Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-11-27

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 sonl
Ior a 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 resolve on the
reformation of his character and have
that resolution going on a great while;
that does not make him Christian. But
the very instant when he filings his scul
on the mercy of Jesus Christ, that in.
slant Is lustration, emancipation, resur.
rection. Up to that point he is going in
the wrong direction; 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. Be-
torethat 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 done you have
done in q fash. You made up your mind
in an instant to buy, or to sell, or to in
vest, or to stop, or to start. II you had
missed that one chance, you would have
missed it forever. Now, just as precipi-
tate and quick and spontaneous will be
the ransom of your soul. Some morning
you were making calculation. 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 wondered how you could get
it for yourself and for your family. You
wondered what resources it would give
you now and hereafter, You are divid-
ing peace and comfort and satisfaction
and Christian reward in your soul. You
are dividing the spoil.
One Sabbath night at the close Of the
sermon ! 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 Godp And they said,
Tonight" And l said to still others,
when did you resolve to 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 de-
vouring the prey; but saw also in the
food Of joyful tears, and in the kindling
raptures ON their brow, and in their ex-
hilarant and transporting 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 darkness of your souls might bo
broken up, and that by one quick, over
instantaneous flash of illumi-
nation you might be brought into the
light and the liberty Of the sons of Godl
RELIGION DEFINED.
You see that religion is a different
thing from what some of you people sup
posed. You thought it was a decadence.
You thought religion was maceration.
You thought it was highway robbery;
that it 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 religion1 1t is dividing the
spoil 1t is taking defenseless soul
and panoplying it for eternal conquest.
1t is the distribution Of prizes by the
kings hand-every medal stamped with
a coronation. It is an exhilaration. an
expansion. 1t is imparadisation. 1t ID
Religion makes a man
master of earth, of death and hell. tgoes
forth to gather the medals Of victory
won by Prince Emanuel, and the diadems
of heaven, and the glories Of realms ter
restrial and celestial, and then, after
ranging all worlds for everything that Is
it divides the spoil.
What was it that James Turner, the
famous English evangelist was doing
when in his dying moments he said;
"Christ is ALL Christ is ALI" Why, he
was entering into light. He was round
ing the Cape of Good Hope. He was di-
yiding the spoil. What was the aged
Christian Quakeress doing when at 80
wears of age she arose in the meeting one
day and said: "The time of my departure
Is come. My grave clothes are falling
off," She was dividing the spoil.
She longed with wings TO fiy away
And mix with that eternal day.
What is Daniel now doing, the lion
tanner? And Elijah, who was drawn by
tbe flaming coursers2 And Paul. the rat
fling of whose chains made kings quaker
And all the other victims Of flood and
FIRE and wreck and guillotine-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 light
-ris finished, all Is finished.
Their fight with death ana ain.
Life high your golden gates
And let the yiciOrs-
oh what a grand thing It Is TO be
christianl We begin now TO divide the
snoiI but the distribution win not be
cpn,nleted 10 all eternity. There Is
noverty struck soul, there Is business
sespoiied soul, there is a sin struck soul,
.t.ers h a bereayed soul-Why do you mot
III