Milford chronicle., 1889-07-26
HOW TO CONQUER.
SERMON BY REV. DR.. TALMAeE,
SUNDAY, JULY 2t, 1889.


Great Crowds Present at cuIve= Park As
sembly. Lake AIaxinkuclsee, Ind.-Text.
"when Shall I Awaken win Seek It
Yet Again"
LAKE MAxrNKUoKEE, Ind, July 21.-Rev.
T. De Witt Talinage preached today at
Culver Park assembly this place, great crowds
being present from indianapolis Chicago and
surrounding regions. Hissubject was; "How
to Conquer" The text was: "When shall
awakei / will seek it yet again" Prov.
xiii, IS. The eloquent preacher saidi
With an insight into human nature 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. With a wish for
something better he said; when shall
awakei When shall come out Of this horrid
nightmare Of iniquityf' But, seized upon by
uneradicated 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, pointing
out to them all the dangers and perils Of life
-complete maps Of the voyage, showing all
the rocks, the quicksands. the shoals. But sup
pose man has already made shipwreck; sup
pose he is already off the track; suppose he
has already gone astray How is he to get
back} That is a field comparatively untouch-
ed propose to address myself to such. There
are those in this audience who, with every
passion of their agonized soul, are ready to
hear such discussion. They compare them
selves 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 earnest purpose, yet feeling
they are beyond the pale of Christian SYM
PATTY, and that the sermon eau hardly be ex-
pected to address them, then, at this moment,
| give them my right hand, and call them
brother. Look upl There is glorious and tri-
umphant hope for you yet. l sound the
trumpet of Gospel deliverance. The church
is ready to spread banquet at your return,
and the hierarchs of heaven to fall into
line of hammered procession at the news Of
YOUR emancipation. So far as God may help
me. l propose to show what are the obstacles
of your return, and then how you are to sur
mount those obstacles The first difficulty in
the way of your return is the force of moral
eravitation. Just as there is a natural law
which brings down to the earth anything you
throw into the air, so there is a corresponding
moral Qravitation. In other words, it is
easier to go down than it is to go ups it is
easier to do Wong than it is odo right. Cal
70 mind the comrades of your boyhcod days
some of them good, some Of them bad
which most affected youl Call to mind the
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 memoryl During the years Of YOU
life YOU have formed certain courses of con
duct-some of them good, SON of them bad
Towhich style of habit did you the more easily
yieldl All, my friends, we have to take bu
a moment of self inspection to find out tina
there is in all our souls force of moral gray
itationl But that grayitation may be re
sisted. Just as you may pick up from thu
earth something and hold it In your hanC
toward heaven, just so, by the power Of Cod
grace, a soul fallen may be lifted TOWARD
peace, toward pardon, toward heaven Fore
Of moral gravitation in every one of US, bu
power in Gods grace to overcome that fore
Of moral gravitation.
THE POWER OF EVIL HABIT.
The next thing in the way of your return
is the power of evil habit l know there ar
those who say it is very easy for them &
give up evil habits. do not believe them
Here is a man given to intoxication. H
knows it is disgracing his family, destroying
his property, running him, body, mind an'
soul. II that man. being an intelligent man
and loving his family, could easily give u
that habit, would he not do so} The fac
that he does not give it up proves it is har
to give it no. Il is a very easy thing to sal
down stream the tide carrying you wit
great force; but suppose you turn the boa
up stream, is it so easy then to row itf A
long as we yield to the evil inclinations IN Ou
hearts, and our bad habits, we are sal
ing down stream; but the moment
try to turn, We put our boat in tho rapid
Just above Niagara, and try to row
stream Take man given to the habit
using tobacco, as most of you do, and let hi
resolve to stop, and he finds it very difficult
Twenty yearsago quit that habit, an
l would as soon dare to put my right hand
the fire as once to indulge in it. Whyl b
cause It was such terrific struggle to g
over II. Now, let a man be advised by b
physician to give up the use Of tobacco. b
goes around not knowing what to do wit
himself. He cannot add up line Of figure
He cannot sleep nights. It seems as If II
world had turned upside down. he fee
his business is going to ruin. Where
was kind and obliging he is scoldin
and fretful The composure that chara'
terized him has given way to a tretf'
restlesness, and he has become comple'
fdget What power Is It that has rolled
wave Of woe over the earth and shaken po
tent in the heavensi He has tried to ste
smoking or chewing After a while he say
81 am going to do as l please. The doctC
doesn't understand my case. Pm going bac
to nv old habit" And he returns. Ever.
thing assumes its usual composure His bu
mess seems to brighten. The world become
an attractive place to live in. His children
seeing tho difference, hail the return Of the
fathers genial disposition. What wave {
color has dashed blue into the sky and greer
ness into the mountain foliage, and the glo
of sapphire into the sunsetl What enchan
nent has lifted a,world of beauty and JOY c
his souls He has gone back to tobaccol
1T IS A TAsKAIAsTER
Oh. the fact is, as we all know in our ow
. experience, that habit is taskmaster; as Ion
as we obey it, it does not chastise US; but i
us resist, and we find we are to be dashed wit
scorpion whips and bound with ship cabl
and thrown into the track Of bone breakir
4 Juggernautsl During the war Of 1872, the
/ was a ship set on fire just above Niagai
Falls, and then, cut loose from its moorlng
il came on down through the night al
tossed over the falls. 1t was said to hay
been a scene brilliant beyond all description
Well, there are thousands of men on fire
evil habit, coming down through the rapiI
and through the awful might OF temptatiC
toward the eternal plunge. Obi how hard
is to arrest them. God only can arrest then
Suppose a man after five, or ten, or TWEEN
years of evil doing, resolves 10 do RICH
Why, all the forces of darkness are alil
= against him. He cannot sleep nights.
gets down on his knees in the midnight al
cries, ''God help meF He bites his lips.
grinds his teeth. He clenches his fist in
determination to keep his purpose. He da
not look at the bottles in the window of a wi
store 1t was one long, bitter, exhaustiv
s hand-to-hand fight, with indamed, tantaly