The Brookhaven leader., 1889-08-01
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher Tells the
Hoosiers CHOW to Conquer"
a Sermon on the Force of T7vu EIsbits
and the Difficulties In the sth-
way of Reform Through
Christ We Conquer.

IND, on the subject OF "HOW to Conquer"
His text was:
When shall Iaawle? will seek it yet again.
Proverbs xiii, IS.
With an insight into human nature
such as no other mau ever reached, Solo
mon, in My text, sketches the mental op-
erations Of one who. having stepped
aside from the path of rectitude. desires
TO return. With wish for something
better he said: when shall ] awake?
When shall / come out Of this horrid
nightmare Of iuiquity:" Bat, seized
upon by uneradicated habit, and forced
down hill by his passions, he cries out:
81 will seek it yet again. l will try it
once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an ele-
CANT literature addressed to young men
pointing out to them all 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 off the track; suppose he has
already gone astray. How is he to get
back? That is field comparatively un-
touched. l 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 a dis
cussion. 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 an iearnest purpose, yet feel
ing they are beyond the pale of Christian
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
es oil ~, g.,
yet. ! sound the trumpet Of Gospel de-
liverance. The Church is ready to spread
a banquet at your return, and the hie-
rarchs of Heaven to fall into line Of BAN
nered procession at the news OF your
emancipation. So far as God may help
me, propose to show what are the OBJ
stacles of your return, and then how you
are to surmOunt those obstacles.
The first difficulty ia the way Of your
return is the force of moral graTitatiOn.
Just as there is q natural law which
brings down to the earth any thing you
throw into the air, so there is a CORE.
spending moral gravitatiou. In other
words, 1t is easier to go down than it is to
60 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? All,
my friends, you have to take but mo-
- 9 E,,1 Al.
there is in all our souls force of moral
gravitation! But that gravitatiou 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
gravitation in every Que 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. l know
there are those who say it is very easy for
them to give up evil habits. 1 do not be-
lieve them. Here is a man given to in
toXicatiOn. He knows it is di5gracing his
family, destroying his property, running
him, body, mind and soul. II that man,
being an intelligent man, and loving his
family, could easily give up that habit,
would he not do so: The fact that lie
does not give it up proves that 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 you turn
the boat upstream, is it so easy then to
row it? AS long as we yield to the evil
inclinations in our hearts, and our bad
habits, we are sailing down stream; but
the moment we try to turn, we pat our
boat in the rapids just above Niagara, and
try to run upstream.
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 diff
cult. Twenty seven years ago l quit the
habit, and | would as sooE dare 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 a man
be advised by his physician TO give up the
use of tobacco. He goes around not
knowing what to do with himself. He can
not add up line of figures. He can not
sleep nights. 1t seems as if tie world
had turned upside down. He feels his
business is going to ruin. Where Le was
kind and Obliging he is scOlding aud fret
full The cOmpOsure that characterized
him has given way to a fretful restless
ness, and he has become complete
fidget. What power is it that has rolled
a wave of woe over the earth and shaken
a pOrtent in the heavens? He has tried to
stop smoking or chewing! After awhile
he says: 81 am going to do &s l please.
The doctor doesn't understand my case.
Pm going back to my old habit" And
he returns. Every thing assumes its usual
composure. His business seems to
brighten. The 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 sunset?
What enchantment has lifted world of
beauty and JOY on his soul? He has gone
back to tobacco!
oh, the fact is, as we all know in our
own experience, that habit is a taskmas-
ter; as 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, aud thrown
into the track Of bone breaking Jugger-
nauts Duri,g the war of 1912 there was
ship set on hre just above Niagara Falls,
and then, cut loose from its moorings, it
came on down through the night and
tossed over the falls. 1t was said to have
been a scene brilliant beyond all de-
scription. Well, there are thousands OF
them on fire Of evil habit, coming down
through the rapids and through tho aw-
ful m Chit of femptatiOu toward tho atarnal