The Banner-Democrat., 1894-01-20


Into molten gold stamped with the
image of the earth. earthly. They saw
some great souls by avarice turned in
to homunculi, and they said to them
selves: 81 will seek after highe,
treasure"
From that time they did not care
whether they walked or rode. If Chris,
walked with them; nor whether they
lived in a mansion or In hut, If they
dwe1t Under the shadow of the Al
mighty; nor whether they were robed
in French broadcloth or in homespun,
if they had the robe of the Saviour
righteousness; nor if they were san
daled with morocco or calf skin, il
they were shod with the preparation
of the Gospel. Now you see peace on
their countenance. Now that man
says: ''What fool / was to be en-.
chanted with this world. Why, !
have more satisfaction in five minutes
in the service of God than / had in all
the first years of my life while I was
gain.getting. / like this evening OF
my day great deal better than did
the morning. In the morning greed
lily devoured the prey, but now it is
evening. and | am gloriously dividing
| the spoil"
My friends, this world is poor
thing to hunt. 1t is healthful to go
out in the woods and hunt. 1t rekindles
the luster of the eye. 1t strikes the
brown of the autumnal leaf into the
cheek. 1t gives to the rheumatic limbs
| the strength to leap like roe. Chris
topher North's pet gun, the muckle-
mould Meg, going off in the summer in
the forests, had its echo in the winter
time in the eloquence that rang
through the university halls of Edin.
burgh. 1t is healthy to go hunting in
the fields: but tell you that it Is be-
littling and bedwarfing and belaming
| for man to hunt this world. The
hammer comes down on the gun cap,
and the barrel explodes and kills
you instead of that which you are pur-
suing. When you turn out to hunt the
world, the world turns out to hunt
you; and as many hunter aiming his
gun at a panther's heart has gone
down under the striped claws, so,
while you have been attempting to de-
YOUR this world, the world has been
devouring you. So 1t was with Lord
Byron. So it was with Catherine of
Russia. Henry II. went out hunting
for this world, and its 1ances 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 window of her castle:
From the top of all 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 were 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 Won
are preaching. lam going to do that
very thing. In the morning of my life
l am going to devour the prey, and in
the evening sLall divide the spoils of
Christian character. I only want a
little while to sow my wild oats, and
then will be good" Young man, did
you ever take the census of all of the
old people? 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 un-
der 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 If you, my young brother,
resolve now that you will spend the
morning of your days devouring 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
it forever. Where are the men who.
thirty years ago, resolved to become
in old age, putting it off a
certain number of years? They never
got to be old. The railroad collision,
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 will never
have an opportunityagain. They locked |
the door OF Heaven against their souls,
and they threw away their 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
,ourser, they leaped the hedge, but the
,ourser fell on them and crushed them.
Proposing to barter their soul for the
world, they lost both and got neither.
While this is an encouragement to
Did people who are still unpardoned,
t is no encouragement to the young
Who are putting off the day of grace
This doctrine that the old may be re-
,entant is to be taken cautiously. It
S medicine that kills or cures. The
anne medicine, given to different pa
tents, in one case it saves life and in
he other it destroys it. This possi-
'ility OF repentance at the close of life
nay cure the old man while it kills the
'oung. Be cautious in taking it.
Again: my subject is descriptive of
hose who come to a sudden and a rad
cal change. You have noticed how
hort time it is from morning to
light-only seven or eight hours. You
,now that the day has very brief