Witt Talma-f ,
nacle, Brooklyn:,
this evening. His subject
inatioa from Evil Habits ' and
Proverls xxiii, 33: "When shall I
I will seek it yet again." He raid
With an insight into human nature
Buch as no other man ever reached, Solo
mon, in my text, sketches the mental
operations of one who, having 6tepied
aside from the path of rectitude, desires
to return. With a wish for 6onu-lliing
lietter, ho Fays: "When shall I awake?
When fehall I como out of thu horrid
nightman) of iniquity?" Bat. seized
upon by uneradicated habit, and forced
down hill by his passions, ho crie3 out:
4 'I will seek it j-et again. I will try it
onco more."
Our libraries are adorned with an ele
gant literature addressed to young men,
jointing out to them all tho dangers and
Ierils of life completo maps of the voy
age, showing all the rocks, tho quick
sands, tho thoals. But suppose a man
has already iuado shipwreck; suppose ho
i already oil tho track; suppose he has
already gone astray, how is ho to get
back? That is n field comparatively un
touched. I propose to address myself
this evening to such. There are those in
this audience who, with every passion of
their agonized soul, are ready to hear
this discussion. They compare them
selves with what they were ten years
ago, and cry out from tho bondage in
which they aro incarcerated. Now, if
there be any in this house, como with an
earnest punjKwe, yet feeling they are be
yond the pale of Christian sympathy, and
that the sermon can hardly be expected
to address them, then, at this moment, I
give them my right hand and call them
brother. Look up. There is glorious
and triumplmnt hope for yon yet. I
sound the trumpet of gospel deliverance.
The church is ready to spread a banquet
at your return and tho hierarchs of
heaven to fall into line of bannered pro
cession at the news of your emancipa
tion. So far as God may help me, I
propose to show what are the obstacles
of your return, and then how you aro to
surmount 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 the earth anything which
you throw into the air, so there is a cor
responding moral gravitation. In other
words, it i3 easier to go down than it is
to go up; it is easier to do wrong than it
is to do right. Call to mind the comrades
o your boyhood days some of them
good, some of them bad. Which most
affected you? Call to mind the anec
dotes tiiat you have heard in the last five
or ten years some of them are pure and
some of them impure. Which the more
easily sticks to your memory! During
tho years of your life you have formed
certain courses of conduct some of them
good, some of them bad. To which style
of habit did you the more easily yield?
Ah! my friends, we have to take but a
moment of 6elf inspection to find out
that there is in all our souls a force of
moral gravitation. But that gravitation
may be resisted. Just as you may pick
up from tho earth something and hold it
in your hand toward heaven, just 60 by
tho power of God's grace a soul fallen
may be lifted toward peace, toward par
don, toward heaven. Force of moral
gravitation in every one of us, but powe.
iu God's grace to overcome that force cf
moral gravitation.
The next thing in the way of your re
turn is tho power of evil habit. I know
there are those who say it is very easy
for them to give up evil habits. I do not
believe them. Here is a man given to
intoxication. Ho knows it is disgracing
his family, destroying his property, ruin
ing him, body, mind and soul. If that
man, being an intelligent man, and lov
ing his family, could easily give up that
habit, would he not do so? The fact
that he does not give it up proves it is
hard to give it up. It is a very easy
thing to sail down 6tream, 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 inclination in our hearts and our
bad habits, we are sailing down stream ;
but the moment we try to turn, we put
our boat in the rapids just above Nia
gara, and try to row up stream. Take
a man given to the habit of using to
bacco, as most of you do, and let him
resolve to stop, and he finds it
very- difficult. Twenty-one years ago
I quit that habit, ana I would
as soon dare to put my right hand in the
fire as once to indulge in it. Why? Be
cause it was such a terrible struggle to
get over it. Now, let a man be advised
by his physician to give up the use of to
bacco. He goes around not knowing
what to do with himself. He cannot
add up a line of figures. He cannot sleep
nights. It seems as if the world lias
turned upside down. He feels his busi
ness is going to ruin. Where ho wa3
land and obliging he is scolding and fret
ful. The composure that characterized
him has given way to fretful restlessness,
and he has become a complete fidget.
What power is it that has rolled a wave
of woe over the earth and shaken a por
tent in the heavens? He has tried to 6top
smoking. After a while he 6ays: "I
am going to do as I please. The doctor
doesn't understand my case. I'm
going back to the old habit."
