News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-08-01
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TALMAGE'S
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject: "How to Conquer. preach
ed at Lake Maxinkuckcc, Ind.)
TEXT: when shall I a,oakcs IrtU seeh

With an nSigh into human nature such q
no other mar ever reached, Solomon, in N,
text, sketches the mental operations of on
who, having stepped aside from the path o
rectitude, desires to return. With a wish TO
something better, he said: "When shall
awake? When shall | como out of this horri
nightmare of iniquity?' But, seized upon b,
uneradicted habit, and forced down hill b,
his passions, he cries out: II will seek 1t We
again. | will try it once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an elegan
literature addressed to young men, pointing
out TO them all the dangers and perils of lif,
complete maps of the voyage. showing al
the rocks, the quicksands, the shoals. Blu
suppose a man has already made shipwreck
suppose he is already off the track; suppos
he has already gone aStray. How is he tx
get back? That is a field comparatively I'm
touched. propose to address myself to such
There are those in this audience who, will
every passion of their agonized soul, arr
ready to hear such a discussion. They com
pare themselves with what they were ter
years ago, and cry out from the bondage il
which they are incarcerated.. Now, if there
be any here, come with an earnesr
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
" 1Ou Ntb, L III UIC Vi uIIlDeU VI OOSDtI
deliverance. The church is ready to spread
a banquet at your return, and the hierarchs
of heaven to fall into line of hammered pro-
cession at the news of your emancipation.
So far as God may help me, 1 propose to
show what are the obstacles of your return,
and then how[Spu are to surmount those
obstacles. EEnaxarst difficulty in the a of
our return is { aSsforce of moral g~ravitation.
Just as thereSis a natural law which brings
down to the earth anything you throw into the
air, SO thee is a corresponding moral gravi-
tation. In other words, it is easier to go
down than it 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 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 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, 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 g~ravitation
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 i'll Gods grace to overcome that
force of moral gravitation.
The next thing in the way of your return
is the power of OWL habit. 1 know there are
those who say it is very easy for them to give
up evil habits. l do not believe them, Here
is a man given to intoxication. He knows it
is disgracing his family, destroying his prop
erty, running him, body, mind and soul.
If that nann hoirO ~, fnf11Is-a-
and loving his family, could easily
give up that habit, would he
not do so? The fact that he 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 sup
pose you turn the boat up stream, is it so easy
then to row it? As long as we yield to the
evil inclinations 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 q man given to the
of using tobacco, as most of you do,
and let him resolve to stop, md he finds it
very difficult. T~wenty-seven years ago l quit
that habit, and | would as soon dare to put
my right hand in the fire as once to indulge
in it. Why? Because it was such a
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 do
with himself. He cannot add up a line of
he cannot sleep nights. 1t seems
as if the world had turned upside down. He
feels his business going to ruin. Where he
was kind and obliging he is scolding and
fretful. Thu composure that characterized
him has given way to a fretful restlessness,
and he has become a complete fidget. What
power is it that has rolled a wave of woo
over the earth and shaken q portent in the
heavens? He has tried to stop moking or
Af.=-csyhiIe he says, ST am going
to do as / please. The doctor doesn't under
my case. Pm going back to my old
And he returns. Everything assumes
its usual composure. His business seems to
brighten, the world becomes an attractive
place to live in. His children, seeing tho
difference, hail the return of their
genial disposition. What wave
of color has dashed blue into the sky, and
grecnness into the mountain foliage, and the
glow Of sapphire into the sunset? What en-.
Chantment has lifted q world of beauty and
joy on his soul? He has gone back to to-
baccol
Oh, the fact is. as we al know in our w
experience, that habit Is q taskmaster; as
long as we obey it, it does not chastise us;
let us resist, and we find we are to be
dashed with scorpion whips and bound with
ship cable, and thrown into the track of
bone-breaking Juggernautsi During the war
of 1912 there was n ship set on fire just above
Niagara Falls, and then, cut loose from its
moorings, it came on down through the might
and tossed over the falls. 1t was said to have
been a scene brilliant beyond all description.
Well, there are Thousands of men on fire of
evil habit, coming down through the rapids
and through the awful night of temptation
the eternal plunge. Oh! how hard it
is to arrest them. God only can arrest them.
Suppose a mar after five, or ten, or twenty
years of evil doing, resolves to do right? Why,
ell the forces of darkness are allied against
him. He cannot sleep nights. He gets down
on his knees in the midnight and cries, God
help mer' He bites his lip. He grinds his
teeth. lie clenches his fist in his determine
ton to keep his purpose. He dare not look
Mt the bottles in the window of a wine store.
1t was one long, bitter, exhaustive, hand to
hand fight, with infiamed, tantalizing and
habit. When he thinks he is en-
free, the old inclinations pounce upon
him like a pack of hounds with their muzzles
way at tue tanks of one poor rein
ieer. In Paris there is a sculptured repre-
;entation of Bacchus, the god of revelry. He
is riding on a panther at full leap. Oh, how
'uggestivel Let every one who is speeding
Oh bad ways understand he is not riding q
locile and wellbroken steed, but he is riding
, monster, wild and bloodthirsty, going at a
leap.
How many there are who resolve on a bet
ter life and say: when shall | awaken
But, seized on by their old habits. cry: 81
viii try it once more; l will seek it yet
Years ago there were some Prince
on students who were skating, and the ice
vas very thin, and some one warned the
company back from the air hole, and finally
warned them entirely to leave the place.
But one young man with bravado, after all
he rest had stopped, cried out. Zone round
more" He swept around and went down,
md was brought out n corpse. NV friends,
here are thousands and tens of thousands of
men losing their souls in that way. 1t is the
me round more.
! have aisq to say that if a nan wants to
'eturn From vii practices, society repulses
lin. Desiringf 10 Reform, he says: Now |
will shake off my old associates, and L will
Christian co~mpanionship." And he ap-
bears at the church door some Sabbath day,
md the usher greets him with a look, as
much as to say: why, you here? You are
he last man | ever expected to see at church,
Come, take this seat right down by the doorr'
Instead of saying: Good morning; l am glad
you are here. Come; l will give you a
irst rate seat, right up by the pulpit" Well,
he prodigal, not yet discouraged, enters
he prayer meeting, and some Christian man,
With more zeal than common sense, says:
Glad to see you. The dying thief was
and / suppose there is mercy for your
The young man, disgusted, chilled, throws
back on his dignity, resolved he never
enter the house of God again, Perhaps
lot quite fully discouraged about reforma-
ion, he sides up by some highly respectable
nan he used to know going down the straat
md Immediately the respectable man has an
brand down some other street, Well, the
1rodigal, wishing to return, takes some MEM
Der of a Christian association by the hand, or
jries to. The Christian young man looks at
him, looks at the faded apparel and the marks
If dissipation, and instead of giving him a
warm grip of the hand offers him the tip end
If the long fingers of the left hand, which is
,uual to striking n man in the face.
oh, how few Christian people understand
low much force and Gospel there is in a
rood, honest handwriting! Sometimes, when
-, Io,,o foI+ tba need of enconra cement and