The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-05-26
|0R. TALHAGE'S SERMON.
RETURN FROM THE CHASE.

dim old eyes he looks OH ana sees tne hunters
going out to the fields, ranging them all day
over the Shoulder; and Tea ching the door OF
the tent the hunters begin to distribute the
game, and one tax es coney and another
rabbit and another a roe. I'm the morning
be shall devour the prey, and at night ne
shall divide the spoil" Or, it may be ref
erence to the habits of wild beasts that slay
their prey, and then drag it back to tho cav
or lair and divide it among the young: =,
There Is nothing more fascinating than the
life of hunter. On a certain day in all Eng
land you can hear the crack OF the sports
mans gun because hunting has begun
and every man that can afford the time and
ammunition and can draw bead starts for
the fields. On the Goth of October our woods
and forests will resound with the shock OF
firearms, and will be tracked of pointers and
settlers because the quail will then be lawful
prize for the sportsman. Xenophon grew
eloquent in regard to the art OF hunting. In
the far East people, elephant-mounted, chase
the tiger. The American Indian darts MS
arrow at the buffalo until the frightened herd
tumble over the ro.ks European mobiles are
often found in the fox chase and at the stag
hunt Francis l. was called the father OF
hunting. Moses declares of Nimrod: He
was mighty hunter before the Lord. "
Therefore, in allages Of the world the imagery
of my text ought to be suggestive whether it
means wolf after fox or man after
lion. ssIn the morning he shall devour the
prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil: ;"
take my text in the first place as descrip..
tive of those people who in the morning OF
their life give themselves up to hunting the
world, but afterward, by the grace OF God,
themselves the spoils of Christian character
There are aged Christian men and women in
this house who, if they gave testimony, would
tell you that in the morning of their life they
we're after the world as intensely as hound
after hare, or as falcon swoops upon
pazelle. They wanted the worlds plaudits
and the worlds gains. They felt that If they
could get this world they would have every
thing. Some Of them started out for the
pleasures of the world. They Thought
that the man who laughed loudestt
was happ:est. They tried repartee and
conundrum and burlesque and mad
rigal. They thought they would Like to be
Tom Hoods, or Charles Lambs, or Edgar A.
Poes. They m ngled wine and music and the
spectacular. They were worshipers Of the
harlequin and the Merry Andrew and the
buffoon and the jester. Life was to them
foam and bubble and cachinnatlon and
registering and grimace. They were
so full of glee they could hardly
repress their mirth even on SOL
emn occasions, and they came near burst
ing out hilariously even at the burial, be-
cause there was something so dolCrous in the
tone or countenance OF the underta Eer.
After awhile misfortune struck them hard on
the back. They found there was something
they could not laugh at.
Under their late hours their health gave
way or there was death in the house: OF
every green thing their soul was exfollated.
They found out that life was more than
Joke. From the heart Of God there blazed
into their soul an earneStness they had never
felt before. They awoke to their slnfulness
and their Immortality, and here they sit to-
day at sixty or seventy years of age, as ap-
preciative of all innocent mirth as they ever
were, but they are bent on style of satisfac-
ton which in early life they never hunted;
the evening of their days brighter than the
morning. In the morning they devoured the
prey, but at night they are dividing. the spoil.
Then there are others who started out for
financial success. They see how Timber
mans hat is when he bows down before some
one transpicuous They felt that they would
like to see how the world looked from the
window of a three thousand dollar turnout
They thought they would like to have the
morning sunlight tangled in the headgear of
q dashing span. They wanted the bri dges IN
the park to resound under the rataplan OF
their swift hoofs. They wanted gllded
baldrick, and so they started on the dollar
hunt They chased it up one street and
chased it down another. They followed 1t
it in the roof Wherever dollar was ex-
rec led to be they we're. They chased 1t
a. ,ss the ocean. They chased it across the
land. They stopped not for the night.
Hearing that dollar even in the darkness
thrilled them as an Adirondack sportsman IS
thrilled by looms laugh. They chased that
dollar to the money vault They chased it to
the Government treasury. They routed it
from under the counter. All the hounds were
out--all the pointers and settlers. They
leared the hedges for that dollar, and they
cried: "Hark. away! dollar! dollar" and
when at last they came upon it and had actu-
ally captured it, their excitement was like
that of falconer who had successfully flung
his first hawk In the morning of their life,
oh how they devoured the prey! But there
came better time to their soul. They found
out that an immortal nature cannot live on
Government bonds. They took up a North.
ern Pacific bond and there was hole In 1t
through which they could look into the un.
certainty of all earthly treasures. They saw
some Ralston, living at the rate of $4,000
because he could not continue to live at the
same ratio. They saw the wien and para
lytic bankers, who had changed their souls into
molten gold, stamped with the image OF the
earth, earthly. They saw some great souls
by avarice turned into homunculi, and they
said to themselves: II will seek after higher
treasure.". From that time they did not care
whether they walked or rode if Christ walked
with them; nor whether they lived IN a man.
sion or hut if they dwelt under the shadow OF
the Almighty nor whether they were robed IN
French broadcloth or in homespun II they
had the robe of the Saviour's Righteousness;
nor whether they were sandaled with mo-
rocco or calf-skin if they were shod with the
preparation Of the Gospel. Now you see
peace on their counteuance. Now that man
says: "What fool I was to be enchanted
with this world Why, have more satlsfac-
tion in five minutes in the service of God than
l had in all the first years of my life while
was gain getting. I like this evening OF my
day great deal better than did the morn
ing. In the morning greedily devoured the
prey; but now it is evening, and am glori-
onsly dividing the spoils"
My friends, this world is poor thing TO
hunt. It is healthful to go out in the woods
and hunt It rekindles the lustre of the
eye 1t strikes the brown Of the autunnal
leaf into the cheek. 1t gives to the rheu-
matte limbs strength to leap Ike the roe.
Christopher North's pet gun, the muckle-
mounted meg, gong OH IN Ine suinlle! III
the forests, had its echo in the winter time
in the eloquence that rang through the Uni
versitv halls of Edinburgh. It is healthy to
90 hunting in the fields: but I tell you that
It is belittling and bedwarfng and belamlng
for man to hunt this world. The hammer
comes down on the gun-cap and the barrel
expodes and kills you instead of that which
you are pursuing When you turn out to
hunt the world, the world turns out
to hunt you and as mauya a sportsman aim
ing his gun at a panther's heart has gone
down under the striped claws. so while you
have been ATTEMPTING to deYOur this world,