And he returns. Everything assumes its
usual composure. Hi3 business seems to
brighten. The world becomes an at
tractive place to live in. His children,
seeing the difference, hail the return cf
their father's genial disposition. What
wave of color haa dashed blue into tho
slrv, and greenness into the mountain
foliage, and the glow of sapphire into tho
sunset? What enchantment has lifted a
world of beauty and joy on his soul? Ho
has gone back to smoking. Oh, the fact
is, as we all know in our own experi
ence, that habit is a taskmaster; as long
as we obey it, it does not chastise us; but
let us resist, and wo find wo are. to bo
lashed with scorpion whips, and bound
with ship cable, and thrown into the track
a m spring i..
therefore will reduce nil leather goodi 20
it: below regular prices fur casdi onlr. C
V
Is iMarlzcd in Plain STigurc..,
grinds hi w
a determination to-keep Jui i .
dare not look at the bottles in the
dows of a wine store. It is one lo.w,
bitter, exhaustive, hand to - hand light
with inflamed, tantalizing ami merciless
habit. When he thinks he is entirely
free tho old inclinations pounce
upon him like a pack of hounds
with their muzzles tearing away at
tho flanks of one poor reindeer. In Paris
there is a sculptured representation of
Bacchus, the god of revelry. He is riding
on a panther at full leap. Oh, how sug
gestive. Let every one who i3 speeding
on bad waj's understand ho is not riding
a docile and well broken steed, but he is
riding a monster, wild and bloodthirsty,
going at a death leap. How many there
are who resolve on a better life, and say :
"When shall I awake?" But, seized on
by their old habits, cry: "I will try it
onco more; I will seek it yet again 1"
Years ago there were some Princeton
students who were Bkating, and the ice
was very thin, and some one warned the
company back from tho air hole, and
finally warned them entirely to leave the
place. But one young man with bravatlo,
after all the rest had stopped, cried out:
"One round more!" He swept around,
and went down, and was brought out a
corpse. My friends, there are thousands
and tens of thousands of men losing
their soul in that way. It is the one
round more.
I have also to say that if a man wants
to return from evil practices, society re
pulses him. Desiring to reform, he says:
"Now I will shake olF my old associates,
and I will find Christian companionship."
And he appears at the church door some
Sabbath day, and tho usher greets him
with a look, as much as to say: "Why,
you here? You are the Last man I ever
exiected to see at church! Come, take
this seat right down by the door." In
stead of saying: "Good morning; I am
glad you are here. Come; I will give
you a first rate seat, right up by the
pulpit." Well, the prodigal, not yet
discouraged, enters a prayer meeting,
and some Christian man, with more zeal
than common sense, says: "Glad to see
you ; the dying thief was saved, and I sup
pose there is mercy for you." The young
man, disgusted, chilled, throws himself
on his dignity, resolved he will never
enter ?nto the house of God again. Per
haps not quite fully discouraged aboui
reformation, he sides up by some highly
respectable man he used to know, going
down the street, and immediately the re
spectable man has an errand down some
other 6treet. Well, the prodigal wishing
to return tak&s some member of a Chris
tian association by the hand, or tries to.
The Christian young man looks at him,
looks at the faded apparel and the marks
of dissipation, instead of giving him a
warm grip of the hand, offers him the
tip ends of the long fingers of the left
hand, which is equal to striking a man in
the face! Ohl how few Christian people
understand how much force and gospel
there is in a good, honest hand shaking.
Sometimes, when you have felt the need
of encouragement, 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 just what
you neeeled? You do not know anything
at all about this unless you know when a
man tries to return from evil courses of
conduct he runs against repulsions in
numerable. We say of some man, he
lives a block or two from the church, or
half a mile from the church. There are
people in our crowded cities who live a
tbousand miles from church. Vast
deserts of indifference between them and
the house of God. The fact is we must
keep our respectability, though thousands
anil tens of thousands perish, Christ sat
with publicans and sinners. But if there
came to the house of God a man with
marks of dissipation upon him, people
almost threw up their hands in hoiTor, as
much as to say: "Isn't it shocking?'
How these dainty, fastidious Christians
in all our churches, are going to get into
heaven I don't know, unless they have
an especial train of cars, cushioned
and upholstered, each one a car to
himself. They cannot go with the great
horde of publicans and sinners. Oh ! ye
who curl your lips and scorn at the fallen,
I tell you plainly, if you had been sur
rounded by the same influences, instead
of sitting today amid tho cultured, and
the refined, and the Christian you would
have been a crouching wretch in 6table
or ditch, covered with filth and abomina
tion. It is not because you are naturally
any better, but because the mercy of
Goel has protected you. Who are you
that, brought up in Christian circles and
watched by Christian parents, you
should be so hard on the fallen ?
