The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-12-13

Of all the old people2 How many old people
are there in your house2 One, two or none?
How mnny 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 late April day. The fact Is that the
tides of the years are 80 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 II
you, my young brother, resolve now that you
will spend the morning of your days in de-
youring tho prey the probability is that you
will never divide the spoils In the evening
hour. he who postpones until old age the
religion or Jesus Cnrlst postpones 1t forever.
Where are the men who, thirty years ago,
resolved to become Christians in old age,
putting it of q 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 opportuni-
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 died
in the chase. The wounded tiger turned on
them. They failed to take the game they
pursued. Mounted on 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 sp to old DsO CO.
couragement 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. 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 tho old man
while 1t kills the young. Be cautious In tax
ing It.
who come to a sudden and radical change.
You have noticed how short time 1t Is
from morning to night-only seven or eight
hours. You know that the day has a very
brief life. Its heart beats twenty-four times,
and then 1t Is dead. How quick this transi.
ton in the character OF these Benjamites
"In the morning they shall devour the prey,
and at night they shall divide the spoils. ls
It possible that there shall be such trans.
formation in any OF our characters2 Yes.
man may be at O'Clock in the morning an
all devourinS wording, and at o'clock ut
night he may be peaceful distribut1ve
Christian.
Conversion Is instantaneous. Aman passes
into the kingdom Of God quicker than down
the sky runs zigZag lightning. A man may
be anxious about his soul for q great many
years that does not make him a Christian.
4 man may pray great while ;thst does not
make him Christian. Aman may resolve
on the reformation Of his character 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-
tion, emancipation, resurrection. Up TO
that point he is going In the wrong direc-
tion ;after that point he is going IN the right
direction. Before that moment ne 1s a child
OF sin after that moment he Is child OF
God. Before that moment deyouring 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
best things you have done you have done in
fash. You made up your mind In an in
slant to buy, or to sell, or to invest. or to
stop, or to starr. II 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.
Some morning you were making calcula-
ton. 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 devouring the prey, but that very night
YOU were In a 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 sculT' And
they told me, ''To-night.' And said to
others, "when did you give your heart to
GodY" And they said, "To-night." And I
said to still Others, "When did you resolveto
serve the Lord all the days OF your life?"
And they said. "To-night." saw by the
gayety of their apparel that when the grace
of God struck them they were devouring the
prey but I saw also in the food of joyful
tears, and in the kindllng raptures on their
brow. and In their exhilsrant and transport
ing utterances, that they were dividing the
spoil.
II 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 different thing
from what some Of you people suppose. You
religion was maceration. You. thought 1t
was highway robbery that 1t struck one
down and left him half dead /; that 1t plucked
out the eyes that 1t plucked out the plumes
of the soul; that it broke the wing and
crushed the beak as 1t came clawing with its
black talons through the air. No, that fs not
religion.
What Is rsligion2 1t is dividing the spoil.
It Is taking defenseless soul and panoply-
ing it for eternal conquest. 1t isthe distribu.
ton of prizes by the king hand, every medal
stamped with coronation. 1t is an exhilar-
alton, expansion. 1t is imparadisation. 1t
is enforcement. Religion makes man
master OF earth, of death and hell. It goes
forth to gather the medals Of victory won by
Prince Emanuel, and the diadems OF heaven,
and the glory OF realms terrestrial and celes-
tial, and then, after ranging all worlds. for
everything that is resplendent, it divides the
spoils.
What was it that James Turner. the ia
nous English evangelist, was doing when in
his dying moments he said: "Christ il 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 agod Christian Quakeress doing
when at eighty years OF age she arose in the
meeting one day and said: ''The time OF my
departure Is come. My grave clothes axe
falling OFF," She was dividing the spoil
She ionged with wings to ny away
And mix with that eternal day.
What is Daniel now doing, the lion tanner,
and Elijah, VINO was drawn by the flaming
coursers, and Paul, the rafting OF wcose
chains made kings quake. and all the other
victims OF food ana fire and wreck and gull
lotine-where are they? Dividing the spoil.
Ten Thousand times ten thousand,
In Sparkling raiment bright,
The armies Of the ransomed saints
Throng up the sleeps OF uSur
TIs finished, all is finished,