The free press., 1893-12-14


to his ambition and his life at one stroke.
Mary Queen Of Scots wrote on the WINDOW
Of her castle
From the top of al my trust
MishaD 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 th5ytook Aer me-
Better bare hand of cold privation than "a
warm and poisoned glove OF ruinous success.
son" says some young maninthe audience,
81 believe what you are preaching. L am
going TO do that very thing. In the morning
of nv life 1 am going to devour the prey,
and in the evening l shall divide the spoils
OF Christian character. | only want a little
while TO SOW my wild oats. and then Will
be good"
Young man. did you ever take the census
of all the old people2 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 gray 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 de-
vouring the prey the probability is that you
will never divide the spoils 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,
outing it Off a certain number of years?
they never got to be old. The railroad col
lision. or the steamboat explosion. or the
slip on the ice. or the falling ladder. or the
sudden cold put an end to their opportunl-
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
KEYS They chased the world, and they dled
in the chase. The wounded tiger turned on
them. They failed to take the game they
pursued Mounted on "a swift cour5er, they
leaped the hedge, but the courser fell on
them and crushed them. Proposing to bar
ter their soul for the world, they lost both
and got neither.
While this is an ENCOURAGEMENT to old peo
pie VINO are still unpardoned, 1t 5 20 en-
couragement to the young who are putting
off the day OF grace. This doctrine that the
old NAV be repentant is to be taken eau
tiously. It is medicine that kills or cures
The same medicine given to different patients,
in one case it saves life and in the other it
destroys it. This possibility OF repentance
at the close of life may cure the old man
while it kills the young. Be cautious IN tax
ing it.
Again. nv subject is descriptive of those
who come to a sudden and radical change.
You have noticed how short time it is
from morning to night-only seven or eight
hours. You know that the day has very
brief life. Its heart beats twenty-four times,
and then it is dead. How quick this transi-
ton in the character OF these BenJamites!
"In the morning they shall deyour the prey.
and at night they shall divide the spoils," Is
it possible that there shall be such trans
formation in any of our characters? Yes.
man may be at o'clock in the morning an
all devouring wording, and at o'clock at
night he may be a peaceful dlstributlYe
Christian.
Conversion is instantaneous. A man passes
into the kingdom of God quicker than down
the sky runs zigzag lightning. A man may
be anxious about his soul for a great many
years that does not make him a 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 great while, thar
does not make him a Christian. But the
very instant when he filings his soul on the
mercy of Jesus Christ, that instant is lustra-
ton, emancipation. resurrection. Up to
that point he is going in the wrong dlrec-
tion 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 devouring the
prey after that moment dividing the spoil.
Five minutes is as good as five years.
My hearer, you know very we'll that the
oest things you have done you have done in
a flash. You made up your mind In an IN
slant 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 forever.
Now, Just as precipitate and quick and spon-
taneous will be the ransom of your soul.
mn lyiny aqlonla-
ton. You got oD the track of some financial
or social game. With your pen or pencilyou
were pursuing it. That very morning you
were devouring the prey, but that very night
you were in different mood. You found
that all heaven was offered you. You Won
dered how you could get it for yourself and
for your family. You wondered what re-
sources it would give you now and hereafter.
You are dividing peace and comforts and sat-
isfaction and Christian reward in your soul.
You are dividing the spoil.
One Sabbath night at the close of the SER
vice | said to some persons, "When did you
first become serious about your soul?" And
they told me, Tonight" And l said to
others, "When did you give your heart to
God?' And they said, "To-night." And
said to still others, "When did youresolveto
serve the Lord all the days OF your life?"
And they said. Tonight" | saw by the
gayety of their apparel that when the grace
OF God struck them they were deYourlng the
prey, but l saw also in the flood OF joyful
tears, and in the kindling raptures on their
brow. and in their exhilarant and transport
ing utterances, that they were dividing the
spoil
If you have been in this building when the
lights are struck at night, you know that
with one touch of electricity they are all
blazed. Oh, would TO God that the dark
ness of your soul might be broken up, and
that by one quick, overwhelming, instanta-
neous flash of illumination 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 suppose. You
thought it was decadence. You thought
religion was maceration. You thought it
was highway robbery that il struck one
down and left him half dead that it plucked
out the eyes that it plucked out the plumes
OF the soul, that it broke the wing and
crushed the beak 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 taking a defenseless soul and panoply-
ing it for eternal conquest. 1t isthe distribu-
tion of prizes by the king hand, every medal
stamped with a coronation. 1t is an eXhilar-
AtiOn eXuansiOn It is imDaradisatiOn. 1t