I think men also aro often hindered
from return by the fact that churches are
too anxious about their membership, and
too anxious about their denomination,
and they rush out when they see a man
about to give up hi3 sin and return to
God, and ask him how he is going to be j
baptized whether by sprinkling or im- I
mersion and what kind of a church he j
is going to join. Oh! my friends, it is
a poor time to talk about Presbyterian
catechisms, and Episcopal liturgies, and
Methodist love feasts, and fcapt jstrjes to a
man that is coming out of the darkness
of sin into the glorious light of the 'gos-ik-1.
Whv. it reminds me cf a man
drowning in the sea, and a lifeboat puts !
out for hmi, ana tne man in mo Doatsays
to the man out of the boat: "Now, if I get
you ashore, are you going to live on
my street?" First get him ashore, and
then talk about the non-essentials of re
ligion. Who cares what church ho
joins, if he only joins Christ and 6tart3
for heaven?" Oh! you ought to have,
my brother, an illumined face and hearty
Crip for every one that tries to turn from
his evil vray. Take bold of the came
the late war, 1 . . . .
went into the hospital ai.
'and said to a man; "Wbeie ...
hurt?" He made no answer but held
his arm, swollen and splintered. I saw
where ho was hurt. The simple fact is,
when a man ha3 a wounded soul, all ho
has to do is to hold it up before a sym
pathetic Lord and gpt it healed. It does
not take any long prayer. Just hold up
the wound. Oh, it is no small thing
when a man is nervous and weal: and
exhausted, coming from his evil ways, to
feel that God puts two omnipotent arms
around him, and says "Young man, I
will stand by you. The mountains may
depart, and tho hills be removed, but I
will never fail you." And then as the
soul thinks the news is too good to bo
true, and cannot believe it, and looks up
in God's face; God lifts h'i3 right hand
and takes an oath, an affidavit, saying:
"As I live, eaith the Lord God, I have no
pleasure in the death of him that dietli."
Blessed bo God for such a gospel as this.
"Cut the slices thin," said the wife to
the husband, "or there will not be
enough to go all around for the children;
cut tho slices thin." Blessed be God
there is a full loaf for every one that
wants it! Bread enough and to 6pare.
No si in slices at the Lord's table. I re
member when the Master Street hos
pital, in Philadelphia, was opened
during the war, a tele-gram came, saying:
"There will be three hundred wounded,
men to-night; be ready to take care
of them;" and from my church there
went in some twenty or thirty men and
women to look after these poor wounded
fellows. As they came, some from one
part of the land, some from another, no
one asked whether this man was from
Oregon, or from Massachusetts, or from
Minnesota, or from New York. There
was a wounded soldier, and the only
question was how to take oil the rags tho
most gently and put on the bandage, and
administer the cordial. And when a
soul comes to God, he does not ask where
you came from or what your ancestry
was. Healing for all your wounels. Par
don for all your guilt. Comfort fox all
your troubles.
Then, also, I counsel you, if you want
to get back, to quit all your bad associ
ations. One unholy intimacy will fill
your soul with moral distemper. In all
the ages of the church there has not been
an instance where a man kept one evil
associate and was reformed. Go home
today, open your desk, take out letter
paper, stamp and. envelope, and then
write a letter something like tins:
"My Old Companions I start this day
for heaven. Until I am persuaded you
will join me in this, farewell."
Then sign your name, and send the
letter by the first post. Give up your
bad companions or give up heaven. It is
not ten bad companions that destroy a
man, nor five bad companions, nor three
bad companions, nor two bad companions,
but one. What chance is there for that
young man I saw along the street, four
or five young men with him, halting in
front of a grogshop, urging him to go in,
lie resisting, violently resisting, until
after a while they forced him to go in?
It was a summer night and tho doer was
left open, and I saw the process. They
held him fast, and they put the cup to
his lips, anel they foiced down the strong
drink. What chance i3 there for such a
young man?
I counsel you, also, seek Christian ad
vice. Every Christian man is bound to
help you. If you find no other human
ear willing to listen to your story of
struggle, come to me and I will by every
sympathy of my heart, anil every prayer,
and every toil of my hand, stand besido
you in the struggle for reformation; and
as I hope to have my own sins forgiven
and hope to be acquitted at the judgment
seat of Christ, I will not betray you.
