The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-08-08
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse Of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher
slow 30 Conquer" preached
AT lake MaxinlSucISee.1 nsi.)

no other man ever reached, Solomon, In my
text, sketches the mental operations Of ono
who, having stopped aside from the path Of
rectitude, desires to return. With a wish for
something better, he said: when shall
awakeS Whom shall como out of this horrid
nightmare Of iniquityY' But, seized upon by
uneradicted habit, and forced down hill by
his passions. he cries out; ~ viii seek it yet
again. will try it once more.n
Our libraries are adorned with ON elegant
literature addressed TO young men, pointing
out to them all tho dangers and perils of life
complete maps OF the voyage, showing all
the rocks, the quicksands, the shoals But
suppose man has already made shipwreck;
suppose he is already of the track; suppose
he has already gone astray. How Is ne to
get backS That is q field comparatively UNI
touched. l propose to address myself to such.
There are those in this audience who, with
every passion of their agonized soul, arc
ready TO hear such q discussion. They COM
pare 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, como with an earnest
purpose, yet feeling thoy arc beyond
the pale of Christian sympathy, and that tho
sermon can hardly DO 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
y
dcliverance, The church is ready to spread
| banquet at your return, and the hierarchs
| of heaven to fall into limo of hammered pro-
| cession at tho news of your emancipation,
| So far as God may help mo, I propose to
| show what are tho obstacles of your RETURN
obstacles, The first difficulty in the way of
| your return is the force Of moral gravitation.
| Just as there is natural law which brings
down to the earth anything you throw into the
air, so there is a corresponding moral gravi-
tation. In other words, it is easier to 90
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 affected you? Call to mind tho
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 tho 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 tho more easily
yields All, my friends we have to take but
a moment of self-inspeCtiou to find out
that there is in all our souls q force of
moral gravitatlonl 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
toward peace, toward pardon, toward heaven.
Force of moral gravitation in every one of
u.s. but power in Gods grace to overcome that
force of moral gravitation.
The next thing in the way of your return
Is the power of evil habit. | know there are
those who say it is very cosy for them to give
up evil habits. | do not believe them. Here
is man given to intoxication. Ho knows it
is disgracing his family, destroying his prop
erty, running him, body, mind and soul.
II that man, being ON intelligent man,
and loving his family, could easily
give up that habit, would he
not do so! The fact that he does not give
itpp proves that il is hard to give it up. 1t
is very easy thing to sail down stream, the
tide carrying you with great force; but sup
pose you turn the boat up stream, is it SO easy
then to row it, As long as we yield to the
evil lnclnations 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 os most of You do
and let him resolve to stop, and he finds i
very difficult, Twenty-seven years ago quit
that habit, and would Us soon dare to put
my right hand in the fire as once to indulge
in it. Why? Because it was such
terrific struggle to get over it. Now
let a man be advised by his physi
clan to give up the use of tobacco
He goes around not knowing what to d.
with himself. He cannot add up u line O
figures. He cannot sleep nights. 1t seem
as II the world had turned upside down. FL
feels his business going to ruin. Where h
was kind and obliging he is scolding anC
fretful. The composure that characterized
him has given way to fretful restlessness
and he has become complete fidget. Wha
power is it that has rolled a wave of wo
| h IL Nr,,, b., i.
heavensS He has tried to stop smoking o
chewing! After while he says, II am goin
to do as please The doctor doesn't under
stand my case. I'm going back to my oil
habit" And he returns. Everything assume
its usual composure. His business seems
brighten the world becomes an attractiv
place to live in, His children, seeing tn
fathers genial disposition. What wav
of color has dashed blue into the sky, an
greenness into the mountain foliage, and til
glow of sapphire into tho sunset? What CT
chantmcnt has lifted a world of beauty an
joy on his soul? He has gone back to Il
baccol
Oh the fact is, as we ell know in our ow
experience, that habit is a taskmaster; {
long as we obey it, it does not chastise III
but let us resist, and we find we are TO b
dashed with scorpion whips and bound wit
ship cable, and thrown into the track {
bone-breaking Juggernautsl During the wa
OF 1912 there was ship set on fire just aboy
Niagara Falls, and then, cut loose from il
rnoorings, it came on down through thenigf
and tossed over the falls. Itwas said to hay
been a scene brilliant beyond all description
Well, there are thousands of mon on fire {
evil habit, coming down through the RAPID
and through the awful night of temptatio
toward the eternal plunge. Oil how hard
is to arrest them. God only can arrest then
Suppose man after five, or ten, or twent
years Of evil doing, resolves to do right? VIII,
all the forces of darkness are allied again
; him He cannot sleep nights. He gets dow
help mep He bites his lip He grinds h
teeth. He clenches his fist in his determin
ton to keep his purpose. He dare not loo
at the bottles in the window of wine stor
1t was one long, bitter, exhaustive, hand
hand fight, with inflamed, tantalizing on
merciloss habit. When he thinks he is O.
tirely free, tho old inchnations pounce upc
him like pack of hounds with their muzzl
+ tearing away at the TANKS of one poor rel
deer. In Paris there is a sculptured repr
sentation of Bacchus the god of revery.
is riding on q panther at full leap. Oh, no
suggestive! Let every one who is spesdir
on bad ways understand he is not riding
docile and well-broEen steed, but he is ridir
q menster, wild and bloodthirsty, going at
death leap
how many there are who resolve on q be
ter life and say: "When shall / awake
But, seized on by their old habits, cry:
: will try it once more; will seek it "
againp Years ago there were some Primo
ton students who were skating, and the il
5 was very thin, and some one warned Il
, company back from the dir hole, and final
warned them entirely to leave the plac
But one young man with bravado, after Q
the rest had stopped, cried out; Zone rour
! morer' He swept around and went dow
and was brought out a corpse. My friend
there are thousands and tens of thousands
men losing their souls in that way, 1t is Il
one round more.
l have also to say that if a man wants
return from evil practices society repuls
4 him. Desiring to reform, he says: 'Now
5 Will shake off my old associates, and wi
find Christian companionship." And he a
pears at the church door some Sabbath da
and the usher greets him with look,
much as to say: why, you here2 You a
the last man ever expected to see at churc
Come, take this seat right down by the door
? Instead of saying: ''Good morning; lam gu
= you are here. Come; 1 will give you
first rate seat, right up by the pulpit" We
the prodigal, not yet discouraged, ente
: the prayer meeting, and some Christian ma
with more zeal than common sense, say
a., no lxrspa W