Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-12-02


autumnal leaf into the cheek. It gives
to the rheumatic limbs the strength to
leap like roe. Christopher North's pet
gun, the muckle-mou'd Meg, going off
in the summer in the forests, had its
echo in the wintertime in the eloquence
that rang through the university halls
of Edinburgh. 1t is healthy to go hunt
i ing in the fields, but tell you it is be-
lifting and bedwarfing and belaming
for man to hunt this world The ham
mer comes down on the guncap, and the
barrel explodes and kills you instead Of
| that which you are pursuing
When you turn out to hunt the world
the world turns to hunt you, and as
many sportsman aiming his gun at q
| panther's heart has gone down under the
striped claws, SO while you have been
attempting to devour this world the
world has been devouring you. So it
was with Lord Byron. So it was with
Coleridge. So it was with Catherine of
Russia. Henry II went out hunting for
this world, and its 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 win
dow of her castle:
| From the top of oil 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 We're 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 in the audience,
II 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 shall di-
vide the spoil of Christian character. !
only want little while to sow my wild
oats, and then will be good"
Young man, did you ever take thee
sus of all the old peoplea How many old
people are there in your house? One, two
or none? How many in vast assemblage
like this? Only here and there 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
| SO strong that men go down under them
before they get to be 60, before they get
to be so, before they get to be 40, before
they get to be 30. And if you, my young
brother, resolve now that you will spend
the morning of your days in devouring
the prey the probability is that you will
never divide the spoil in the evening
hour. He who postpones until old age
the religion of Jesus Christ postpones it
forever.
Where are the men who 80 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 steamboat explosion, 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 they 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 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.
DIVIDING THE SPOIL.
While this is an encouragement. TO old
people who are still unpardoned, II is no
encouragement to the young who are
putting off the day of grace. This doc
trine that the old may be repentant is to
be taken cautiously. 1t 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 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 radi-
cal 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 "a times, and then it is dead. How
quick this transition in the character of
these Benjamites! I'm the morning they
shall devour the prey, and at night they
shall divide the spoil" Is it possible
that there shall be such TRANSFORMED
ton in any of our characters? Yes. A
man may be at o'clock in the morning
all all devouring wording, and at
o'clock at night he may DO peaceful,
distribulive Christian.
-, aEa, A
passes into the kingdom of God quicker
than down the sky runs zigzag lightning.
A man may be anxious about his soul
for 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 great while;
that does not make him Christian. But
the very instant when he filings his soul
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 a child of sin; after
that moment he is child of God. Be-
fore that moment devouring the prey;
after that moment dividing the spoil
Five minutes is as good as five years.
My nearer. you know very well that
the best things you have done you have
done in fash. You made up your mind
in an instant to buy, or to sell, or to in-
vest, or to stop, or to start. If 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 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 l said to some persons, when
did you first become serious about your
soul?' And they told me, Tonight"
And ! said to others, when did you
give your heart to God?' And they said,
Tonight" And 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-