St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-10

go out in the woods and hunt. 1t re-
kindles the lustre of the eye. 1t 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-
mounted Meg, going off in the summer in
the forests. had its echo in the winter time
in the eloQuence that rang through the uni
verSity halls of Edinburgh. 1t is healthy
to go hunting in the fields; but l tell you it
is belittling and bedwarfing and belaming
for man to hunt this world. The ham
mer comes down on the gun 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 a sportsman
aiming his gun at panther's heart has
gone down under the striped claws, so
while you have been attempting to devOur
| thisBaworld, the crowd has been de-
vouring you. So it was with Lord Byron:
So it was with COleridge. So it was with
Catherine of Russia. Henry II. went out
hunting for this world and its lances stuck
through his heart. Francis l. aimed at the
world, but the asSassin's dagger put an end
to his ambition and his life with one stroke.
Mary, queen of Scots, wrote on the window
of her castle:
From the top of all my trust
Mishap has laid me in the dust.
The Queen Dowager of Navarro was
offered for her wedding day costly and
beautiful pair of gloves and she put them
on but they were poisoned gloves and
THEY TOOK HER LIFE.
Better bare hand of cold privation than
a warm and poisoned glove of ruinous sue
cess '1)h - ms in ho
audience, 81 believe what you are preach
ing. l am going to do that very thing. In
the morning of my life am going to de-
YOUR the prey and in the evening shall di-
vide the Spoils of Christian character. I
only want little while to SOW my wild
oats and then / will be good" Young
man. did you ever take census of all the
old people? How many old people are
there in your house? One, two. or none?
How many in vast assemblage like this?
Only here and there gray head, like the
patches of snow here and there in the
fields on late April day. The fact is that
the tides of the years are so strong that
men go down under them before they get
to be 60, before they get to be so, before
they get to be 40, before they get to be So;
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
evening hour. He who postpones until
old age the religion of Jesus Christ post
pones it forever. Where are the men who,
thirty years ago, resolved to become Chris
tians in old age. putting it off a number of
years? They never got to be old. The
railroad collision, or the steamboat explo-
sion, or the slip on the ice, or
THE FALLING LADDER
or the sudden cold put an end to their
opportunities. 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 1 do not think
they would take two minutes to per-
suade 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 swift courser they leaped the
hedge, but the courser fell on them and
crushed them. Proposing to barter their
soul for the world, they lost both
and got neither. While this is
an encouragement to old people.
who are unpardoned, it is no encourage
ment to the young who are putting off the
day OF grace. This doctrine that the old
may be repentant should be taken eau
tiously. 1t is medicine that kills or
cures. The same medicine given to differ
ent patients in 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 a
time it is from morning to night in winter
eight or ten hours. You know that
A WINTER DAY
has a very brief life The heart of the
longest day beats twenty-four times and
then it is dead. How quick the transition
i'll the character of these Benjaminites! I'm
the morning they shall devour the prey,
and at night they shall divide the
spoil" Is it possible that there
shall be such transformation in any of our
charters? Yes. man man may be at Z
o'clock in the morning an all-devouring
wording, ard at o'clock at night he may
be a peaceful distributive Christian.
Conversion is instantaneous. A man
passes into the kingdom of God quicker
biAtlii oOWu viz ohy lpllo tilC -ZdS llSIll-
ming. A man may be anxious about his
soul for great many years; 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 re-
formation of his character and have tina.
resolution going on great while
that does not make him Christian. But
the very instant when he filings his soul on
the mercy of Jesus Christ, that instant is
lustration, 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
A CHILD OF SIN;
after that moment he if a child of God. Be-
fore that moment, hellward; after that mo-
ment, heavenward. Before that moment
devouring the prey: after that moment di-
viding the spoil. Five minutes is as good
as five years. My nearer. you know
very well that the best things
you have done you have done
in flash. You made up your mind in an
instant to buy or to sell or to invest or to
stop or to start. If you had missed that
one chance you would have missed it for
ever. Now just as precipitate and quick
and spontaneous will be the ransom of your
soul. This morning you are making a
calculation. You are on the track of some
financial or social game. With your pen OF
pencil you are pursuing it. This very
morning you are devouring the prey; but
tonight you will be in different mood.
You find that all heaven is offered YOU You
wonder how you can get it for your
self and for your family. You wonder
what resources it will give you now and
hereafter. You are dividing peace and
comfort and satisfaction and Christian re-
ward in your soul. You are dividing the
spoil.
Jay GOuld's Hand.
CLEVELAND, May 9.-The announce