The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1901-12-12
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. u
Washington,
In this discourse DR.. Talmage de-
picts the struggle of man who de-
sires liberation from the enthrau-
ment of evil and shows how he may
be set free; text, Proverbs 1885:
when shall l 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 1 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: Il will seek it yet again.
l will try it once more!"
About mile from Princeton, N.
j., there is 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 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-
CANT 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
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 question that remains un-
answered, and amid all the books of
| the libraries l 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
cheer! Your best days are yet to
come. I offer you the hand of well
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 a banquet
upon your return, and all the
hierarchs of Heaven fall into line OF
hammered procession over your re.
demption.
So far as God may help me 1 pro.
pose to show what are the obstacles
to your return and how you are to
surmount those bstacles. 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 a cor
responding moral gravitation.
never shall forget a prayer 1 heard q
young man make in the Young Mem.
Christian association of New York
With trembling voice and streaming
eyes he said: 20 God Thou knowest
how easy it is for me to do wrong
and how hard it is for me to de-
right! God help mel" That mar
knows not his own heart who ha.
never felt the power of moral grav
itation.
In your boyhood you had good asso
ciates and bad associates. Which mos
1 impressed you? During the last few
years you have heard pure anecdote.
and impure anecdotes. Which tn.
easiest stuck in your memory? Yol
have had good habits and bad habits
To which did your soul more easil,
yield? But that moral gravitation ma,
be resisted. just as you may pick vi
anything from the earth and hold i
in your hand toward heaven, just so
by the power of Gods grace, a falle1
soul may be lifted toward peace, to
ward pardon, toward salvation. TIL,
force of moral gravitation is in ever,
one of us, but also power in Gods grac,
to overcome that force.
The next thing in the way of you,
return is the power of evil habit.
know there are those who say it i
very easy for them to give up evil hab
its. 1 cannot believe them. Here is
man given to intoxication, who know
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, coul
give up that habit, would he not d
so? The fact that he does not Civ
1t up proves that it is hard to give
up. 1t is very easy thing to sail dow
stream, the tide carrying you wit
great force; bur suppose you turn tn
boat up stream, is it so easy then t
row it? AS long as we yield to tn
evil inclinations in cur heart and