Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-05-22
TALMAGE'S TALK.
He Discourses on Early Conse.
Grafton Ito God,
And Draws a Striking SimiIe from
the Chase.

Rev. T. De Witt Talmage preached
Sunday morning in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle on the subject, "Return
From the Chase" DR.. Talmage's text
was:
In the morning he shall devour the
prey, snd at night he shall divide the
spoil.-Genesis xix, 81.
DR.. Talmage said:
There is in this chapter such an
afiuence Of smile and allegory, such a
mingling Of metaphors, that there are
a thousand thoughts in it not on the
surface. Old Jacob, dying, is telling
the fortunes Of his children. He pro-
phesies the devouring propensities of
Benjamin and his descendants. With
his dim old eyes he looks off and sees
the hunters going out to the fields,
ranging them all day, and at nightfall
coming home, the game slung over
the shoulder. and, reaching the door:
OF the tent, the hunters begin to dis.
tribute the game, and n takes q
coneY, and another a rabbit, and an
other a roe. ''In the morning he shall
devour the prey, and at night he shall
divide the spoil" Or, it may be a
reference to the habits Of wild beasts
that slay their prey and then drag it
back to the cave or lair and divide it
among the young.
There is nothing more fascinating
than the life of a hunter. On a GER
tain day in all England you Ia hear
the crack of the sportsman's gun be-
cause grouse hunting has begun; and
every man that can afford the time and
ammunition and q draw a bead
starts for the fields. On the Goth OF
October our woods and forests will 70.
sound with the shock of firearms, and
will be tracked of pointers and settlers
because the quail will then be a lawful
prize for tho sportsman. Xenophon
grew eloquent in regard to the art OF
hunoihS' IA ehO oooe pSoPios ON0
phant-mounted, chase the tiger. The
American Indian darts his arrow at the
buffalo until the frightened herd
tumble over the rocks. European
mobiles are often found in the fox
chase and at the stag hunt. Francis 1.
was called the father Of hunting.
Moses declares of Nimrod: "He was
mighty hunter before the Lord"
Therefore. in oil ages of the world. the
imagery of my text ought to be sug-
gestive, whether it mea q WOLF after
a fox or q man after a lion. ''In the
morning he shall devour the prey. and
at night he shall divide the spoil"
/ take my text, in the first place. as
descriptive of those people who. in the
morning of their life, give themselves
up to hunting the world, but after
ward, by the grace of God, in the even
ing Of their life, divide among them
selves the spoils Of Christian charac-
ter. There are aged Christian men
and women in this house who, If they
gave testimony. would tell you that in
the morning of tneir life they were
after the world 81 intensely as u hound
after a hare or rs a falcon swoops
upon a gazelle. They wanted the
worlds plau1its and the worlds gains.
They felt ttat il they could get this
world they would have everything.
Some of them started out for the pleas
ures of the world. They thought that
the man who laughed loudest was the
happiest. They tried repartee and
conundrum and burlesque and madri.
gal. They thought they would like to
Be Tom Hood or Charles Lamb or
Edgar A. Poe. They mingled wine
and music and the spectacular. They
were worshippers OF the harlequin and
the Merry Andrew and the butfoon and
the Jester. Life was to them foam and
bubble and cachination and FOSTERING
and grimmace. They were go full Of
glee they could hardly repress their
mirth even on solemn occasions, and
thew came near bursting out hilarious
lv, even at the burial, because there
was something so dolorous in the tone
or c~ountenance Of the undertaken.
After awhile misfortune struck them
hard on the back. They found there
there was something they could not
laugh at. Under their late hours thsir
health gave way or there was a death
in the house. OF every green thing
their soul was extoliated. They found
cut that life was more than a joke.
From the heart Of God there blazed
into their soul an earnestness they had
never felt before. They awoke to their
sinfulness and their immortality, and
here they sit together at sixty or sew
enty years of age as appreciative Of all
innocent mirth as they eyer were, hut
they are bent on a style of satisfaction
which in early life they v hunted
the evening of their days Is 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 lumber q mans hat is when he
bows down before someone transpicu-
Gus. They felt they would like to see
how the world looked from the win
dows OF a % 900 turnout. They thought
they would like to have the morning
cnnlight tangled in the headgear OF q
dashing span. They wanted the
h~;d~os In vLo 0ovk to racOuud uudav