Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-08-02
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
THE EMINENT DIVINE AT LAKE MAX
INKUCkEE, IND.
A Discourse Delivered Before a yast Audi
ence at Culver Park Assembly-suhject:
.How to Conquer"-Text: ssWl,en shall
Awaken? Will Seek 1t Again."

With an insight into human nature
such as no other man ever reached, SOL
ONION, in my text, sketches the mental
operations Of one who, having stepped
aside from the path of rectitude, desires
to return. With wish for something
better he said when shall 1 awake?
When shall / come out of this horrid
nightmare of iniquity?" But, seized
upon by uneradicated habit, and forced
down hill by his passion, he cries out:
Il will seek it yet again. I will try it
once more.
Our libraries are adorned with an eIe-
CANT literature addressed to young men,
perils of life-complete maps of the v,y-
age, showing all the rocks, the quick
sands, the shoals. But suppose man
has already made shipwreck; suppose he
is already Off the track; suppose he has
already gone astray. How is he to get
back? That is field comparatively IN
touched. l propose to address myself
to such. There are those in this audi
ence who, with every passion of tleir
agonized soul, are ready to hear such a
discussion. They compare themselves
with what they were ten years ago, and
cry out from the bondage in whichthey
are incarcerated. Now, if there be any
here, come with an earnest purpose, yet
feeling they are beyond the pale of
| Christian sympathy, and that tie SER
mon 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 trium-
plant hope for you yet. i SCUM d 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, propose to
show what are the obstacles of Your re-
turn, and then how you are to surmount
those obstacles. The first difficulty in
the way of your return is the force of
moral gravltation. Just as there is a
natural law which brings down to the
earth anything you throw into the air,
SO there is 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 con-
duct-some of them good, some Of them
bad. To which style of habit did you
the more easily yield? All, my friends,
We have to take but moment of self in
spection to find out that there is in all
But that gravitation may be resisted.
Just as you may pick up from the earth
something and hold it in your hand to-
ward Heaven, just SO, by the power of
Gods grace, n 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 overcome 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 is man
given to intoxication. He knows it is
disgracing 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. 1t is a
very easy thing to sail down stream, the
tide carrying you with great force; but
| suppose 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 our bad habits, we are sail
ing 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 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-seven
years ago quit that habit, and I 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 ad-
vised by his physician 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. It 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 fretful. The composure
that characterized him has given way to
fretful restlessness, and he has become
a complete fidget. What power is it that
mas rolled q wave of woe over the earth
=" pOAeCHl III Cuo AClN CHS!
He has tried to stop smoking or chew
ing! After while he says, Il am going
to do as I please. The doctor doesn't
understand my case. I'm going back to
my old habit" And he returns. Every
thing assumes it's usual composure.
His business seems to brighten The
world becomes an attractive place to
live in. His children, seeing the differ
ence. hail the return of their fathers
genial disposition. What wave OF color
has dashed blue into the sky and green
ness into the mountain foliage, aud the
glow of sapphire into the sunset? What
enchantment has lifted a world of
beauty and Joy on his soul? He has
gone back to tobacco!
Oh, the fact is, as we all know in our
own experience, that habit is task
master; as long as we obey it, it does not
chastise US; but let us resist, az l we
find we are to be dashed with scorpion
whips and bound with ship cable, and
thrown into the track of hone breaking
Jugeernauts! During the war Of 1912,
there was ship set on fire Just above
Niagara Falls, and then, cut loose from
its mornings, it came on down through
the night and tossed over the falls. It
was said to have been q scene brilliant
hey ond all description. Well. tbare are