The Penn's Grove record., 1896-08-14
REV, DR. TALMAGE,
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Discourse.
subject: reformation of Habits,

TEXT: "When shall 1 awaken 1 will sees
1t yet again"
With an insight into hu nan nature sucb
ms no other man ever reached. Solomon, In
my teNt, sketches the mental operations oil
one who, having stepped aside from the
path OF reciitude. desires to return. Will
a wish Tor something better he says: 'fWher
shall l wake? When srall / come out OF
this horrid nightmare of iniduityt" But
seized upon by uneradicated habit. and
forced down hill by his passions, he erie.
out: II will seek it yet again. / will try II
once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an elegant
literature pointing out all the dangers and
perlls OF hte-complete maps Of the VOYAGE.
showing all the rocks, the quicksands. the
shoals. But supposed man has already made
shlpwreek; suppose he is already of the
track; suppose he has already gone astray.
how is he to get bRck2 That is Il field com.
ParathVeiy untouched. l propose to address
myself this evening to such. There al ethose
In this audience who, with every passion OF
their aSonized soul, are ready to hear this
discussion. They compare themselves with
what they were ten years ago, and cry oul
from the bondage in which they are incar.
eerated.
Habit is a task master. As long as wa
obey it it does not chastise US; but let us re.
sist, and we Ind we are to be lHshed with
scorpion whips and bound with shin cable
ami thrown into the track of bons-braaking
Juggernauts. During the war of 1879 there
was a ship set on fire just above Niagara
Falls, and then. cut loose from Its moorinps.
ii came on down through the night. and
tossed over the falls. 1t was said to have
been a scene brilliant beyond all dascrip-
tion. 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 hnT1 II iS IN nrrnat THANH noI o,I, ~.
arrest them.
suppose a man, after five, or ten, or twenty
years OF evil doing resolves to do right.
Why. all the forces of darkness are allied
against him. He annot sleep nights. He
gets down on his knees In the midnight. and
cries. "GOd help me!' He bites his lip; he
grtnds his teeth; he clenches his fist in a
determination TO keep his purpose. He dare
not look ut the bottles in the windows OF a
wine store. 1t Is one long. bitter, exhaus-
tive, hand-to-hand fight with an iniamed,
tantalizing and merciless habit. When he
thinks he is entirely free the old fnclinations
pounce upon him like pack of hounds, with
their muzales tearing away at the TANKS OF
one poor reindeer. In Paris there Is q sculp.
tured representation of Bacchus, the god OF
reye re. He Is riding on a panther at full
lehp. IN, how suggestivel Let every one
who is speeding on BAD ways understand he
Is not riding Il docile and well broken steed,
but he is riding a monster, wild and blood
thirsty, going at a death leap.
How many there are who resolve on a bet
Ter life, and say. when shall | awaken" but.
seized on by their old habits, cry, II will
try it once more. l will seek II yet again."
Years ago there were some Princeton stu.
dents who were skating, and the ice was
very thin, aud some one warned the com.
pany back from tho air hole, and finally
warned Them entirely 10 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 thousands
OF men losing their souls in that way. 1t Ii
the lone round more"
IL q man wants TO return from evil prae,
tices. society repulses him, Desiring to re,
form he says, Now j will shake OF my old
associates aud 1 will find Christian com
panionship." And he appears at the church
door some Sabbath day and the usher greeti
him with Il look rs much as to say, "Why
you here! You are the last man | ever ex
pected to see at church! Come, take Thu
seat right down by the door, " instead OF say
ing, "Good morning. 1 am glad you ar,
here. Come. L will give you a lrst-rate seat
right up by the pulpit" Well, the prodigal
not vet discouraged, enters a prayer meeting
and some Christian man, with more zeaithaI
common sense, says, "Glad to see you; th,
dying thief was saved and I suppose there il
hiPARf - lNos no louh6 hltl, SSuSt6
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 Grand 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 at him, looks at the faded apparel
and the marks Of dissipation; instead OF CIV
ing him a warm grip of the hand, he offers
him the tip ends of the long fingers Of the
left hand. which is equal 10 striking Il man
in the face. Oh! how few Christian peopls
understand how much force Il gospel
there is in a good honest handshaking.
Sometimes, when you have felt the need OF
encouragement, ara 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 encouragement that
was Just what you needed? You do not know
anything at all about this unless you know
when a man tries to return from evil courses
he runs against repulsions innumerable.
We say of some man. he lives a block or
two from the church, or half a mile from the
church. There are people in our crowded
cities who live Il Thousand miles from church.
Vast deserts of indifference between them
and the house of God. The fact Is, we must
keep our responsibility, though thousands
and tens of thousands plrish. Christ sat
with publicans and sinners. But II there
comes to the housed of God a man with marks
of dissipation upon him, the people almost
throw up their hands in horror, as much as
TO say. "lsn't 1t shocking" How these
dainty, fastidious Christians In all our
churches are going to get into heaven / don't
know, unless they have an especial train of
cars, cushioned and upholstered, each one q
car to himself. They cannot go with publ
cans and sinners.
ohl We VINO curl your lip of seorn at the
fallen, / tell your plainly. If you had been
surrounded by the same influences. instead
of sitting to-day amid the cultured, and the
refined and the Christian, YOU would have
been a crouching wretch, covered with Nth
and abOmination. It is not because you are
any better. but because the mercy of God has
protected you: Who are you that, brought
up in Christian circles and watched by Chris
tian parentage, you should be SO hard on the
fallen2
First of all, my brother, throw yourself on
God. Go to Him frankly and earnestly and
tell Him these habits YOU have, and ask Him
If there is any help in all the resources OF
o%mnipotent love to give 1t to you. Do not
go with a long rigmarole people call prayer,
made up OF ''ohs" and "ahs" and ''fore yer
and ever, amensl' Go to God and cry fo>
helpl helpl help! and If you cannot cry for
help, just look and live.
| remember in the late war, | was at
Antietam, and l went into the hospitals af-
ter the battle and said to a man; 'Where
are you hurt" He made no answer, but
held up his ARM, swollen and splintered. l
saw where he was hurt. The simple fact is,
when a man has a Wounded soul, all he has
TO dc is TO hold it up before a sympathetic
Lord and get it healed. 1t does not take any
long prayer. Just hold up the wound. Oh,
1t is no small thing when a mar is nervous
and weak and exhausted, coming from his
evil ways, to feet that God puts two omnip-
otent arms around him and says "Young
man, 1 will stand by you. The mountains
may depart, and the hills DO removed, but l
will never fail you"
Blessed be God for such a gospel as this
''Cur the sites thin" said the vile to tn,
husband, cor there will not be enough te
go all around for the children; cut the slice.
thin" Blessed be God there is a full loai
for every one that wants 1t. Bread enough
and to spare. No thin slices at the Lord.
table. | remember when the Master Street
Hospital in Philadelphia was opened during
the war, "a telegram came saying, "Fhere
will be three hundred wounded men Tonight
--av-Aai aEa ears OF them;" add from