Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-08-03
''HOW TO CONQUER"
The Subject Of DR.. Talraage's
Discourse Sunday.
When Shall Awake?-When shaII
i Come Out Of his Horrid
Nightmare OF In
iquitJ?"

9 'NJ 49,
Rev. I. De Witt Talmage preached a
Culver Park assembly, this place, today
great crowds Of people being presen
from Chicago, Indianapolis and the sur
rounding regions. His subject was
How TO Conquer" The text was
when shall ! awake? will seek il yer
again" Prov. xiii; %. The eloquent
preacher said:
With an insight into human nature
such as no other man ever reached, 500.
mon, 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 | awake
When shall ! come out of this horrid
nightmare Of iniquity9" But, seized
upon by uneradicated habit, ard forced
down hill by his passions, he cries out
81 will seek it yet again. | will try it
onCe more"
Our libraries are adorned with an elc-
CANT literature addressed to young men,
pointing out to them all the dargers and
perils Of life-complete maps of the voy-
age, showing all the rocks, the quick
sands, the shoals. But suppose a man
has already made shipwreck; suppose he
is already of the track; suppose he has
already zone astray. How is he TO get
back2 That is a field comparatively in.
touched. | propose 10 address myself to
such. There are those in this audience
Wyhn with aunru nouGinn ~ thair orn-
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 10 which they are
incarcerated. Now, if there be any
here, come with an earnGst pur-
pose, 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 vet. ]
sound the trumpet Of gospel deliver.
ance. The church is ready TO spread a
banquet at your return, and the hierarchs
of heaven to fall into line Of hammered
procession at the news Of your enamel
patton. SO far as Goi may help me, |
DTODOSG " SHOW Muhl dlS lut ODSldCIts
of your return, and then how you are TO
surmOun' those obstacles. The first diff.
fculty III the way of your return is the
force Of moral gravitatiOn. 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
gravitation. In other words, IT is easier
to go down than ii is to 90 up; it is
aooioy IN IA rrnnn than :; 10 tc 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 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 memory? During the
years Of your life you have formed GER
tain courses of conduct-some of them
good, some Of then bad. To which
style of habit did you the more easily
yield? All, my friends, We nave to take
but a moment Of self inspection to find
out that there is in all our souls a force
of moral gravitatiOnl But that gravita-
ton 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, a
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 over
come that force of moral gravitation.
The next thing in the way of your re-
turn 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 a man given TO
intoxication. He knows it is disgracing
his family, destroying his property. ruin
ing him, body, mind and soul. If that
man, being an intelligent man, and low
ing his family, could easily give up that
habit, would he not do so2 The fact that
he does not give it up proves that it is
hard to give up. 1t is a very easy thing
TO sail down stream, the tide carrying
you with great force; but suppose you
turn the boat up sire an, is it 80 easy then
TO row it2 AS long as we yield to the
evil inclinstions in our hearts, and u
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 it very difficult. TWEEN
ty-seven years ago l quit tnat naolt, anu
l would as o dare to put my right
hand in the fire as once to indulge in 1t.
Why? Because it was such a terrific
struggle to get over it. Now, let g man
he advised by his physician 20 give up
the use of tobacco. he goes around not
knowing what to do with himself. he
cannot add up a line Of figures. He can,
not sleep nights. 1t 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
fretiul. The composure that character
lzed him has given way to a fretful rest
lessness. and he has become a complete
tidget. What power is il that has rolled
a wave OF woe over the earth and shaken
a por,ent in the heavens? He has tried
TO stop smoking or chewing After a
while he says, II I'm going to Go as |
please. The doctor doesn't understand
my case. | am going back tony old
habits" And he returns. Everything
assumes its usual composure. His bust
ness seems TO brighten. The world be-
comes an attractive place TO live in. His
children, seeing the difference, hail the
return Of their fathers genial DISPOSE
ton. What wave Of color has dashed
H. 49,. Tho uku and yrecnppca into tha /