National Republican., 1888-03-26
HOW TO REFORM.
REV. DR.. TiLNAGB'S SERMON 10 \
CHICAGO CONGREGATION.
He Explains How Man WHO Has
Fallen Into Had Habits May Rcturn
to the Pale of Christian sympathy.

WHO, having stepped aside from the path of
roctitude desires to return. With wish for
something better, he says: when shall !
nightmare of iniquityf" But seized upon by
unerudicated habit and forced down hill by
his passions, he cries OUT 81 will seek 1t yet
again. i Will try IL once more
Our libraries are adorned with an elegant
literature addressed to young men, pointing
out TO them all the dangers and pcys Of life
complete maps of tile voyage, showing all the
rocks, the Qliicksands, the shoals. hut sup
pose man has already made shipwrcck, sup
pose he Is already of the track, suppose he
That is a field comparatively untouched. |
propose TO address myself thls. evening to such.
There are those in this audience. who, with
every passion, Of their agoanlzed soul. are ready
selves with what they were ten years ago, and
cry out from the bondage In which they are
incarccratcd. Now, If there be any in this
house, come with an earnest purpose, yet feel
ing they are beyond the pale of Christian SYM
u9tly, and that the. sermon can hardlyibe ex.
pected TO Address them, then, attlns rnomcnt
brother. Look up. There Is glorious and
triumphant hope for you yet. | sound the
trumpet of Gospel dcliverance. The church
is ready TO spread u banquet at your return,
and the hierarchs Of Heaven to fall into line
Of banncred procession at the news of your
emancipation. SO far rs God may help me,
your return, and then how you are to sur.
mount 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 Garth anything which you throw into the
air, 50 there Is II corresponding moral gravita-
tion. In other words. II h easier TO 20 down
than IL Is TO go up; IT. is easier 70 do wrong than
II Is to do right. Call To mind the comrades of
your boyhoud days-some of them good, some
Of them bad. Witch most affected yuuS Call
TO mind the anecdotes that you have heard In
the last, five orten ycars--solnc 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. 10 which style of habit did You
the more easily yicld' All my friends, we
TO find out that there is in all our souls a force
of moral erayitation. But that gravitation
may be resisted. Just as you may pick mp
hand toward heaven, Just so by the power OF
Gods grace. soul fallen may b. lifted to-
ward peace, toward pardon, toward heaven.
Force ofmoral eravitatlon In every one Of us,
but power IN Gods grace 10 overcome that
force Of moral gravitation.
The next thing in the way ofyour return is
the power of evil habit. l know, there
give evil habits, l do not believe them.
Here Is a man given TO intoNication. He
knows il is disgracng his family, destroying
his property, running him, body, mind, and
soul. II that man. being an mtehigcnt man,
and ing his family, could easily give up
that habit, would he not do SOY The fact that
he does not give i up proves It Is hard to give
1t up. II is a very easy thing TO sail down
stream, the tide carrying You with great force;
but suppose you turn the boat up stream, Is II
so easy then TO row itS As long as we yield to
the evil mclinations in our hearts and our bad
habits, we aresajling down stream; but the
moment we fry TO turn, we put our boat In
the rapids just above Niagara, and try, to row
up stream Take man givclrto the habit of
using tobacco, AS most of you do, and let him
resolve TO stop, and he finds II very difficult
Iwenty.one years ago quit that habit and.
cause it was such a terrible struggle
to to get oyer h fhiNow' Hsoan LET man be
not knowing what to do with himself lie can.
not add up line of figures. lie cannot
sleep night Il seen seems - as 4 the world
is going to ruin. Where lie was kind and
obliging he is scoldng and fretful. The com.
posnre that charactized him has given way to
pletc tdget. What power Is II that has rolled
wave Of woe, over this earth and shaken Il
porent in the heavens? He has tried to stop
smoking, After awhile he says: II am goin.;
TO do as please. The doctor doesn't under.
