Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-28

~. So"olnuo 70 i've at the same
fasio. They saw the wien and paralvt;c
bankers who had changed their souls into
molten gold stamped with the IMAGE Of
the earth, earthly. They saw some ors.t
Souls oy avarice turned into homuncnl;
anu tney said to themselves: 81 will saat
atter higher treasure" From that tima
tney did not care whether they walked or
rode II Christ walked with tbem. nor
whether they lived in a mansion or a hut
II they dwelt under the shadow of tho Al.
mighty; nor whether they were robed in
french broadcloth or ina Homeopathic hev
nad the robe of the S%aviour's righteous.
ness; nor whether they were sandaled with
morocco or calfskin # they were washed
with the preparation of the gospel. Now
you see peace on their countenance. Now
that man says.
What a fool I was to be enchanted with
this world! Why, 1 nave more satisfac.
zion IN i've minutes in the service of God
than L had in all the first years of nv life
while L was gain getting. like this even.
ing OF my day a great deal better than I
did the morning. In the morning I
greedily devoured the prey; but now it is
evening, and I am %gloriously dividing the
SPOIL"
My friends, this world is a poor thing to
hunt. 1t is healthful to go out in the woods
and hunt. 1t rekindles the luster 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-mouthed Meg, going of in the
summer in the forests, had It's echo
in the winter time in the eloquence that
rang through the university hall of Edin.
burg. 1t is healthy to go hunting in the
field: but l tell you that it is belittling and
bedwarfing and belaming for a 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 a 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 it was with Cole.
ridge. So it was with Catherine of Rus
STA. Henry II. went out hunting for this
world and it's lances stuck through his
heart. Francis I. 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 win
dow of her castle:
From the top of all my trust
Mishap hath laid me in the dust.
The Queen dowager of Navarro was Of
fArn6 for hoN vuod1inr 1o, n o-,kI- --l
beautiful pair of gloves, and she put them
on, but they were poisoned gloves and they
took her life. Better a bare hand of cold
privation than a warm and poisoned glove
of ruinous success.
"Oh," says some young man in the au-
dience, II believe what you are preaching.
am going to do hat very thing. In the
morning of my life I am going to devour
the prey, and in the evening I shall divide
the spoil of Christian character. L only
want a little while to SOW my wild oats
n then I will be good"
Young man, did you ever take the cen.
sus of all the old people! How many old
people are there in your house? One, two
or none: How many in a vast assemblage
like this? Only here and there a bald
head, like the patches of snow here and
there in the fields on a 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 sixty, before they
get 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.
He who p%ostpones 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?
| They never got to be old. The railroa d
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 lave 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 I
not do think they would take two minutes
to persuade us all to repentance. They
chased tho world and they died in the
chase. The wounded tiger turned on them.
They failed to take the game that they
pursued. Mounted Oh a 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 yet unpardoned, it is no
encouragement to the young who are putt
ting off the day of grace. This doctrine
thai 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 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 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 tram
sition in the character Of these Benjamin
ties! -
49, ~a-~-