The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-22
HOW TO CONQUER EVIL.
REV. TALMAqB breaches AT THE
CULVER PARK ASSEMBLY,.


solomon's Sketch of the Mental Oper-
ations Of One Who Has StrAyed
From the Path of Rectitude and De-
sires to Return-Habit a Hard Task
master to Overcome.
LAKE MAXINKUCKEE, md, July Ell
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage preached at Cul-
yer Park assembly, this place, to-day, great
crowds of people being present from
Chicago, Indianapolis and the surrounding
regions. His subject was: "How to Con-
quer." The text was when shall
awake? 1 will seek it yet again. Prov.
xiii, 35. The eloquent preacher said:
With an insight into human naturs such
as no 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. Wish
wish for something better he said "When
shall | awakel When shall | come out Of
this horrid nightmore of iniqutyP But,
seized upon by the uneradicatsd habit, and
forced down hill by his passions, he cries
out: ~ will seek it yet again will try it
once more"
Our Libraries are adorned with an elegant
literature addressed to young men point
ing out to them all the dangers and perilS
Of life--complete maps of the voyage. show
ing all the rocks, the quicksaads, 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 back. That isla
field comparatively untouched. l propose
TO address myself to such. There are those
III this audience who, with every passion of
their agonized soul, are ready to hear such
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 here, come with all 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 give them my right
hand, and call them brother. Look up.
There is glorious and triumphant hope for
you yet. sound the trumpsJ Of gospel do
llverance. The church is ready to spread
bang at your return, and the hierarchs
of heaven to fall into line of hammered pro-
cessiOn at the news of your emanciDation.
So far as God may help me, propose
to show what are the obstacles Of your rs-
turn, and then how you are to surmount
those obstacles The first difficulty in the
way of your return is the force of moral
gravitation. Just as there Is a natural law
which brings down TO tho earth anything
you throw into the air, so there is a CORE
spending moral gravitation. In other words.
IL is easier to so down than it is to go up;
1T 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-vhich most affected
| you9 Call to mind the anecdotes that YOU
! havo heard in the last ave or Ten years
some of them are pure and some Of them Inn
| pure. Which the more easily sticks to
| Won ma nr-VR fh.
| 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 mo
ment Of self inspection to find out that
there is in all our souls q 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 80, by the power
Of Gods gracs, 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 gravita-
tion.
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 intoxication
lie knows 1t Is disgracing his family, de-
stroying his property. running him, body,
mind and soul. Ii that man, being an in
telligent man, and loving his family.
could easily give up that habit, would
he not 90 SO? The fact that he does
not give it up proves that it is hard to
give it up. 1t is very easy thing to
sail down steam, the tide carving
you with great force; but suppose you turn
the boaJ up stream, is it 50 easy then to row
it} AS long as we yield to the evil inclna-
tlons 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 1t very
difficult. TwenOY-seven years ago / quit
that habit, and | would as soon dare to put
my right nand in the fire as once to indulge
in it. Why9 Because it was such q
terrific 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 cannot add up line Of mis-
figures. He cannot sleep nights. 1t seems
as if tho world had turned upside down. He
feels his business is going TO ruin. Where
he was Kind and obliging he is scolding and
fteIful. The composure that characterized
him has given way to frotful restlessuess
and he has become a complete fidget, What
power is it that mas rolled wave of woe
over the earth and shaken a portent in
the heaveps4 de has tried to stop smok-
ing or chewingl After a while he
says: II am going to do as please TIE
doctor doesn't understand my case Pm 90
ing back TO my old habts.n Aud be retu rs.
Everything assumes its usual composure.
His business seems to brighten. TIE world
becomes an attractive place to live in HIS
children, seeing the difference. hal the re-
turn of their ia hers genial disposition.
What wave Of color has dashed blue into
the sky, and greenness into the mountain
foliage, and the glow of sapphire into the
sunsetl What enchantment has lifted
world Of beauty and joy on his soulg He
has gone back to tobaccol
Oh, the fact is, as we all know in our own
experience, that habit is u taskm 4ster: as
long as we obey it, it does not chastiss us:
but lee US resist, and we find we are to be
lashed with SEQ pion whips aud bound with
ship cable and thrown into the track of
bone-breaking Juggernautsl During the
war Of 1912 there was a ship set on fire lust
above Niagara Falls, and then, cut 10 SO
from its mOorings, it came on down through
the nighG and tossed over the falls. 1t was
said to have been a scene brilliant beyond
all description. Well, the are thousands
of men on fire of evil habit, coming down
through the rapids and through the awful
might of temptation toward the etarnal
r,lupoa 0hI how hard IL IL fn O.--oa4 60.