The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-11-15
FREEDOM FROM SIN.
DR.. Talmage Depicts Struggle of
Man Who Desires Liberation.
Takes Text from Proverbs and shows
the Good Angel and the Bad
Angel Striving for Victory
Over the Soul.
copyright, 1901, by Louis Klopsch. n. VI |
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In this discourse DR.. Talmage de-
picts the struggle of man who de-
sires liberation from the enthrall-
ment of evil and shows how he may
be set free; text, Proverbs %:
when shall 1 awake? 1 will seek it
yet again"
With an insight into human nature
such as no other man ever had Sol
ONION in these words is sketching the
mental processes of a man who has
stepped aside from the path of rec
titude and would like to return.
Wishing for something better, he
saws: when shall / awake? When
shall 1 get over this horrible night
mare of iniquity?" But, seized upon
by an uneradicated appetite and
pushed down hill by his passions, he
cries out: II will seek it yet again.
I will try it once more!"
About a mile from Princeton, N.
j., there is a skating pond. One win
ter day, when the ice was very thin,
a farmer living near by warned the
young men of the danger of skating
at that time. They all took the
warning except one young man. He
in the spirit of bravado, said:
Boys, one round more He struck
out on his skates, the ice broke, and
his lifeless body was brought up. And
in all matters of temptation and al
1urement it is not PrOlongation
that is proposed, but only just one
more indulgence, just one more sin.
Then comes the fatality. Alas, for
the one round more! Il will seek it
yet again
Our libraries are adorned with ele-
giant literature addressed to young
men pointing out to them all the dan
gers and perils of life-complete
maps of the voyage of life-the
shoals. the rocks, the quicksands.
But suppose a young man is already
shipwrecked, suppose he is already
off the track, suppose he has already
gone astray. how can he get back?
That is a question that remains un-
answered, and amid all the books of
the Libraries L find not one word on
that subject. To- that class of per-
sons l this day address myself.
You compare what you are now
with what you were three or four
years ago, and you are greatly dis
heartened. You are ready with every
passion of your soul to listen to a
discussion like this. Be of good
cheer! Your best days are yet to
come. l offer you the hand of well
come and rescue. l put the silver
trumpet of the gospel to my lips and
blow one long, loud blast. saying:
''Whosoever will, let him come, and
let him come now" The church of
nh 1Nr To
upon your return, and all the
hierarchs of Heaven fall into line of
hammered procession over your re-
demptiOn.
Years ago, and while Yet ALBERT
Barnes was living, L preached in his
pulpit one night to the young men
of Philadelphia. In the opening of
my discourse L said: 20 Lord, give
me one soul tonight" At the close
of the service Mr.. Barnes introduced
a young man saying: This is the
young man you prayed for But L
see now it was too limited a prayer
offer no such prayer to-day. 1t
must take in a wider sweep. Lord,
give us all these souls to-day for hap.
piness and Heaven!"
So far as God may help me L pro-
pose to show what are the obstacles
to your return and how you are to
surmount those obs tacles. The first
difficulty in the way of your return
Is the force of moral gravitation.
Just as there is a natural law which
brings down to earth anything you
throw into the air. so there is a cor
responding moral gravitation. [
shall fnr0pf I
young man make in the Young Mems
Christian association of New York.
With trembling voice and streaming
eyes he said: 80 God Thou knowest
how easy it is for me to do wrong
and how hard it is for me to do
right! God help mel" That man
knows not his own heart who has
never felt the power of moral gray
itation.
In your bOyhood you had good asso-
ciates and bad associates. Which most
impressed you? During the last few
years you have heard pure anecdotes
and impure anecdotes. Which the
easiest stuck in your memory? You
have had good ha bits and bad habits.
To which did your soul more easily
yield? But that moral gravita ton may
be resisted. just as you may pick up
anything from the earth and hold it
in your hand toward heaven, Just so,
by the power of Gods grace a fallen
soul may be lifted toward peace. to-
ward pardon, toward salvation. The
force of moral gravitation is in every
one of us but also power in Gods grace
10 overcome that force.
The next thing in the way of your
return is the power of evil habit
know there are those who say it is
very easy for them to give up evil hab-
its. l cannot believe them. Here is a
man given to intoXica ton, who knows
it is disgracing his family, destroying
his property and running him-body,
mind and soul. If that man. an intel
ligent man and loving his family. could
give up that habit. would he not do
SO? The fact that he does not give
it up proves that it is hard to give it
up. Ii is very easy thing to sail down
stream, the tide carrying you with
great force; but suppose you turn the
boat up stream, is it so easy then to
row 1t? As long as we yield to the
evil inclinations in our heart and to
our bad habits we are sailing down
stream, but the moment we try to
turn we put our boat in the rapids
just above Niagara and try to row up
stream.
A physician tells his patient that he
must quit the use of tobacco, as it is