The Russellville Democrat., 1889-08-01
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher Tells the
 Hoosiers "How to Conquer.
A Sermon on the Force of Evu Habits and the Difficulties in the 1th- way of Reform Through
 Christ We Conquer.

|
 Christ We Conquer
 Rev. T. Dewitt Tairnasss preached the | following aer.sfon at Lake Maxinkuekee,
 Ind, on the subject of "How to Conquer" l His text was:
 When shall IaawkeY I wil1 seek 1t yet again, -7ProYerbs xxih,, 35
 With an insight into human nature l such as no other man ever rsa2hed, Solo, | mon, in ny text, sketches the mental op- | erations of one who, having stepped aside from the path of rectitude, desire s | to return, With wish for some thing l better he said: When shall I awake? | When shall I come out of this horrid nightmare of iniquity?'' But, seized upon by uneradicatel habit, and forced down hill.by his passions, be cries out: "I will seek it yet again. I will try it once more"
 | Our libraries are adorned with an ele- | gant literature addressed to young men | pointing out to them alI the dangers and | perils of life, complete maps of the voy- age, showing all the rocks, the quick sands, the shoals. But suppose man has already made shipwreck; suppose he is already of the track; suppose he has already gone astray. How is he to get back? That is field comparatively un- touched. 1 propose to address myself to such. There are those in this audience who, with every passion of their ago. nized Soul, are ready to hear such dis cussion. ley compare themselves with what they were ten years ago, and cry out from the bondage in which they are 1 incarcerated. Now, if there be any here, come with an earnest purpose, yet feel ing they are beyond the pale of Christian l sympathy, and that the sermon can hard ly 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 de- 1 liyerance. The Church is ready to spread banquet at your return, and the hie- rarchs of Heaven to fall into line of ban nered procession at the news Of your enamel patton. So far as God may help me, propose to show what are the ob- stacles of your return, and then how you are to surmoupt those obstacles.
 The first difficulty in the way of your return is the force of moral graTitation. Just as there is natural law which brings down to the earth any thing you throw into the air, so there is a corre- spending moral grayitation 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 af- fected you? Call to mind the anecdotes you have heard in the last five or ten years-some of them 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? An, my friends, you have to take but mo- ment of self-inspection to find out that there is in all our souls force of moral gravitation! But that gravltation 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 par don, toward Heaven. Force of moral grayitation in every one of us, but power in Gods grace to overcome that force of moral gravitauon. agt 1H8s
 The next thing in the way of your re- tuln is the power of evil habit. I know there are those who say it is very easy for them to give up evil habits. do not be- lieve them. Here is man given to iu- tnxication. He knows it is disgraciug 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 sol. The fact that be does not give it up proves that it is hard to give it up. It is q very easy thing to sail down stream, the tide carrying you with great force; but suppose you turn the boat upstream, is itso easy then to row itf As long us we yield to the evil inelinations 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 run 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 diffi- cult Twenty seven years ago quit the habit, and would as sooE dare put my right baud in the fire as once to indulge in it. Whyi Because it was such terrible struggle to get over it. Now, let man bA advised by his physician to give up the uss of tobacco. He goes around not
 
 not add up line of figures. He can not sleep nights. It 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 fret ful. The composure that characterized him has given way to a fretful restless ness, and he has become a complete fidget What power Is it that has rolled wave of woe over the earth and shaken a poTtent in the heavensf He has tried to stop smoking or chewingl After awhile he says; 'I am going to do as l please. The doctor doesn't Understand my case. I'm going back to any old habit."i And he returns. Every thing assumes it's usual coulpOsure. His business seems to brighten. Tue world becomes an attract i've place to live in. His children, seeing the difference, hail the return of their fathers genial disposition. What wave of color has dashed blue in the sky, and greenness into the mountain foliage, and the glow of sapphire into the sunsetf What euehantment has lifted world of beauty and joy on his souly He has gone back to tobacco,
 Oh, the fact is, as we all know in our own experience, that habit is a taskmas- ter; us long as we obey it, it does not chastise us; but let Us resist and we find we are to be lashed with scorpion whips, and bound with ship cable, and thrown into the track of bone breaking Jugger- nauts DuTitg the war of 1872 there was ship set on ire just above Niagara Falls, and then, cut loose from its moorings, it came on down through the night and tossed over the falls. It was said to have been scene brilliant beyond all de- scriptioh. Wen, there are thousands ot them on fire of evil habit, coming down through the rapids aud through the aw- ful might oftemptation toward the eternal plunge. Oh, how hard itis to arrest them. God only can arrest them.
 Suppose man, after five or ten or twenty years of evil doing, resolves to do. Iightf Why, all the forces of darkness