Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-12-07

From that time they did not care
! whether they walked or rode. If Christ
! walked with them; nor whether they
! lived in a mansion or in a hut, if they
! dwelt under the shadow of the Al
| mighty: nor whether they were robed
! in French broadcloth or in homespun.
| if they had the robe of the Sayiours
| righteousness; nor if they were san
/ daled with morocco or calf skin. II
! they were shod with the preparation
of the Gospel. Now You see peace on
! their countenance. Now that man
says: What fool ! was to be en-
! chanted with this world. Why, l
| have more satisfaction in five minutes
J in the service of God than | had in all
( the first years of my life while l was
! n-getting. / like this evening of
my day great deal better than / did
| the morning. In the morning | greed
| lily devoured the prey: but now it is
! evening, and | am eloriously dividing
| the spoil
! Ny friends. this world is a poor
thing to hunt. 1t is healthful to 90
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 therheumatic lin bs
the strength to leap like "a roe. Chris
! topher North's pet gun. the muckle-
mould Meg, going of in the summer in
the forests. had its echo in the winter
time in the elOquence that rang
through the university halls of Edin-
burgh. 1t is healthy to go hunting in
the fields; but | tell you that it is be-
] L J
for man to hunt this world. The
hammer comes down on the gun cap.
and the barrel explodes and kills
you instead of that which you are pur-
suing. When you turn out to hunt the
world, the world turns out to hunt
you: and as many a hunter aiming his
gun at a panther's heart has gone
down under the striped claws, SO,
while you have been attempting to de-
vOur this world, the world has been
! devouring You. So it was with Lord
Byron. SO it was with Catherine of
Russia. Henry II. went out hunting
for this world, and it's lances struck
! through his heart Francis |. 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 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
a bare hand of cold privation than
warm and poisoned glove of ruinous
success oh" says some young man
III the audience, Il believe what you
are preaching. am going to do that
very thing. In the morning Of my life
am going to devour the prey, and in
the evening | ST all divide the spoils Of
| Christian character. | only want
! little while to SOW my wild oats, and
| then | will be good" Young man, did
| You ever take the census OF all of 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 q gray head.
| like the patches of snow here and
there in the fields on late April dav.
! The fact is that the tides of the years
are so strong, that men go down I'M
! der 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 devouring the
! prey. the probab ility 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, putting it off a
certain number of years? They never
got to be old. The railroad collision,
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 will never
have an opportunity again. They locked
the door of Heaven against their souls,
and they threw away their keys. They
chased the world, and they died in the
chase. The wounded tiger turned on
| them. They failed to take the game
! they pursued. Mounted on 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 enc engagement to
old people who are still unpardoned.
it is no encouragement to the young
who are putting off the day of grace
| This doctrine that the old NAV be re-
pentant is to be taken cautiously. It
! is medicine that kills or cures. The
same medicine, given to different pa
TENTS, in one case it saves life and in
the other it destroys it, This posi-
bility 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 a rad
zeal 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 transition in the character of these
! Ben amites! ''In the morning thew
shall devour the prey, and at night
they shall divide the spoils," Is it pos
sibie that there shall be st2uh trans
formation in any of our characters?
Yes, man may be at seven o'clock in
the morning an all-devouring world
ling, and at seven o'clock at night he
may be peaceful distributive Christ
ian. Conversion is instantaneous. y
man passes into the kingdom of God