The Bossier banner., 1893-12-28
sible II at there shall be such a trans |

! formation in any of our characters7
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. A
man passes into the kingdom of God
| quicker than down the sky runs
zig-zag lightning. A man may
! be anxious about his soul for
great many years; that does
not make him Christian. A man
may pray great while; that does not
make him a Christian. A man may re-
! solve on the reformation of his charac-
! ter, and have that resolution going on
great while; that does not make him
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
direction; after that point he is GO
| ing in the right direction. Before
that moment he is child of sin;
| after that moment he is child of
| God. Before that moment devour-
ing the prey; after that moment
dividing the spoil. Five minutes is as
good as five years. My hearers, you
know very well that the best things
you have done you have done in a flash.
You made up your mind in an instant
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 pre-
cipitate, and quick, and spontaneous
will be the ransom of soul. Some
morning you were making calcula-
tion. You got on the track of some
financial or social game. With your
pen or pencil you were pursuing it.
That very morning you were devour-
ing the prey; but that very night you
| were in a different mood. You found
that Heaven was offered you. You
wondered how you could get it your
self and your family. You wondered
what resources it would give you now
and hereafter. You are dividing peace,
and comfort, and satisfaction, and
| Christian reward in your soul. You
are dividing the spoil.
One Sabbath night at the close of
the service l said to some persons:
when did you first become serious
about your soul?" And they told me:
TO night" And l said to others:
''When did you give your heart to
Code" And they said: Tonight"
And | said to others: ''When did you
resolve to serve the Lord all the days
of your life?" And they said: To
night" And 1 saw by the gayety of
their apparel that when the grace
of God struck them they were
devouring the prey; but 1 saw
also, IN the flood of joyful
tears and in the kindling raptures or
their brow and in their exhilarant and
transporting utterances, that they
were deviding 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, I would to God that
the darkness of your souls might be
broken up, and that by one quick, over
whelming, instantaneous flash of il
Elimination You might be brought in
to 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 deca-
dence; you thought religion was mac
Grafton; you thought it was highway
robbery; that it struck one down and
left him half dead; that it plucled
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? It is divid-
ing the spoils. 1t is taking defense
less soul and panoplying it for eternal
conquest. 1t is the distribution of
prizes by the Kings hand, every medal
stamped with a coronation. 1t is an
eXhilaration, an expansion. 1t is i'm
paradisation. 1t is enthronement. Re-
ligion makes a man master of earth,
of death. and hell. 1t goes forth to
gather the medals of victory won by
Prince Emanuel, and the diadems of
Heaven, and the glories of realms
terrestrial, and celestial, and then,
after ranging all worlds for every
piiIilS blis'O III u1VlueS
the spoils. What was it that James
Turner, the famous English evangelist,
was doing when in his dying moments
he said: Christ is allr' Why, he was
entering into light; he was rounding
the Cape of Good Hope; he was divid-
ing the spoil. What was the aged
Christian Quakeress doing, when at
eighty years of age, she arose in the
meeting and said: "The time of nv
departure is come. My 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 coursers? and Paul?
the rafting of whose chains made
kings quake? and all the other victims
of flood, and fire, and wreck, and gull
lotine-where are they? Dividing the
spoil.
Oh, what a grand thing it is to be a
Christian! We begin now to divide the