First of all, seek God, then seek Chris
tian counsel. Gather up all the energies
of body, mind and soul, and, appealing
to God for success, declare this d.iy
everlasting war against all drink
ing habits, all gaming practice?,
all houses of sin. Half and half work
will amount to nothing; it must be a
Waterloo. Shrink back now and you
are lost. Push on and you are saved. A
Spartan general fell at the very moment
of victory, but he dipped 13 finger in his
own blood and wrote on a rock near
which he was dying: "Sparta has con
quered." Though your struggle to ret
rid cf sin may seem to be almost a death
struggle, you can. dip your finger in
your own blood and write on the
Bock of Ages: "Victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ." " Ohl what glo
rious news it would bo for some of
these young men to send home -to their
parents in the country. They go to the.
postofiice every day or two to see if there
are any letters from you. How anxious
they aro to hear ! Nothing would pleace
them half so much as the news you
might send home to-morrow that you
had given your heart to God. I know
how it is in the country. The tight
comes on. The cattle stand under t he
rack, through which burst the trusses r
hay, The horses, just having frisked
at nightfall, stand knee deep in tl.e
Lright straw that invites them to I t
down and rest. The pen h of the hove,'
i3 full of fowl, their feet wtrsa under t! ;
f withers. In the old farm h""--at
night no candle is lighted, fvr
tho flames clap their liancU about the
great backlog, and shake the shallow of
the group up and elown tho wall. Father
and mother sit there for half an hour,
Baying nothing. - I wonder what they
pro thinking of. After o while tLe
father- breaks the silence and says:"
"Well, I wonder where our boy is L
town to-night;" and the mother answers ;
ii ..
borhoou. ... lou-.i for forgive.nt.ss aa
you may over the mound in the church
yard, they will not answer. Deael!
De-ad! And then you will take out tho
white lock of hair that was cut from
your mother's brow just l?fore they
buried her, and you will take tho
cane with which your father used
to walk, and you will think and think,
and wish that you had done just as they
wanted you to, and would give the world
if you had never thrust a pang through
th'ir dear old hearts. God pity the
young man who has brought disgrace on
his fathe r s name. " God pity the young
man who has broken his mother 'a heart.
Better if he had never been born better
if, in (he first hour of his life, . instead of
being laid against the warm bosom of
maternal tenderness, ho had been cof
fined and sepulchred. There is no balm
powerful enough to heal the he-art of ono
who haa Lrought parents to a sorrowful
grave, and who wanders about through
me uismai cemeierv, renumg uie air
and wringing the hands, and crying;
"Mother! mother!" Oh, that to-day,
by all the.memories of the past, and by
:ll the hope's of tho future, you would
yield your heart to Gxl. May your
lather's God and your mother's God be
your Goel forever.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Another English industry asparagus
beds are being laid down in Kent in
great area.
Atlantic steamships are still encounter
ing logs from the great raft which wa3
broken in pieces about two and a half
mouths ago.
A sensible celebration of the silver
wedding of the Prince and Princess of
Wales will be a tea to 1,000 poor children
in Folkestone.
A Baltimore eompany i3 going to try
to heat and sharpen horseshoes without
removing them from the horse's hoofs.
All the police stations in New York aro
to be painted white, so that they may be
easily recognized by strangers anel others.
The archbishop of Canterbury pays that
one of the greatest evils by which tho
working classes are afflicted is tho cus
tom of early marriages.
A hard worked dry goods clerk o:
Waterbury, Conn., dreamed the ofhr
night that he sold a number of drtsrf
patterns to a customer. When he awoke
he found that he had torn the sheets itito
strips in lus dream.
A check for $2,000,000, drawn on a
national bank in Sheffield. Ala., recently
passed between two merchants of that
place. Jt was ono of the largest, if not
the largest, cheek erer drawn in the
Elate.
At the trial of a Wooster, O., man for
murder it was brought out in the course
of the testimony that at the outbreak of
the war he had himself convicted of
sheep stealing in order that ho might
avoid military service by going to the
penitentiary.
Among novel knickknacks intended a
presents for ladies are ball programmes,
not just for one evening, but fer Eever.il
seasons. One of tl.era is book shaped
with the lids tiny mirrors bound in gold.
On the inside are ivory tablets, on wlch
the names of the favored partners ma
be written with a jeweled pencil.
A tropical dinner given in Philadelphia
was the height of luxury. Twenty courses
were served, and a bouquet of ten straw
berries was placeel before each guest.
Roman punch was served in oranges
hanging on natural trees, so that tiie
guests coulel pluck their own fruit. The
floral decorations were all tropical.
A. citizen of Srnithville, Ga., says that
the" other morning, hearing a voice in an
old log pen by the roadside, he looked in.
