
ing. After while he says: 81 am going
to do rs please. The doctor doesn't I'M
derstand my case. I'm going back 10 the
old habit" And he returns. EVERYTHING
assumes its usual composure His bust
ness seems TO brighten. The world be-
comes an attractive place to live i'll. His
children. seeing the difference, hail the re-
turn OF their fathers genial disposition.
What wave of color has dashed bne into
the sky, and greenness into the mountain
foaiage: and the glow of sapphire into the
sunset? What enchnntment 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 II tasklnaster: ns long as we
obey it, it does not chastise us; bud let us
resist, and We find We are to be dashed with
scorpion whips, and bound with ship cable.
and thrown into the track of bone break
INC Juggein auts. During the war of 1912
there was n ship set Oh fire Just above
Niagara Falls, and then, cut loose from it's
moorlngs, 1t came on down through the
night and tossed over the fails. Ii 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 toward the awful