The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-16

stuck through his heart Francis / aimed at
the world, but the assassns 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 hath 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 warm and
poisoned glove of ruinous success 'Oh, says
some young in the audience, II believe
what you are preaching am going to do that
very thing In the morning of my life arm go
ing to devour the prey, and in the evening l
shall divide the spoil of Christian character. l
only want little while to sow my Wild oats,
and then / will be good" Young man, did you
ever take the census of all the old peoplei How
many old people there in your housed One,
two or nones How many in vast assemblage
like this2 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 strong that men go down I'M
der them before they get tob sixty; before they
get to be fifty before they get to be forty; before
| my young brother, resolve that
you will spend the morninx. of your days in de-
yourng 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 postpones it forever. Where are the
men who thirty years ago, resolved to become
| Christians in old age putting it eff a GER
| tain number of years. They never got to be old
| The railroad collision or the steamboat explo-
sion or the slip on the ice the falling ladder
or the sudden cold, put an end to their opportu-
mites. 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, do not 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 a swift courser, they leaped the
| hedges 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 announcement to old people,
| who are yet unpardoned, it is no encouragement
| TO the young who are putting off the day of
| grace This doctrine that the old may be re-
pentant is to be taken cautiously. 1t is medicine
that kills or cures. The Same medicine given to
different patients, in one case saves life and i'll
the other destroys it. This possibility of re-
pentance 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 it was from morning to
night in winter-eght or ten hours You know
| that winter day has very brief llfe The
heart of the longest day beats twenty four times
| and then is dead. How quick the transition in
the character of these Benjaminites. I'm the
morning they shall devour the prey and at
night they shall divide the spoils." Is
| it possible that there shall be such =
| transformation in any of our characters!
| Yes man may be at Z o'clock In the
| morning all-devouring wording, and at
| 7 o'clock at night he may be peaceful, distrib-
| utive Christian. Conversion is instantaneous.
| A man passes into the kingdom of God quicker
than down the sky runs the zgzag lightning. A
| man may be anxious about his soul for a great
many years; that does not make him Christian
| A may pray a great while: that does not
| make him a Christian. man may resolve on
| the reformation of his character, and have that
| resolution going on great while; that does not
| make him a 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
| child of sin; after that moment he is child of
| God. Before that moment. helward; after
| that moment, heavenward. Before that moment,
! devourng the prey after that moment. dividing
| the spoil Five minutes is as good as five years.
| NV 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
sell, or to invest, or to STOP to start. If you
| had missed that one chance you would have
missed it forever. Now just as precptate and
| quick, and spontaneous will be the ransom of
! your soul This morning you are making cal
IL
| eia1 or social game. With your pen pencil
| you are pursuing It, This very morning you are
devouring the prey; but to- night you will be in
| different mood. You find that all heaven is of
| fered you. You wonder how you can get it for
| yourself and for your family. You wonder
| what resources it will give you now and here
| after. You dividing peace. and comfort. and
satisfaction and Christian reward in your soul.
| You are dividing the spoil
On Sabbath night, at the close of the service,
| l said to some persons: when did you first be-
| come serious about your soulF And they told
me: Tonight" And l said to others: when
| did you give your heart to Goda" And they said;
Tonight And said to still others when
did you resolve to serve the Lord all the days of
| your lifeT And they said: Tonight" / saw
| by their apparel that when the grace of God
| struck them they were devouring the prey; but
saw also in the food of joyful tears and in the
| kinding raptures on their brow and in their ex-
| hlarant and transporting utterances that they
| were dividing the spoil AT night, with one
touch of electricity, all these lights blaze. Oh,
1 would to God that the darkness of your souls
| might be broken up and that by one quick.
overwhelming, instantaneous flash of illumina-
| tion you might be brought into the light and
| 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 decadence you thought religion was ema-
citation; you thought it was highway robbery;
| that it struck one down and left him half dead;
that it plucked out the eyes; that 1t pucked out
| the plumes OF the soul; that IL broke the wing
and crushed the beak as it came clawing with its
black talons through the air. No, that is not
| lgion. What is regiong It is dividing the
spoil. 1t is taking a defenseless soul and pano-
plying it for eternal conquest 1t is the dstribu-
ton of prizes by the Kings hand, every medal
stamped with coronation. 1t is an exhilara-
ton, an expansion. Tt is mparadsa-
ton. 1t is enhancement. Religion makes
a man master of earth, and DEATH and hell. 1t
goes forth TO gather the medals of victory won
nv Prince Emanuel. and the diademS of heaven
and the glores of realms terrestrial and celes-
tial and then, after arranging all worlds for
everything that is Respondent, it divides the
spoil What was il that James Turner the ia
nous English evangelist doing when in his
| dying moment he said: Christ is all! Christ
| is ALL" Why, he entering into light; he was
! rounding the Cape of Good Hope; be was divid-
| ing the spoil. What the aged Christian