The Penn's Grove record., 1889-08-10
DIR TALMAGE,S SERMON:
o to Conquer.

WITH an insight into human nature
such az no other man ever reached, Solo
mon, in my text, sketches the mental
operations of n who, having stepped
ASIDE FRoM H A T
of rectitude, desires to return. With a
wish for something better, he says:
"rWhen shall I awake? when shall l
come out of this horrld nightmare OF
iniouity?" But seized upon by uneradl-
Gated habit, and forced down-hill by his
passions, he cries out, 81 will seek 1t
vet again. I will try it once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an
elegant literature addressed to young
men, pointing out to them all the dan
gers and perils Of life-complete maps
of the voyage, showing all the rocks, the
uuicksands, the shoals. But suppose o
man has already made shipwreck; sup
pose he is already off the track suppose
he has already gone astray
HOW Is HE TO E BACK?
That is a field comparatively untouch-
ed. I opo to address myself this
| evening to such. There are those in
| this audience who, with every passion
| of their agonlzed soul, are ready to hear
| this 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 in this house, come with an
earnest purpose, yet feeling they are
beyond the pale of Christian sympathy,
| and that the sermon can hardly be ex-
| pected to address them, then, at this
| moment, I give them my right hand, and
| call them brother. Look up! There is
| glorious and triumphant hope for you
yet. I sound the trumpet OF Gospel
| d~eliyerance. 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 emancipation. So far as God may
| help me, / propose to show what are
| the obstacles to your return, and how
to surmount those obstacles.
| THE FIRST DIFFICULTY
in the way of your return is the force of
| moral gravitation. Just as there is q
| natural law which brings down to the
earth anything which you throw into
the air, 80 there is o corresponding
| moral grayitation. 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 Acknowledgements of them good,
| some of them bad. Which most affected
I 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 ofthem
| good, some of them bad. To which
| style Of habit did you the more easily
| yield? Ali my friends, we have to take
| but q moment of self inspection to find
| out there is in all our souls a force of
| moral gravitation. 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 30
by the power of Gods grace, q soul
| pardon, toward heaven. Force of moral
gravitation in every n 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 poUer cfeVn habit. l 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 disgrace
ing his family, destroying his property,
running him body. mind and soul. If
that man, being an intelligent man, 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
it is hard to give it up. It is a very
easy thing to sail downstream, the tide
carrying you with great force; but sup
pose you turn
THE BoAT UPSTREAM!
is it easy then to row it? As long as we
| yield to the evil inclinations in our
hearts and our bad habits, we are sail
ing down-str cam; but the moment we
try to turn. we put our boat in the
rapids Just above Niagara, and try to
row upstream. Take O 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. Twenty-one
years ago / quit that habit, and / would
as soon dare put my right hand in the
fire as once to indulge in it. Why?
| Because it was such q terrible struggle
to get over it. /,
/ 4NoWt AOo AAHh oC hoNlcOu ny hlo puy-
stefan to 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 cannot sleep nights. 1t
seems as if the world had turned up
side down. He feels his business is
going to ruin. Where he was kind and
obliging he is scolding and fretful. The
composure that characterized him has
| given way to fretful restlessness, and he
has become a complete fidget. What
power is it that has rolled a wave of woe
over the earth and shaken q portent in
the heavens? he has tried to stop
smoking! After a while he says, 81 am
going to do as I please. The doctor
doesn't understand me. Imgoing back
to the old habit.
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 the difference, hail the
return of their fathers genial DISPOSE
ton. What wave of color has dashed
blue into the sky, and greenness into
the mountain foliage, and the glow of
sapphire into the sunset? What en-
chantment has lifted a world of beauty
and Joy on his soul? He has gone back
to smoking. Oh, the fact is, as we all
know, that
HABIT Is A rAsK-MAsTER;
as long as we obey it, it does not chas-
tise us; but 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 Jugger-
nauts. During the war of 1872 there
was a ship set on fire just above Niagara
Falls, and then, cut loose from its
m~oorings, it came on downrthrough the
night, and tossed wei the Falls. 1t
was said to have been a scene brilliant
beyond all compare. Well, there are
thousands of men on fire of evil habit
coming down through the rapids, and
through the awful night of temptation,
toward the eternal plunge. Oh, how
hard it is to arrest them! God only
can arrest them.
Supposed man, after five or ten or
twenty years of evil doing, resolves to