Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-11-15
DOOR OF MERCY.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Says There viii Pe
Salvation for the Morally
S!lipwrcckcd.
Yield Not 10 tie Force of Im1:crcI Grayita'
ton--iicIpiu!ness OF Religion.
downright, 1871,

! copyright, 19J1.]
| WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse
| DR.. Talmage depicts the struggle Of a
| man who desires liberation from the en-
| thrallment of evil and shows how he may
be set free; text, Proverbs xiii, 80:
when shall awake? l will seek it yet
| again."
With an insight into human nature
| such as no other man ever had, Solomon
| in these words is skctching the mental
| process of man who has stepped aside
| from the path of rectitude and would like
| to return. Wishing for something better,
he says: when shall 1 awake? When
shall [ get over this horrible nightmare
of iniquity?" But seized upon by un,
by his passions he cries out: Il will seek
it yet again. | will try it once more"
About a mile from Princeton, N. j.,
there is a 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 comes the fatality. Alas, for
the one round morei 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. Complete maps of The voyage OF
life-the shoals, the rocks, the ,quicksands.
But suppose a young man Is already ship
wrecked, suppose he is already off the
L. l, cfpox
how can he get back? That is question
that remains unanswered, and amid all
the books of the libraries | find not one
word on that subject. To that class OF
persons | this day address myself.
You compare what you are now with
what you were three OF four years ago,
and are greatly disheartened. You ave
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.
| offer you the hand of welcome. and res
cue. l put the silver trumpet of the ,gos,,
pei 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 BAN
quet upon your return, and all the he
rarchs of heaven fall into line of ban
nered procession over your redemption.
Years ago, and while yet Albert Barnes
was living, 1 preached in his pulpit one
night to the young men of Phlladelphiaa;
In the opening of my discourse / SAID, "
Lord, give me one soul tonight! AT tne
close of the service Mr.. Barnes INTRO
duced young man, saying, Ihls Is tne
now It was a too limited prayer. | offer
no such prayer to-day. 1t must take IN
wider sweep. 'Lord, give us all these
souls to-day for happiness and heaven!"
So far as God may help me | propose to
show what are the obstacles to your re-
turn. and then how you are to surmoupt
those obstacles. The first difficulty. In the
way of your return is the force OF moral
gravitation. Just as there Is, natural
law which brings down to earth anything
YOU throw into the air, so there is cor
responding moral gravitation. l never
shall forget prayer I heard young man
make in the Young Mems Christian Asso-
citation Of New York. With trembling
voice and streaming eyes he said: ~
Cod, Thou lSnowest 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 gravitatlon.,
cia lh ' and bad associates. Which most
impressed you? During the last few years
YOU have heard pure anecdotes and i'm
1 I anecdotes. Which the easiest stuck
TO vour memory? You have had good hab-
its 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, fallen
soul may be lifted toward peace, towara
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. l know
there are those who say it is very easy for
them to give up evil habits. l cannot be-
lieve them. Here is man given to lntox'
ication, who knows it is disgracing his
family, destroying his property and rum
ing him body, mind and SOUL II that
man. being an intelligent man and LOVING
his family, could easily give up that habit,
wouid he not do so? The fact that he
does not give it up proves that 1t Is hard
70 give it up. Tt is a 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 it? As long as we yield to the evil in
c,inations 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 1t Is de-
stroying his health. The man replies, II
can stop that habit easy enough. lie
quits the use of the weed. He goes
around not knowing what to do with him,
SET. He cannot add up a column OF
iiourcs. he cannot sleep nights. 1t seems
as if the world had turned upside down.
lie feels his business is going to ruin.
Where he was kind and obliging he, is
scoldinc and fretful. The composure that
characterized him has given way to fret
FIJI rcstlcssness. and he has become COM
p,pte fidget What power is it that has
rolled wave of woe over the earth and
shaken portent in the heavens? He has
Quit tobacco. After awhile he. says: Il
am going to do as / please; the doctor
does not understand nv case. am going
hacl, to my old habits" And he returns.
Frerything assumes its usual composure.
His business seems to brighten. The
word becomes an attractive place to live
in His children, seeing the difference,
hail the return of their fathers genial dis.
position. What wave of color has dashed
hue into the sky and greenness into the
mountain foliage and the glow of sapphire
into the sunset? What enchantment has
lifted 4 world of beauty and JOY on his
soul? He has resumed tobacco.
The fact is we all know in our own eX-
rerence that habit is a taskmaster. AS
long as we obey it. it does not chastise us.
But let us resist it and we find that we
are lashed with scorpion whips and bound
with ship cable and thrown into the
track of bone breaking Juggernauts.