Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-12-01

filings his soul on the mercy of Jesus
Christ, that instant is lustration, eman-
cipation, resurrection. Up to that
point he is going in the wrong
directions; after that point he is going
in the right direction. Before that mo-
ment he is child of sin; after that
moment he is child of God. Before
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 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 precipitate, 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 pur-
suing 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
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, / 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 l said TO still others: when did
you resolve to serve the Lord all the
days of your life?" And they said;
Tonight" l saw by the gayety of
their apparel that when the grace of
God struck them they were devouring
the prey; but | saw also in the flood
of joyful tears, and in the kindling
raptures on their brow, and in their
eXhilarant 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
be broken up, and that by one quick,
overwhelming, instantaneous flash of
illumination, you might be brought
into the light and the liberty of the
sons of God
You see that religion is a different
3 I. u,
supposed. You thought it was de-
cadence; you thought religion was
maceration; you thought it was high
way robbery; that il struck one down
and left one half dead; that it plucked
out the eyes; that it pluclled out the
plumcs of the soul; that it broke the
wing and crushed the beak as it came
claw.ng with its black talons through
the air. No. that is not religion. What
is religion? 1t is dividing the spoils, 1t
is taking defenceless soul and piano.
plying it for eternal conquest. 1t is
the distribution of prizes by the
kings hand, every medal stamped
with a coronation. 1t is an eX-
hilaration, an expansion. II is inn
paradisation. II is enthronement. Re-
ligion makes n man master of earth, of
death and hell. II goes forth TO gather
the medals of victory won by Prince
Emanuel, and diadems of heaven, and
the glories OF realms terrestrial, and
celestial, and then, after ranging all
worlds for everything that is resplen-
dent, it divides the spoil. What was
it that James Turner, the famous En-
glish evangelist, was doing when in
his dying moments he said: Christ is
all! Christ is ALL" Why, he was en-
tering into light he was rounding the
Cape of Good Hope; he was dividing
the spoil. What was the aged Chris
tian Qualseress doing when at so
years of age she arose in the meeting
one day and said: "The time of my
departure is come. My grave clothes
are falling of?" She was dividing the
spoil.
She longed with wings to fly away,
And Ink 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 guillo-
tine-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.
IT'S finished, all is finished,
Their fight with death and SIM
Lift high your golden gates
And let the victors In.
Oh, what a grand thing it is to be a
Christian! We begin now to divide the
spoil, but the distribution will not be
completed TO all eternity. There is n
poverty struck soul, there is n bust
ness despoiled soul, there is a sim
struck soul, there is a bereaved soul
why do you not come and get the
spoils of Christian character, the com
fort, the joy, the peace, the salvation
that l am sent TO offer you in my
Masters name? Though your knees