The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-11-12

NOV. lU.-ln this dis
course DR.. Talmage depicts the struggle
of a man who desires liberation from the
enthrallment of evil and shows how h
may be set free; text, Proverbs xiii, 50:
when shall l awake? I will seek it yet
again."
With an insight into human nature
such as no other man ever had Solomon
in these words is sketching the mental
processes of a man who has stepped
aside from the path Of rectitude and
would like TO return. Wishing for some
thing better, he says: when shall /
awake? When shall l get over this hor-
rible nightmare of iniquity?" But, seized
upo by uneradicated appetite and push
ed down hill by his passions, he cries out:
Il will seek it yet again. 1 will try it
once more,"
About a mile from Princeton, y. J.,
there is 4 skating pond. One winter day,
when the ice was very thin, a farmer liv-
ing 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 allurement it is not a
prolOngation that is proposed, but only
just one more indulgence, just one more
sin. Then ZONES the fatality. Alas. for
the one round morel 81 will seek it yet
again."
Our libraries are adorned with elegant
literature addressed to young men point
ing out to them all the dangers and perils
of life-compiete maps Of the voyage Of
lfQ-fhn shoals tho roaIS tho nuioL-
sands. But suppose a young man is al
ready shipwrecked, suppose he is already
off the track, suppose he has already
gone astray, how can he get back? That
is q question that remains unanswered,
and amid all the books Of the libraries I
find not one word on that subject. To
that class Of persons l this day address
myself.
You compare what you are now with
what you were three or four years ago,
and you are greatly disheartened. 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 trum-
pet of the gospel to my lips and blow one
long, loud blast, saying, "Whosoever will,
let him come, and let him come now"
4Ae CuuECn VI pOu Is TSduy 10 SpTedu q
banquet upon your return, and all the
hierarchs of heaven fall into line of BAN
nered procession over your redemption.
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 intro
duced a young man, saying, This is the
young man you prayed for" But / see
now it was a too limited prayer. 1 offer
no such prayer today. 1t must take in a
wider sweep. Lord, give US all these
souls today for happiness and heaven!"
Surmounting Obstacles.
So far as God may help me l propose
to show what are the obstacles to your
return and then how you are to surmount
those obstacles. The first difficulty in
the way of your return is the force of
moral grayitation. Just as there is a nat
ural law which brings down to earth any
thing you throw into the air, so there is a
corresponding moral grayitation. l new
er shall forget a prayer I heard a young
man make in the Young Mems Christian
Association of New York. With trem-
bling voice and streaming eyes he said:
80 God, thou knowest how easy it is for
uG " uO "IOhS anu " hdIu IL 10
me to do right! God help me-" That
man knows not his own heart who has
never felt the power of moral gravitation.
In your boyhood you had good associ-
ates and bad associates. Which most I'M
pressed you? During the last few years
you have heard pure anecdotes and inn
pure anecdotes. Which the easiest stuck
to your memory? You have had good
habits and bad habits. To which did
your soul more easily yield? But that
moral gravitation 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, toward pardon, toward salvation.
The force of moral gravitation is in every
one of US, but also power in Gods grace
to overcome that force.
The next thing in the way of your re-
turn is the power of evil habit. / know
there are those who say it is very easy
I for them to give up evil habits. | cannot
I believe them. Here is a mar given to
intoxication, who knows it is disgracing
his family, destroying his property and
running him-body. mind and soul. If
that man. being an intelligent man and
loving his family, could easily 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. 1t is a very easy
thing to sail down stream, the tide carry
ing you with great force; but suppose
you turn the boat up stream, is it so
easy then to row it? 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.
Slavery to Habit.
A physician tells his patient that he
must quit the use of tobacco, as it is de-
s~troying his health. The man replies, Il
/ can stop that habit easy enough" He
' quits the use Of the weed. He goes
around not knowing what to do with
himself. He cannot add up a column Of
figures; he cannot sleep nights 1t seems
as if the world had turned upside down.
He feels his business is going to ruin.