The Brookhaven leader., 1886-05-20

ton in Eve minutes in the service Of God
than had in all the Hrst years Of my life
! while 1 was gain getting. like this even
| ing Of nv day q great deal better than l
| did the morning. In the morning I
| greedily devoured the prey; but now it is
evening, and l am glorsously dividing the
spoil"
| Ny friends, this world Is a poor thing o
hunt II is healthful to 90 out in the woods
and hunt. 1t rekindles the luster OF the
/ eye. II strikes the brown Of the autumnal
leaf into the cheek. 1t gives TO the
rheumatic limbs a strength to leap like the
roe. Christopher North's pet gun, the
muckle-mouthed Meg, going of in the
summer in the forests. had its echo
in the winter time in the eloquence that
| rang through the university hall of Edin-
burg. It is healthy to 90 hunting in the
/ field; but I tell you that II is belittling and
/ bedwarfng and bslaming for man to
! hunt this world. The hammer comes down
on the gum cap and the barrel explodes
and kills you instead Of that which you
are pursuing. When you turn out to hunt
the world, the world turns out to hunt
| you; and as many q sportsman aiming his
! gun at a panther's heart has gone down
| under the striped claws, so while you have
| been attempting to devour this world, the
world has been devouring you. So it was
! with Lord Byron. So il was with Cole
! ridge. So il was with Catherine Of Rus
STA. Henry II. went out hunting for this
world and its lancss stuck through his
heart. Francis l. aimed at the world, but
/ the assassin's dagger put an end 70 his
ambition aud his life with one stroke.
Mary. Queen of Scots, wrote on the win
/ dow of her castle:
From the top OF all my trust
Mishap hath laid me in the dust
J The Queen dowager Of Navarro was Of
fered for her wedding day costly and
beautiful pair of gloves, and she put them
on, but they were poisoned glove, and they
took her life. Better bare hand of cold
privation than a warm and poisoned glove
of ruinous success.
oh saws some young man in the au'
/ dience, II believe what YOU are preaching.
am going to do that very thing. In the
morning of my life am going 10 devour
the prey, and in the evening / shall divide
the spoil of Christian character. | only
want little while to SOW my wild oats
/ and then will be good"
Young man. did you ever take the GEN.
sus OF all the old people! How many old
people are there in your house: One, two
or none: How many in a vast assemtlage
like thls: Only here and there bald
head, like the patches of snow here and
there in the fields on a late April day.
The ia is that the tides of the years are
so strong that men go down under them
I,.FI- ~ 10 - IaFS fl,.x-
ge: to be fifty. before they get to be forty,
before they get to be thirty; and if you,
my young brother, resolve now that you
will spend the morning of your days in
devouring the prey. the probability is that
you will never divide the spoil in the eve-
ming hour.
H. who postpones until old age the reli-
gion Of Jesus Christ, postpones it forever.
Where are the men who, thirty years ago,
resolved to become Christians in old age,
putting it off a certain number Of years?
| Thoy never got to be old. The railroad
collision or the steamboat explosion or the
slip on the ice or the falling ladder or the
sudden cold put an end TO their opportuni-
ties. They have never had an opportunity
since and never will have An opportunity
again. They locked the door of Heaven
against their soul and they threw away
the key, and if they could now break jail
and come up shrieking to this audience !
not do think they would take two minutes
to persuade us all to repentance. They
chased the world and they died in the
chase. The wounded tiger turned on them.
They failed to take the game that they
pursued. Mounted on a swift courser they
10 tba I,pt ha fall
them and crushed them. Proposing to
barter their sou, for the world, they lost
both and got neither.
While this is an encouragement TO old
people who are yet unpardoned, II is no
encouragement to the young who are put
ting off the day of grace. This doctrine
that the old may be repentant is to be
taken cautiously. 1t is medicine that kills
or cures The same medicine given to diff
ferent patients i'll one case saves life and
in the other destroys it. This possibility
OF repentance at the close of life may cure
the Old man while it kills the young. Be
cautious in taking it.
Again, my subject is descriptive Of those
! who come to a sudden and radical change.
You have noticed how short time il is
from morning 20 night in the winter
eight or ten hours. You know that a win
ter day has a very brief life The heart
of the longest day beats twenty -four times
and then it is dead. How quick the tran
sition in the character of these Benjamin.
ties
In the morning they shall devour the prey
and at night they shall divide the spoil.
Is it possible that there shall be such q
| transformation in any of our characters!
| Yes, man may be at seven O'Clock in
the morning an all-devouring wording,
and at seven o'clock at nj ght he may he a
! peaceful distributve Christian. CONVEX
| sion is instantaneous. A man passes into
the Kingdom of God quicker than down
! the sky runs the zig-zag lightning.
| man may be anxious about his soul for a
| great many wears; that does not make
/ him Christian. A man may pray a
/ great while; that does not make him a
/ Christian. A man may resolve on the
| reformation of his character and have
| that resolution going on a great while,
that does not make him a Christian. But
! the very instant when he filings his soul on
| the mercy of Jesus Chris, that instant is
| lustraton, emancipation, resurrection.
| Up to that point he is going in the wrong
direction; after that point he is going in
the right direction. Before that moment
he is child of sin: after that mo-
ment he is a child of God. Before that
moment, hellward; after that moment,
! heavenward. Before that moment, devour-