The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-08-26
REV. DIR. TAIlMAGE.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: "Reformation of Habits"

TEXT: when shall awake? will seek
1t yet again."
With an insight into human nature such
as no other man ever reached, Solomon, IL
my text. sketches the mental operations o.
ole who, having stepped aside from the
path OF rectitude, desires to return. With
wish for something better he says: "Wher
shall I awake? When shall come out Of
this horrid nightmare Of iniquity!" Bu
seized upon by uneradicated habit. and
forced down hill by his passions, he cries
out: e''1 will seek it yet again. I will try il
once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an elegant
literature pointing out all the dangers and
perils OF life-compete maps OF the voyage,
showing all the rocks, the quicksands, the
shoals. But suppose man has already made
shipwreck; suppose he is already OF the
track; suppose he has already gone astray,
how is he to get back2 That is a field com.
paratively untouched. propose to address
myself this evening to such. There are those
in this audience who, with every passion OF
their agonized soul, are ready to hear this
discussion. They compare themselves with
what they were ten years ago, and cry out
from the bondage in which they are incar.
cerated.
Habit IS a task master. As long as we
obey it it does not chastise US; but let US re.
sist, and we find we are to be lashed with
scorpion whips and bound with ship cable
and thrown into the track OF bone-breaSing
JuggernautS. During the war of 1912 there
was 4 ship set on fire just above Niagara
Falls and then. cut loose from its moorlngs,
it came on down through the night, and
tossed over the falls. 1t was said to have
been a scene brilliant beyond all descrip-
tion. Well, there are thousands of men on
fire OF evil habit, coming down through the
QwfIll ntOht
temptation; toward the eternal plunge. Oh,
how hard it is to arrest them! God only can
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 cannot sleep nights. BE
gets down on his knees in the midnight, and
cries. "God help mel" He bites his lip; he
ginds 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 infamed,
tantalizing and merciless habit. When he
thinks he Is entirely free the old inclinations
pounce upon him Ikea pack OF hounds, with
their muzzles tearing away at the fianks OF
one poor reindeer. In Paris there Is sculp-
tured representation Of Bacchus. the god Of
revery. he is riding on panther at full
who Is speeding on bad ways understand he
is not riding docile and well broken steed.
but he Is riding monster, wild and blood
thirsty, going at death leap.
How many there are who resolve on bet
ter life, and say. when shall I awake2" but,
seized on by their old habits. cry, II will
try it once more. will seek it yet again"
Years ago there were some Princeton stu
dents who were skating and the ice was
pany back from the air hole, and finally
warned them entirely 10 leave the place.
But one young man, with bravado, after all
the rest had stopped, cried out. "One round
more" he swept around and went down,
and was brought out corpse. My friends,
ttsre are thousands and tens of thousands
OF men losing their souls In that way. It Is
the lone round more"
II a man wants to return from evil prac-
tices, society repulses him. Desiring to re-
form he says, "Now I will shake off my old
associates and I will fnd Christian COM
panionship." And he appears at the church
door some Sabbath day and the usher greets
him with look as much as to say, "Why,
you here! You are the last man ever ex-
pected to see at church! Come, take this
seat right down by the door," instead OF say
lng, "Good morning! I am glad you are
here. Come, will give you first-rate seat
right up by the pulpit" Well, the prodigal,
DOT yet discouraged, enters prayer meeting,
and some Christian man, with more zealthan
common sense, says, "Glad to see you; the
dying thief was saved and I suppose there is
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 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 warm grip of the hand, he offers
him the tip ends of the long fingers of the
left hand. which is equal to striking q man
IN the face. Oh! how few Christian people
understand how much force and gospel
there Is in 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
DOT felt thrilling through every fibre of your
oody, mind and soul an encouragement 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
ae runs against repusions innumerable
We say OF some man, he lives block or
two from the church, or half mile from the
church. There are people in our crowded
aities who live Thousand miles from church
Vast deserts OF Indifference between them
and the house of God. The fact is, we must
keep our respectab;lity, though thousands
and tens OF thousands perish. Christ sat
with publicanS and sinners. But If there
comes to the house Of God a man with marks
Of dissipation upon him, the people almost
throw up their hands in horror, as much as
to say. "Isn'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 a
car to himself. They cannot so with publ
cans an sinners.
Oh! ye who curl your lip of scorn ut the
fallen, tell your plainly. II 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 crouching wretch, covered with filth
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 I'LL, 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 oI
omnipotent love to give it to you. Do not
go with long rigmarole people call prayer
made up of "ohs" and ''ahs" and "forevel
and ever, amens!" Go to God and cry 70:
help! help! help and If you cannot ory for
help, just look and live.
l remember in the late war, was a,
Antietam, and went into the hospitals af-
ter the battle and said to man: "Where
are you hurt?" He made no answer but
held up his arm, swollen and spintered.
saw where he was hurt. The simple fact Is
when a man has wounded SOUL all he has
To doi L., "a bel hI,fo haiti