Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-05-28

L1lbAt AlitN KEY ~ AN I'm " anu II loAs NY
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
H. who postpOles until old age the religion
Of Jesus Christ, postpones it forever Where
are the men who, thirty years ago, resolved
TO become Christians in old are, putting
II Off certain number of years
They 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
opportunities. They have never had an op-
portunity STAGE and never will have an OPP
portunitv again. They locked the door of
Heaven against their souls and they threw
away the keys; and if they could now break
jail and come up shrieking to this audience,
do not think they would take two minutes TO
persuade us all torepentance. They chased the
world and theYdied in tie chase. The wounded
tiger turned ON them. They failed to take the
game that they pursued. Mounted on q swift
cOursar they leaped the hedge, but the courser
fell ON them and crushed them. Proposing to
barter their soul for the world they lost both
aud got neither.
While this is an encouragement to old peo-
pie who are yet unpardone1, it Is no encour-
agement to the young who are putting off
the day OF grace This doctrine that the old
may be repentaut is to be taken cautiously.
II is medicine that kills or cures. The same
medicine given to different patients in one
case saves life and in the other destroys it,
This ros ,ibility of repentan g 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 coma to sudden aud radical change.
You have noticed how short time it is from
morning to night in winter-eight or ten
hours. You know that a winter day has a
l., Il,
beats twenty-four times and then it is dead.
How quick the transition in the chara cter of
these Baniaminites! ''In the morning they
shall devour the prey, and at night they
sha divide the SOL" Is it possible
that there shall be such trans
formation in any of our characters
Yes. man may be at seven o'clock IL the
morning an a,l-devOuring wording, and at
seven o'clock at night he may be peaceful
dissributive Christian. Conversion is in
st infamous. Aman IazSas into the kingdom
OF God quicker than down the sky runs the
Hg-zag lightning. a man may be anxious
about his so Il for a great many years; that
does no. ma &c him a Christian. A man may
pray a great while; that does not make him a
Christian. \ man may resJlve on the retor-
nation of his character and have that rezo-
III ion going on a great while that dos not
ma re him Christian. But the very instant
when he filings his soul on the mercy Of
Jeu; Christ, that instant is lus5ratlon,
emancipation, resurrection. Up to that
point he is going in the wrong direction;
after that point he is going in the right di-
re ton. Before that moment he Is child
sin after that MON INT he is child of God.
Before thai moment, hellward; after that
moment, heavenward Before that moment,
devouring the prey; after that moment, di-
vding the spoil Five minut IS is as good
as five years, Ny haarer, you know very
well that the best things you have done yoI
have done in a flash. You made up your
mimi in an Instant t. buy or to sell
or to invest or TO stop OF to start.
If YOU had missed that one chance you
woull hare misc it forever. Now just as
PIE ipitate AMI quick and spontaneous will
be the ransom of your soul. This morning
you are making a calculation. You are on
the rack of some financial or social game.
With your Pen or pencil you are pursuing it..
This very morning you are devourlng the
prey; but tonight you will be in different
mod. You fnl that all heaven is offered you.
You wonder how you can get it for yourself
and family. You wonder what resources it
will give you now and hereafter. You are
divi ling peace and comfort and satisfaction
aud Christian reward in your soul. You are
dividing the spoil.
On Sabbath night at the close of the SER
vice, said to some persons: when did you
IfSG DECO he serious ooOuG your Soul! anu
they told me: "To-night.n And | said to
Others "Wtea did you give your heart to
God:' and they said: Tonight" And
said to still others: "Wheu did you resolve
to serve the Lord a l the days of your lifeH'
and they said: "Tonight" | saw by their
apparel that when the grace of God strdck
them they wer9 devouring the prey; but I
saw also in the flood of joyful tears, and in
the kindling raptures on their brow and in
u, III, owl Ior MT nd nj
that they We're dividing the spoil. AT night
with one touch of e,e ;tricity al these Ii hts
blaze Oh, would TO God that the darkne S
of your souls might be broken up, and that
by one quick overwhelming, instantaneous
flash CT illumination you might be brought
into the light AMI the liberty of the sons of
God!
You see that religion is a different thing
from what some of you people supposed.
You thought it was daca dance; you thought
religion was emaciation you thought it was
hie hway robbery; thatit struck one down aud
left him half dead that it plucked out the
eyes; that it plucked out the plumes of tbs
soll; that it broke the wing and crushed tbs
baak as it came clawing with its black talons
through the air. No, that is not religion. What
/ is religion? 1t is dividing the SPOIL. 1t is tax
ing defens 2less soul and panoplying it fol
eternal conquest. 1t is the distribution OF
prizes by the Kings hand: every medal
stamped wi .ha coronation. 1t is an eXhil-
aration, an expansion. 1t is imparadisaUion.
1t is enthrone nent. Religion makes man
master of EARTH and death, and hell. Il
j goes forth to gather the medals of victory
won by Prince Emmanuel, an the dia1emS
Of heaven and the glories of realms terres
trial and celestial, and then, after
ranging all words for everything that IS
Respondent, it divides the spoil. What was
/ it that James Tnrner, the famous English
evangelist, was doing when in his dying
moment he said: "Christ is all! Christ il
al ~ Why, he was entering into light; he
was rounding the Cape of Good Hope; h
was dividing the spoil What was the aged
Christian QuakcresS doing when at g ghty
| years OF age she arose in the meeting on
day and said: THE time of my departure
! is come. Ny grave clothes are falling off.
She was dividing the spoil.
'She longed with wings to fly away,
And mix with that eternal day
What is Daniel now doing the lion tanner
and Elijah, who was drawn by the flaming
coursersl and Paul. the rafting of who's
chains ma lie kings quaker and all the othe
victims of flood and fire and wreck and gull
lotine! Where are they! Dividing the spoi
( "Ten thousand times ten thousand,
In sparkling raiment bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints
Throng upthe sleeps of light.
"'TiS fnislrl, all is finished,
Their fight with death and sin,
Lit high your golden gates
I Aud let the victors in"
Oh, what grand thing it is to be a Chris
tian! We begin on earth to divide the spoil
bat the distribution will not be completed +
a / eternity. There is a poverty-struck soul
tlCr, is a busine Ss-des0oled soul, there is
sin-s,ruc& soul, there is bereaved soul
why do You not come and get the spoil
Cf Christian character, the comfort, tn
| joy, the lea-e the salvation that
am seut 10 Offer you in my Mas
terS names. Though your knees knoc
together in weakness though your ham
tI. lln In fnar thnn III Nrn11I. nvns In Ton