He saw an aged and dilapidated stranger
on his knees praying: "Oh Lord, soften
the hearts of the people that I may not
lack for bread as I go along." In an
swer to questions tho tramp 6aid that he
never failed to get bread when he prayed
for it, and that he never failed to pray.
Randolph county, in West Virginia,
lias many things to be prouel of. Its area
is nearly as great as tlmt of Rhoele Island.
It has the highest mountain in the st'.o
Mount Bayard. The Wilson vein cf
coal 13 tho richest in tho world. ILg
Scott family, on Roaring creek, v.iil out
weigh any family in the United Stal-r.v
and Winchester park, in the cou:r.v, i j i
;he largest game preserve east cf tL.
Rockies.
Loading Tror.t w!h rvbblcu.
The citizens of Virginia, Nov., hav;. :
complained that the Lake Tthoe fish r ;
men cheated Ihvci I y fcrcirsrt dow;i
threat of each trout caug'-t as i : '
unco'ih iebble-3 c;3 it would held.. V :
the Virgininns objected to buying r
by the pound r.t trout rr.'.es. tho :
men wore in::;giiaiit. They :i '
tV.cv had u.t bv.ni chca:i-:g. but t:
.cr-.t !' d swa "lowed the r.toncs u-
1;.:: f. -.s the l.ik wr.ii of great i, .
f-::d h:. 1 eiil.tt irr.ean pa vuges toDoi; .
l.-.ke. cud that thi trout had to ewalic.
the stones in order to sink deep enough
to find the passages. Tliis explanation
was not entirely satisfactory. New York
Sun.
Mrs. Garrett Anderson, the leading
woman physician of England, makes ar
Income of 10,000 a year.
,A 5 00 20 per cent, dif count 0
..- lA 4 :0 " " 3 60
vii-Li iJongola 4 00 " , " 3 20
Ladies' Bright Dongo a 00 ' " " 3 40
Lades' Kid..." 2 25 . " " 1 fO
Dadiea' Peb. Goat 2 50 " " " 2 00
Ladies' Pel. (Unit 2 25 " 1 0
Men's Burt Shoes 8 00 " " " 6 40
Men's Shoos 4 50 " " 3 60
Men's Shoes ... 3 75 " " ' 3 00
Men's Shoes . , ... 2 f.O " " " 2 00
Childrens "Little (iiant School Slices," the Lest in the market, iim
reduction. .Now is your chance to lay in a cheap "euppljr.
L. I). B E T T E T T.
JUST RECEIVED.
I have just received Neufchated Cheese,
Edam Cheeco.
Bosuia Prunes, Macedoni a Prunes , Cal i for
nia and Turkish Prunes.
Celery Relish; Clam Chowder; Beef Tea
very fine.
Fresh Dates and Figs; Oranges, Bananaa,
cheap.
NETT.
STABLGQ
iUve anything you wane frc n. a two wheeled go cart to a fwcntjfot r
passenger wagon.
. Rd i
0 PLEASURE AND
SHORT . DRIVE,
always kept ready. Cals or tiht carnages, pall-haarer wagon
and cverythir.g !' fiiiierahii"! ihed ; phort notice. Termt cat
iWk i B H lPE?FAflM ANH0ALFdai888
h'A M .72 E.S? f3 v Will bo Mut FKEE to ail who wrr tnt . !!
3 EsSl 6V l l SS Z-:rvi llC far t?" Hnd.Tino Book A 128 bb.. whd biUfa of iBh. I
3 2 i37j& fcJG5 M 13 li fc-V-j Wkrjg U-u:ui Colored Plate, and ulUtii Ik. 1 1
asm
i. r iScf rent vni . wlLcli cannot b obtained elsmraara Smd aZiM
kiBiiS? S Jon s postal for the nioftt complete .'tniirMe rnt'lUhtid tot
W, ATi.EE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA. fXj
IMPORTERS
SANGER, Bfl?rt .
wv-". . '
SP HARDWAKL
JOBBERS
KAILS, y " ffgji
C77IS7,
T1CXL3 ft
22, 24, 2S, 23, 30 & 32 Lake Street,
CmCAOO. ILLS.
liurrv ilmr. bu.-;iK- uu.r:;f-r f tr Uo
1 ud R-t-cl, in th-city Ut night, and
i s't ti-i' IT u CiiT," w'.ii-1' i the cm
a xt ttun a.
Itch. Marge, and scratches of erery
kind on human or animals cored in f9
minutes by Woolford's Sanitary Lotion.
Tbi never fails. Sold by JF. O. Trick
& Cv. dragon t, FlatUmontb Neb.
