The Forrest City times., 1891-12-18
"CHEATED INTO SIN
DH. TALMACE BREACHES IN THE
 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
The Drag Nets of Evil and Crime AZ ways Exposed-"Young Man Hold Onto the Bible; It the Best Book You Ever Owned"

n l the opportunity Of hearing Dr Taimage, Nno
 IS visiting the city by invitation Of the studenI ! Of the university. Last night vast anolence ' greeted the famous Brooklyn preacher at DIS | lecture, and this evening, when ne was an' | rounced to preach a special sermon to young men. there was no building in the city that
 would accommodate all who wanted to near | him His text was Proverbs 1:I7- "Surely ID vain the net is spread in the sight or any oiru- Early in the morning I went out with ? ' fowler to catch wild pigeons We hasteneo | through the mountain gorge and into the TOT est We spread out the net, and covered up | the edges of 1t as well as we could We ar
 ranged the eaIl-bird. its feet fast, andits wings 1 Tapping in invitation to all fowls of heaven 10 ! settle down there. We retired into booth of | branches and leaves and waited After a | while looking out of the door Of the booth, we saw a flock of birds ir the sky. They came nearer and nearer and after while were about 10 swoop into the net when suddenly they darted away. Again we waited After while we saw another flock of birds. They came nearer and nearer until just at the moment when they were about to swoop they darted away Ihe fowler was very much disappointed as well as myself We said to each other, What IS the matterrt and Why were not these oirds caughtr' We went out and examined the net, and by futter of branch of tree part or the net had been conspieuously exposed, and the birds coming very near had seen their peril and darted away. When I saw that said 10 the old fowler, That reminds me of passage of Scripture. Surely in vain is the net spread n the sight of any bird 2" Now the net in my text stands for temptation
 The callb bird of sin tempts men on from point to point and from branch to branch until they are about to drop into the net If 8 man finds out in time that 1t is the temptation Of the devil or that evil men are attempting to cap ture his soul for time and for eternity, the man steps back. He says. eI am not to he caught in that way: see what you are about: surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird"
 There are two classes of temptations-the su- perficisl and the subterraneous-those above ground, those under ground. If man could see sin as 1t is, he would no more embrace lt than he would embrace a leper. Sin IS daughter of hell, yet she Is garlanded and robed and trinketed. Her voice is warble. Her cheek is the setting sun. Her forehead is an aurora She says to mea: Come, walk this path with me; 1t is thymed and primrosed, and the air is bewitehed with the odOrs of the hang ing gardens of heaven; the rivers are rivers or wine and all you have to do is to drink them up in chalices that sparkle with diamond and amethyst and chrysoprasus. Seel IL IS all bloom and roseate cloud and heaven Ohi my friends, if for one moment the cho.ring Of all these concerted voices of sin could be hushed, we should see the orchestra of the pit with hot breath blowing through fiery flute, and the skeleton arms on drums of thunder and dark ness beating the chorus: 'The end thereof IS death
 that are assailing more especially our young men, The only kind of nature comparatively free from temptation, so far as l can judge, IS the cold, hard stingy, mean temperament. What would Satan do with such a man if he got him, Satan is not anxious to get man who after a while may dispute with him the realm of everlasting meanness. It is the gen. erous young man, the ardent young man, the warm-hearted young man, the social young man, that is in especial peril. A pirate goes out on the sea, and one bright morning he puts the glass 10 his eye and looks Of, and sees an empty vessel floating from port to port. He says: Never mind; that's no prize for us ' But the same morning he puts the glass to his eye, and he sees vessel coming from Australia laden with gold, or d vessel from the Indies laden with spices. He says: That's our prize: bear down on iti' Across that unfortunate ship the grappling hooks are thrown. The crew are blindfOided and are compelled to walk the plank. IL is not the empty vessel, but the laden merehantman that is ihe temptation to the pirate. And a young man empty Of head, empty of heart, empty of lfe-you want no Young Mems Christian association to keep him safe he is safe. He will not gamble unless 1t Is with somebody else's stakes He will not break the Sabbath unless somebody else pays the horse hire. He will not drink unless some one else treats him. He will hang around the bar hour after hour, waiting for some gen. erous young man to come in. The generous young man comes in and aeeosts him and says, "WeIl, will you have drink with me to daya" The man as though it were sudden thing for him, says, "WeIl. well, fl you insist on 1t wlll-I will"
 Too mean to go to perdition unless somebody else pays his expenses For such young men we will not fight We would no more contend for them than Tartary and Ethiopia would fight as to who should have the great Sahara Desert: but for those young men who are buoyant and enthusiastic, those who are determined to do something for time and for eternity flor them we will fight, and we now declare everlasting war against all the influences that assail them, and we ask all good men and philanthropists to wheel into line, and all the armies of heaven to bear down upon the foe. and we pray Almighty God that with the thunderbolts of his wrath he will strike down and consume all these infiu' ences that are attempting to destroy the young men for whom Christ died
 The first class of temptations that assaults a young man is led on by the sceptic. He will moi admit that he Is an infidel or athiest Oh, DO he is "free-ihinker," he is one Of youl iliberal' men; he is free and easy in religion O. how liberal he is: he is so liberal that nc will give away his bible; he Is so "liberal thai he will give away the throne Of eternal justice he is so liberal" that he would be willing tt give God out Of the universe; he is 80 liberal that he would give up his own soul and tht souls of all his friends Now, what more could you ask in the way of liDeraltyf The victim of the sceptic has probably just come from the country. Through the inter sention of friends he has been placed in shop On Saturday the sceptic says to him, well what are you going to do to-morrowf" He says tVa la ga lhc sccptic Well, I used to do those things Ip brough. up, I suppose, as you were, in a et ous family, and believed all those things ort got over it: the fact is, since I came te town l have read great deal, and have fount that there are a great many things In the biolt hat are ridiculous Now, for instance, all tha about the serpent being cursed to crawl In tht garden Of Eden because it had tempted our frs parents; why, you see how absurd 1t Is; yoi can tell from the very organization Of the ser pcnt that it had to crawl; 1t crawled before I was cursed just as well as 1t crawied afterwards you can tell from it's organization thatiterawlec Then, all that story about the whale swallow ing Jonah. or Jonah swallowing the whale the thing is absurd; it Is ridiculous to suppose that man could have gone down through the jaws Of a sea-monster and yet kept his life; why his respiration would have been hindered; he would have been digested: the gastric juice would have dissolved the hbrine and coagulated albumen, and Jonah would have been changed from prophet into chyle. Then all that story about the miraculous conception-why, it is perfectly disgraceful. O. sir, believe in the light of nature. This is the nineteenth century. Progress, sir, progress. don't blame you, but after you have been in town as long as l have, you will think just as do"
 Thousands of young men are going down un- der that process day by day, and there is only here and there young man who can endure