habit. And he returns, Everything assumes
brighten. The world becomes an ATTRACTIVE
place to live in, Ills children, seeing the diff.
ference, hail the return of their fathers genial
| disposition. What wave of color has dashed
| mountain foliage, and the glow of sapphire
| into the sunset? What enchantment has lifted
| world Of beauty and Joy on his souly lie has
| gone back To smoking. Oh, the fact Is, as we
| all know in our own experience, that habit is
| II task master. As long as we obey II, II does
| not clastise Us; but let us resist, and we find
| We are TO be lasled with scorpion whips, and
bound with ship cable, and thrown Into the
| track of bone-breakng iuggernauts. During
| the war OF 1879 there was ship set on fire
| Just above Niagara Falls, and then, cut loose
IL ~ IUl
| the night and tossed over the falls. II wa
| said to have been o scene brilliant beyond al
| description. Well, there are thousands of meI
on fire of evil havit coming down through tht
| rapids and through the awful night of tempta
| tion toward the eternal plunge oh, how hard
| i is to arrest them. God only can arrest
| them. suppose man after live or ten ~
twenty years of evil doing resolves 10 do right
Why, all the forces OF darkness are allied
| against him. He. cannot sleep nights. II,
sss ses: od pn heb s ms Knees a IL fGf msf s M
| grnds his teeth; lie, clenches his l{t III II lie
termination to keep his purpose. He dare no
store, IN, one long, bitter, exhaustive, hand
to-hand fight, Will, iniiamcd, tantalizing, and
m1erciless habit, when he thinks he is en-
ar"S 'rsy Ffs Es III like old IS4"l" pa@E i" "G, ""mG
with their. muzzlc> tearing away al
| the fanks of one poor reindeer. IN Paris ther,
| Is u Sculptulcd Representation of BacchuS til,
god Of revelry., lie is riding on q panther al
who is speeding on had ways understand he i,
not riding docile and well-brnken steel. but
| he Is riding monster wild and blOodtlirsty
going at death leap. How many there, ar'
| who resolve on II better life aud say, "Whel
| shall ] awake;" but seized un by their old
habis will try it once thGsa more viii sssl
| Princeton students who We're skating, and til,
ice was very thin, and some one warned III,
company back from the air hole, and iinall!
| warned them entirely To leave the place. Bu
| one young man with bravado, after all the res
had stopped, cried out, one round more.
He swept around and went down. and wa
thousands and tens of thousands of men losin
their souls in that way. II is the one rount
| more.
have also TO say that If man wants to W
turn from evil practices society repulses him
Desiring to reform, he says: Now, / will shak
off my old associates and ! will6nd Christian
Sneh Goor some sabbath Gay yPSdfh Pad the al asHe @
greets him with look as much as To say
why, you hcreE You are the last man ! eS
n,eGte9 to see at church, Come. take this sea
Good morning; ! am glad you are here; come
] viii give yon iilstrate seat, right up by tn
pulpit" Well the prodlgal, not yet discoul
| aged enters prayer meeting, and som
Christian man with more zeal than common
sense says: Glad TO see yop; the dying THE
was saved, and suppose there Is mercy 70
YOU The young man, disgusted, chilled
throws himself on his dignity, resolved he vii
never enter into the house OF God again. Pei
haps not fully discouraged about reformation
he sides up by some highly respectable ma
he used To know, going down the street, AM
Immediately the respectable man has an cl
rand down some other street, Wen, the pre-
digal wishing to return takes some member q
a Christian association by the hand, or trie
TO- Tile Christian young man looks at hin
looks az the faded apparel and tn
marks of dissipation, Instead q
giving, him, warm grip of the hand
offers him the the tip ends of the lon
fingers Of the left hand, which is equal t
striking man In the face. oh! how. fey
Christian people understand how much fore
and gospel there is in u good, honest hand
shaking. Sometimes, when You have felt III
need OF encouragement, and some Chrlstia
man has taken yOn heartily by the hand, hav