The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-12-15

than himself. and they enter in and
dwell there. aud the last state OF that
man is worse than the first. l am sure
this statement is as close as possible to
life. When the demon Sin. orce cast
out, gets ia again uotw Outstanding. and
regains his residence. be never does il
alone; be always brings with him
self very sod ard terrible re-
tinue. For example. hopiessness
comes back with him. We have
doDe'our best. BY wrench and strain
Of resolution we have cast the demon
forth By the tasking watchfulness of
resolution we have kept him out little.
But now. Notwithstanding all our
strenuous, weary ng effort, he has got
ten in again, and he has brought back
with him hopelessness to hang its black
and dreary curtains about our heart.
We cannot help saying to ourselves:
have tried and failed; there can be only
failure for me; what can be the use of
trying further. | shall only fail again;
might as well give up. And so. to-
ward a masterful life for the right and
the good, we sink into nerveless and
dependent hopelessness.
Also this demon, taking up again his
residence within us, has brought back
with himself weakened will. A will
which sin has once recaptured must be
more easily recaptured the second
time. Let us put Charles Lamb upon
the witness stand. Tell us how it is
with you, o $ndliest Of men o most
charming and wittiest Of writers
Thus he answers us: The waters have
gone over me; but out Of tho black
depths. could be heard, would cry
out to all those who have set foot in
the perilous flood. Could the youth to
whom the flavor of the first wine is de-
licious as the opening scenes of life, or
the entering Of some newly discovered
paradise, look into my desolation, and
be made to understand what Greary
thing il is when he shall feel him
self going down precipice with open
eyes and a passive will; to see his
destruction and have no power to stop
il: to see all godliness emptied out of
him, and vet not be able to forget
time when it was otherwise to bear
about the piteous spectacle of his own
rain: could he see my fevered eye. fe-
vered with last nights drinking and
feverishiy locking tor to-night's repeti-
ton Of the folly; could he but feel the
b DIV of death out of which cry hour
". with feebler cutlery to be delivered,
it were enough to make hirl dash tine
sparkling beverage to the earth in all
the pride Of its manlling temptation ~
But why do you not do il. Nr. Lamb ?
All, how it sounds through that con
fession; passive will mo power to
stop 1t. " "feeb.er ou;cry." A weaken
will.-that is the trouble. When the
demon of Sin reposses-es us, be always
brings with himself that other demon
of weakened will. And thus it
comes to pass that we get repos-
sescd with a retinue of evil, and
our last state is worse than the first
Now the reason of our sad failure
and more thronging repossession has
been an empty heart. That was the
trouble with the man in the parable.
He made the demon leave. He swept
his heart clearly and garnished it beau
tifully when the demon had gone. But
the man just left his heart empty. lie
did no. offer it as residence for any
thing nobler and purer and better than
the demon. And when the demon,
walking through dry places seeking
rest, and finding none. comes back TO
see how the house whence he has been
expelled looks. and is getting on. he
finds it-empty. 1t is very easy thing
t. break into an empty house. And so
he. with his bad Ietinue, comes in again,
to fiji the rooms with foulness. The
empty heart-that is the trouble.
Sid the great Napoleon, " To replace
is to conquer" have reed how st.
Boniface was a very brave and over
missionary. He plunged fear
lessly into the dark and tangled forests
of Germany, and varquisEed thousands
OF the sayages for Calist But near
Geismar, in Upper Hesse, there stood a
vast and venerable oak, sacred for ages
10 Thor, the god of thunder. st. Boni-
face tlied i'm van to win the Germans
from the superstitious alteration OF the
oak. At last he seized an
axe. The pagans stood about in breath
less wonder and alarm. he sent stroke
after stroke ringing on the gnafled
lIuuh. luc piitoh7 VI i"Ni ''H f'~
their deity to avenge himself. And the
pagans thought that surely each next
moment the scathing lightning flash
would smite down the sacreligious
monk. But no fash came. Then at
last, with thurderous fall. the mighty
oak crashed down. But st. Boniface
was wise. lie knew that If he did not
put better worship in the idols place,
the old Idolatry, cast out for the mo-
ment now, would gain re-entrance, and
the savages would surely find some
other gnarled oak 10 represent hun.
And so St. Boniface built. out OF the
fragments of the fallen and sPlintered
tree, the chape! OF st. Peter, aud in the
room of the worship of the Thunderer
lifted the worship Of the Crucified.
And Thor, seeking TO get back into the
peoples hearts and thoughts, was baf-
ned. because their hearts and thoughts
svara Nllai with something lOftier and