St. Landry democrat., 1886-05-29
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
I'm Allegorical Discourse On "The
Return From the Chase.
Wac Hunt For the World and Its Pleas.
ures In the Morning of Life-The
Peace of God the Only Result
Worth Returning With.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage preached an
categorical sermon at the Brooklyn Taber-
nacle, recently, the subject of which he an :
Hounced as "Return From the Chase"
taking for his text:
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
and at night he shall divide the spoil
fGenesis xix. q.
DIR. Talmage said: There is in this chap
Ter such an afiuence of simile and alle-
CORY, such mingling Of metaphors, that
there are thousand thoughts in it not on
the surface. Old Jacob, dying, is telling
ssse fortunes of his children. He prophe-
sies the devouring propensities of Benja-
min and his descendants. With his dim
cid ewes he looks off and sees the hunters
going out to the fields, ranging them all
day and at nigbt-fall coming home, the
game slung over the shoulder; and reach
nag the door of the tent the hunters begin to
distribute the game, and one takes a coney
and another rabbit and another roe.
IN the morning he shall devour the prey,
and at night he shall divide the spoil.
Or, it may be 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 hunter. On certain day in
all England you can hear the crack of the
sportsman's gum because grouse hunting
has begun; and every man that can afford
the time and ammunition and can draw a
bead starts for the fields. On the Goth of
October our woods and forests will re-
sound with the shock of firearms, and will
be tracked with pointers and settlers be-
cause the quail will then be lawful prize
for the sportsman. Xenophon grew clio.
auent in regard to the art of hunting. In
the far East people, elephant. mounted.
chase the tiger. The American Indian darts
his arrow at the buffalo until the fright
ened herd tumble over the rocks. Europe
an mobiles are often found in the fox chase
and at the stag hunt. Francis I. was
called the father Of hunting. Moses de-
clares of Nimrod:
He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.
Therefore in all ages of the world the
imagery of my text ought to be suggest
i've, whether it means wolf after fox or
d man aIuer lion.
I'm the morning he shall devour the prey,
and at night he shall divide the spoil.
take my text, in the first place, as de-
scriptive of those people who, in the morn
ing of their life, give themselves up to
hunting the world, but afterward, by the
grace of God, in the evening Of their life
divide among 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 On the morning Of their life they
were after the world as intensely as a
hound after hare or as falcon swoops
upon gazelle. 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
aoudest was happiest They tried repair
tee, and conundrum, and burlesque, and
madrigal. They thought they would like
to be Tom Hoods or Charles Lambs or Ed
gar A. Poes. They mingled 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 cachinnation, and royster-
ing, and grimace. They were so full Of
glee they could hardly repress their mirth,
even on solemn occasions, and they came
near bursting out hilariously even at the
burial, because there was something 80
'dolorous in the tone or countenance of the
andertaker. After awhile misfortune
Atruck 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 a death In
Che house. OF every green thing their
soul was exfoliated. They found out 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 inn
mortality, and here they sit to-day at
sixty or seventy years of age, as appre-
ciative OF all innocent mirth as they ever
were, but they are bent on style Of salts
faction 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
O mans hat is when he bows down before
some one transpicuous. They felt they
would like to see how the world looked
from the window of . 5000 turnout.
They thought they would like to have
the morning sunlight tangled in the head
gear of dashing span. They wanted
che bridges in the park to resound under
she rataplan Of their swift hoofs. They
wanted gilded baldrick, and 50 they
started on the dollar hunt. They chased
Ut up one street and chased it down am
nother They. followed it when burrowed
I'm the cellar. They freed it in the roof.