Woodruff County news., 1901-11-16
FREEDOM FROM SIN.
Dr. Talmage Depicts Struggle of Man Who Desires Liberation.
Takes Text from Proverbs and Shows the Good Angel and the Had Angel Striving for Victory
 over the Soul.
rCopyright, 1901, by Louis Klopsch, N. VI Ia nrtn

Tn 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 23:35: "When shall 1 awake? I will seek it yet again"
 With an insight into human nature such as no other man ever had Sol omon in these words is sketching the mental processes of man who has stepped aside from the path of rec titude and would like to return. Wishing for something better, he says: ''When shall I awake? When shall I 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: q will seek it yet again. l 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- lurement it is not a prolongation that is proposed, but only just one more indulgence, just one more sin. { Then comes the fatality. Alas, for s the one round more! q will seek it yet again.
 Our libraries are adorned with ele- gant 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 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 I find not one word on that subject.
 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 $ cheerl Your best days are yet to come. l offer you the hand of wei come and rescue. I 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 God is ready to spread banquet upon your return, and all the hierarchs of Heaven fall into line of bannered procession over your re- demption.
 So far. as God may help me I pro- pose to show what are the obstacles to your return and how you are to eurmount those obstacles. 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. I never shall forget prayer I heard a young man make in the Young Mems Christian association of New York. With trembling voice and streaming eyes he said: 70 God Thou knowest how easy it is for me to do wrong and how hard it is for me to do right! God help me!'' 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 E easiest stuck in your memory? You have had good habits and bad habits. To which did your soul more easily yield? But that moral gravitation may De 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 < to overcome that force
 The next thing in the way of your ], return is the power of evil habit. I know there are those who say it is \ very easy for them to give up evil hab- it's. l cannot believe them. Here is a man given to intoxication, 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 ! 1t up proves that it is hard to give it