Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-08-19
REV. DR.. TALMAGE,
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Discourse.


with an insight into hu nan nature sucf
es no other man ever reached. Solomon Ii
my text, sketches the mental operatious o
one who, having stepped aside from tn,
patn OF ree'itu'e desires TO return. Will
n wish Tor So neth'ng better he SAYS: .Whcl
shall L awake? When shall come out O
this horrid nightmare of iniquify." Blu
seized upon by uneradicated habit. aut
forced down hill by his passions, he erie.
out: II Will seek it yet again. I will try /
once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an e,epan
literature pointing ont all the dangers ant
perils of life-complete maps of tho VOYAGE
showing all the rocks, the quicksands, ths
shoais- But supposed man has already mad,
shipwreck; suppose he is already off the
track; suppose he has already gone astray
how IS he to get back? That is field com
paratively untouched. propose 70 addres.
myself this evening to such. There are those
IN this audience who, with every passion oil
their agonized soul, are ready to hear this
discussion. They compare themselves with
what they were ten years ago, and cry OH,
from the bosiage in which they are incar.
cerated.
Habit is n task master. As long "a wa
obey 1t it does not chastise us; but let us re.
sist, and we find we are to be lashei with
scorpion whips and bound with ship cable.
an thrown into the track of bOne-braakinv
JuGgernauts. During the war of 1912 thers
was ship set on fire Just above Niagara
Falls. and then, cut loose from its moorings,
1t came on down through the night, and
tossed over the falls. 1t was said to have
been scene brilliant beyond all descrip-
tion. Well, there are thousands Of men on
fire OF evil habit, coming down through the
rapids. AMI through the awful night OF
temptnt1oni toward the eternal plunge. Oh,
now hard 1t is to arrest them! God only can
arrest them.
SuppO5e n man nftsr fiya or fan or t,yant,,
wears OF evil doing resolves to do right,
Why. all 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 metz He bites his LID: he
grinds his teeth; he clenches his fist in a
determination to keep his purpose. He dare
not look at the bottles in the windows of a
wine store. 1t IS one long, bitter. exhaus-
tive. hand-to-hand fight with an inhamed.
iantal'zing and merciless habit When he
thinks he is entirely free the old inclinations
pounce upon him like pack of hounds, with
their muzztes tearing away at the hanks OF
one poor reindeer. In Paris there is a sculp.
tured representation of Bacchus, the god OF
reYe - He Is riding on a panther at full
leap. IN, how suggestivei Let every one
who is speeding on bal ways understand he
Is not riding docile and well broken stesd,
but he is riding monster, wild and blood
thirsty. going at "a death leap
How many there are who resolve on n bet
ter lie, and say. when shall awake?" but
seized on by their old habits, cry. Il will
try it once more. l will seek it Yet again."
Years ago there were some Princeton stu.
dents who were skating, and the ice was
very INN, and some one warned the com.
pany back from the air hole, and finally
warned them entirely TO leave the place
But one young man, with bravado, after al
the rest had stopped, cried out. Zone round
more! He swept around and went down
and was brought ont a corpse. NV friends,
there are thousands and tens OF thousauds
oil men losing their souls in that way. 1t IL
the lone round more"
III a maa wants to return from evil prac,
tees, society repulses him. Desiring to re-.
form he says, 'Now will shake off nv old
associates and L will find Christian com.
partnership And he appears at the church
door some Sabbath day and the usher greets
him with a look rs much as to say, '.Why
You here. You are the last man ever ex
pected TO see at church, Come. take thi
seat right down by the door," instead of say
ing. "GOod morning! 1 am glad you ar,
here. Come. will give you first-rate seat
right up by the pulpit" Well, the prodigal
not yet discouraged, enters prayer meeting
and some Christian man, with more zeaithaI
common sense, says, "Glad to see you; tn,
dying thief was saved and l suppose there il
mercy for you" The young man, disgusted
chilled. throws himself on his dignity. re-
solved he will never enter the house Of God
again.
Perhaps not quite fully discouraged about
reformation, he sidles up by some highly re-
spectacle man he used to know, going down
the street, and Immediately the respectable
man has an errand down some other street.
Well, the prodigal. wishing to return, takes
some member of a Christian association by
the hand. or tries to. The Christian young
man looks ut him, looks at the faded apparel
and the marks OF dissipation; instead Of Civ.
ing him warm grip of the hand. he offsrs
him the tip ends of the long fingers of the
left hand. which is equal 10 striking a man
in The face. Oh! how few Christian people
understani how much force and gospe
| there is in n good honest handshaking.
Sometimes. when you have felt the need OF
encouragement, and some Christian man has
taken you heartily by the hand, have you
not felt thrilling through every fibre of your
body. mind and soul an announcement that
was Just what you needed? You do not know
anything at all about this unless you know
when man tries to return from evil courses
he runs against repu!sions innumerable
We say of some man. he lives a block OF
two from the church, or half a mile from the
church. There are people in our crowded
cities who live thousand miles from church.
Vast deserts of indifference between them
and the house of God. The fact is, we must
keep our respectability, though thousands
and tens of thousands parish. Christ sal
with publicans and sinners. But If there
comes to the house of God man with marks
of dissipation upon him, the people almost
throw up their hands in horror, rs much a:
to say. "Isn't it shocking" How thess
dainty, fastidiouS Christians in all Oul
churches are going to get into heaven 1 dom
know, unless they have an especial train o.
cars cushioned and upholstered, each one q
ear to himself. They cannot 60 with publ
cans and sinners.
OH ye VINO curl your lip of scorn at the
| fallen, l tell your plainly. il you had beer
surrounded by the same influences. instead
OF sitting to-day amid the cultured and the
refined and the Christian, you would hav,
been crouching wretch, covered with flltl
and abomination. It is not because you ar,
any better, bct becahse the mercy of God ha
protected you. Who are you that, brough
up in Christian circles and watched by Chris
tian parentage, you should be so hard on tn,
| fallen?
| First of all. my brother, throw yourself OF
| God. Go to Him frankly and earnestly anf
tell Him these habits YOU have, and ask Hin
if there is any help in all the resources o
omnipotent love to give it to you. Do no
go with long rigmarole people call prayer
made up of .sohs'' and "ahs" and ''foreve
and ever, amensi' Go to God and cry TO
helpl help! help! andif you cannot cry fol
| help, just look and live.
| 1 remember in the late war I was a
| Antietam, and L went into the hospitals al
| ter the battle and said to man: ''Wher
are you hurt?" He made no answer, bu
held up his arm, swollen and splintered.
saw where he was hurt. The simple fact is
| when a man has a wounded soul, all he ha
| to DO il to holt it up before a sympatbeti
| Lord and get il healed. 1t does not take an,
| long prayer. Just hold up the wound. Oh
| 1t is no small thing when "A man is nervou
and weak and exhausted, coming from hi
| evil ways, to feel that God puts two omnip
otent arms around him and says: ''Youn
| man, I will stand by you. The mountain
| may depart, and the hills be removed, but
| will never fail you.
Blessed be God for such gospel as thi!
"Cur the slices thin," said the wife TO Il
| husband, ''or there will not be enough
! go all around for the children; cut the slic'
thin" Blessed be God there is q full To-
for every one that wants it. Bread enoua
and to spare. No thin slices at the Lord
table / remember when the Master Sire
Hospital in Philadelphia was opened durin
| the war, u telegram came saying, "Thel
| will be three hundred wounded men to-ntgh