The Penn's Grove record., 1893-12-01

ohu IA thc CNChtLk L oudtt uANtuo lit bpolto
of Christian character. I only want a little
while to SOW my wild oats, and then l 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 none2
How many in a vast assemblage like this?
Only here and there a 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 getto 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 1t forever.
Where are the men who, thirty years ago,
resolved to become Christians in old age,
! putting 1t off a certain number of years2
They never got TO be old. The railroad col
lision, or the steamboat explosion, or the
slip on the ice, or the falling ladder, OIL the
! sudden cold put an end to their opportuni-
ties. They have never had IN opportunity
since, and never will lave IN opportunity
again. They locked the door of heaven
against their soul, and they threw away the
keys. They chased the world, and they died
in the chase. The wounded tiger turned on
tl0lus AhtI itlh1u " bho khO hdh1o hhVy
pursued. Mounted o q swift courser, 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 u~npardoned, II Is 10 en-
enlargement to the young who are putting
off the day OF grace. This doctrine that the
old may be repentant Is to be taken eau
tiously. 1t is medicine that kills or cures.
The same medicine given to different patients,
in one ease ii saves life and In the other Ii
destroys 1t. This possibility OF repentance
at the close of life may cure the old man
while it kills the young. Be cautious in tax
ing 1t.
Again, my subject is descriptive OF those
who come to a sudden and radical change.
You have noticed how short a time it is
from morning to n~ight-oniy seven or eight
hours. You know that the day has a very
brief life. Its heart beats ~twenty-four times,
and then it is dead. How quick this transit
ton in the character of these Benjamites'
SIN the morning they shall devour the prey,
and at night they shan divide the spoils." Is
it possible that there shall be such q trans
i, formation in any OF our characters? Yes. a
all devouring wording, and at z o'clock at
night he may be q peaceful distributive
Christian.
Conversion is instantaneous. man passes
into the kingdom OF God quicker than down
the sky runs zigzag lightning. A mar may
be anxious about his soul for q great many
years that does not make MIN a Christian.
A man may pray a great whils ;that does not
make him a Christian. A man may Iesolvo
on the reformation of his character and have
that resolution going on a great while thar
does not make him a Christian. But the
very instant when he filings his soul o. tho
mercy of Jesus Christ, that instant is lustra-
finn characterization rpqI1FFaQtiAn I'm IN
that point he is going in the wrong dirso-
ton after that point he is going in the right
direction. Before that m he is a child
Of sin after that moment he is q chld OF
Ge.d. 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 well that the
best things you have o 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 ons
chance, you would have missed it forever.
Now, just as precipitate and quick and spon-
taneous will be the ransom of your soul.
Some morning you were making a calcula-
ton. You got on thetrack Of some financial
or social game. With your pen or pencil you
were pursuing it. That very morning you
were devouring the prey, but that very night
you were in a different mood. You found
that all heaven was offered you. You Won
uCICu hbW you Oouiu BOt II yotA5tAA hhA
for your family. You wondered what re-
sources 1t 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, ''To-night." And 1 snid to
others, '.When did you give your heart to
God?' And they said, Tonight" And I
said to still others, did you resolveto
serve the Lord all the days Of your liio?"
And they said, '~'To-nighr." I saW by the
gayety Of their apparel that when the grace
Of God struck them they were devouring tbs
prey, but 1 saw also in the flood of Joyful
tears, and in the kindling captures on their
brow, and in their exhilarant and transport
ing u~tterances, that they were dividing the
spoil.
If you have been In this building when tts
lights are struck at night, you know that
with one touch Of electricity they are all
blazed. Oh, I would to God that the dark
ness OF your soul might be broken up, and
that by ono 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 q different thing
from what some Of you people suppose. You
thought 1t was q decadence. You though
religion was maceration. You thought II
was highway robbery that 1t struck ons
down and lett him half dead that 1t plucked
out the eyes that 1t plucked out the plumes
Of tho soul that it broke the wing and
crushed the beak as 1t came clawing with its
black talons through the air. No, that is not
religion.
What is religion2 1t is dividing the spoil.
1t is taking a defenseless soul and panoply-
ing 1t for eternal conquest. 1t isthe distribu-
ton of prizes by the kings hand every medal
stamped with a coronation. 1t Is an exhilar-
alton, expansion. 1t Is imparadisation. 1t
is enforcement. Religion makes a man
master of earth, of death n hell. 1t goes
forth TO gather the medals Of victory won by
Prince Emanuel, and the diadems OF heaven,
and the glory OF realms terrestrial and ceies-
tial, and then, after ranging all worlds for
everything that is respondent, it divides the
spoils.
What was 1t that James Turner, the ia
nous English evangelist, was doing when In
his dying moments he said "Ckrist is all!
Christ is alp" Why, he was entering into
light. He was rounding the Cape OF Good
Hope. He was dividing the spoil. What
was the aged Christian QuRkeress doing
when at eighty years OF age she arose In the
meeting one day and said : eth time OF my
departure Is come. My grave clothes are
falling off?" She was dividing the spoil
. she lonsed with wings to ny away
What Is Daniel now doing, the lion tanner,
and Elijah, who was drawn by the flaming
eoursers. and Paul, the rafting of whose
chains made kings quake, and all the other
victims Of food n fire and wreck and gull
lotine-where are they2 Dividing the spoil
Ten thousand times ten thousand,
x The armies Of the ransomed eaints
Throng up the sleeps OF light
IT'S finished, all is finished,