Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-11-13

81 \ this discourse DIR. TalmAge deplcts
the struggle OF a man who desires llh-
g. Grafton from the enthrallment of evil
and shows how he may be set free; text,
Proverbs xiii. 80, When shall |
awake? / 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 4 man who has stepped
aside from the path of reetitude ana
would ike to return. Wishing for some
thing better, h says: When shail
awake! When shall / get over this hol-
rible nightmare of iniquity* But, seized
upon by uneradicated appetite and push
ed down hill by his passions, he cried out;
II will seek it yet again. | will try 1t
once more!
So far as God may help me propose
10 show what are the obstacles TO your
return and then how you are 70 surmount
those obstacles The first difficulty in
the way of your return is the force OF
moral gravitation. Just as there is a nat
ural law which brings down to earth any
thing you throw into the air, so there is
corresponding moral gravitation. / new
er shall forget a prayer | heard young
man make in the Young Mems Christian
Association of New York. With trem-
bling 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 do right! God help met 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 inn
last fnN r
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 gravtation may be resisted. just
You may pick up anything from the
earth and hold it in your hand toy 4rd
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
for them to give up evil habits. | 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, 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 scream.
Slavery to Habit.
A physician tells his patient that he
must quit the use of tobacco. as it is de-
stroying 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 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.
Where he was kind and obliging he is
scolding and fretful. The composure that
characterized him has given way to
rretful restlessness, and he has become
complete 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:
81 am going to do as | please The doc
tor does not understand my case. | am
going back to my old habits" And he re-
turns Everything assumes its usual com
posure. His business seems TO brighten.
The world becomes an attractive place to
live in. His children, seeing the differ
enee. hail the return of their fathers
genial disposition. What wave of color
has dashed blue into the sky, and green
ness into the mountain foliage, and the
glow of sapphire into the sunset? What
enchantment has lifted world of beauty
and joy on his soul? He has res I'M, d to-
bacco.
The facf is. we ali know in Our own ex-
perience that habit is taskmaster. As
long as we obey it it does not chastise
u.s. but let us resist, and we find that we
are dashed with scorpion whips and
bound with ship cable and thrown into
the track of bone breaking Juggernauts,
Suppose a man Of five or ten or twenty
years IF cvildoing resolves to do right.
why are all the forces of darkness allied
against him? He gets down on his knees
in the midnight and cries, God help
met He bites his lip. He grinds his
teeth. He clinches his fist in deter
mination TO keep to his purpose. H dare
not look at the bottles in the window of
wine store. 1t is one long, bitter. ex-
haustive. hand-to-hand fight with inflam-
ed, tantalizing merciless habit When
he thinks he is entirely free, the old in
clination pounccs upon him like pack of
hounds all their muzzles tearing away
at the TANKS of one poor reindeer
| have also 10 say If a man wants 20
return from evil practices society re-
pulses him. The prodigal. wishing to re-
turn, tries to take some professor of re
ligion by the hand. The professor of re-
ligon looks at him. looks at the faded APP
parel and the marks of dissipation, and
instead of giving him firm grip of the
hand offers him the tip end of the longer
fingers of the left hand. which is equal
to striking a man in the face. Oh, how
few Christian people understand how
much gospel there is in a good, honest
hand shaking, Sometimes when you have
felt the need of encoura cement and some
Christian man has taken you heartily By
the hand. have you not felt thrilling
through every fiber Of your body. mind
and soul an encouragement that was jI,at
what You needcdf
The ProIiGai'- Return.
The prodigal, wishing to get into good
society. enters a prayer meeting. Some
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