The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-16
RETURN FROM THE CHASE.
Sermon of Rev. Dewitt Talmage at
Brooklyn Tabernacle Last Sunday.
Hunters Ranging the Fields of the World and
Dividing the Spells Of Christian Char
acter-A Caution to Young People.


Whose love shall never end.
Jesus is mine
Before the sermon the pastor read and ex-
pounded an appropriate chapter from the Evan
gellsts The great organ of the Brooklyn Tab
ernaele has been reinforced by improvements
which greatly add to the majesty and power Of
the instrument
Dr. Talmage's text was from Genesis Xix,
q: I'm the morning he shall devour the prey,
and at night he shall divide the spoil" DR.. Tai
mage said:
There is in this chapter such an afauence of
simie and allegory, such mingling of meta
phors that there are thousand thoughts in it
not OF the surface Old Jacob, dying, is telling
the fortunes of his children. He prophesies the
deyourng propensities of Benjamin and his de-
scendants. With his dim old eyes he looks off
and sees the hunters going out in 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
10 distribute the game. and takes a coney,
and another a rabbit and another roe. SIN
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 say
thu 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 certain day in all Eng
land you can hear the crack of the sportsman's
gun, because grouse-hunting has begun; and
every man that can afford the time and ammu-
milton and can draw bead starts for the fields.
Ga the 10th of October our woods and forests
will resound with the shock of fire arms, and
will be tracked by 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 mt un ted chase the tiger. The Amer
Jean 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 l was
called the father of hunting. Moses declares of
Nimrod: HE was mighty hunter before the
Lord" Therefore, in all ages of the world the
imagery of my text ought to be suggestive.
whether 1t means wolf after fox or man af
ter 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
descriptive 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 lfe
divide among themselves the spoIls of Christian
character. There are aged Christian men and
women in this house, who, if they gave testimo-
ny, would tell you that in the morning of their
life they were after the world as intensely as a
hound after hare. falcon swoops upon a
eazelle. They wanted the worlds plaudits, and
the worlds gains They felt that IL they could
get this world they would have everything
Some of them started out for the pleasure of
the world They thought that the man who
laughed loudest was happiest. They tried
reDartee, and conundrum, and burlesque, and
xpadrigal They thought they would like to be
Tom Hoods, or Charles Lambs, or Edgar A
Poes. They mingled wine, and music, and the
spectacular They were worshpers of the
the buffocn, and the jester Life was to
them foam. and bubble, and cachinnation and
registering and grimace They were full of
glee they could hardly repress their mirth even
on solemn occasions, and they came near burst
ing out hilariously even at the burial, because
there was something 80 dolorous in the tones or
couptenance of the undertaken. After awhile
misfortune struck them hard or the back They
found there was something they could not laugh
a. Under their late hours their health gave
way, or there was death in the 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
svoke TO their sinfulness and their Immortality,
and here they sit to-day at sixty or seventy
years Of age, as appreciative of all mrth as they
ever were but they are bent on a style of salts
faction which, in early life, they never hunted;
the evening of their days brighter than the morn
Ing. 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 a mans
neck is when he bows down before some one tran
spicuous They felt they would like to see how
the world looked from the window of a So, 900
turnout. They thought they would like to have
the morning sunlight tangled in the head gear of
dashing span They wanted the bridges in the
park TO resound under the rataplan of their swift
hoofs They wanted gilded baldrick and so
they started the dollar hunt They chased it
up one street and chased it down another They
followed it when it burrowed in the cellar They
&reed it in the roof. Wherever dollar was eX-
pected to be they were They chased it across
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 Adiron-
dack 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 leaned the hedges for the dollar, and they
cried: "Hark away! dollar! dollar! dolarp
and when al last they came upon it, and had
actually captured it, their excitement was like
that of a falconer who has successfully flung his
first hawk. In the morning of their life oh,
how they devoured the prey! But there came a
better time to their SOUL They found out that
nm immortal nature cannot live on government
bonds. They took ND a Northern Pacific bond,
and there was a hole in it through which they
couid look into the uncertainty of all earthly
treasures. They saw some Ralston, living at
tho rate OF $4,000 month, leaping from San
Francisco wharf because he could not continue
TO live at the same ratio. They saw the wien
and paralytic bankers who had changed their
souls into molten gold stamped with the image
of the earth earthly. They saw some
great souls by avariee turned into
homunculi, and they said to themselves: az will
seek after higher treasures" From that time
they did not care whether they walked or rode,
If Christ walked with them; nor whether they
lived in a mansion or hut, if they dwet under
ahe shadow of the Almighty; nor whether they
were robed in French broadeloth or in a homie
spun, if they had the robe of the Savior's right
pousness nor whether they were sandaled with
morocco or calfskin, if they were shod with the
preparation of the gospel Now you see peace on
their countenance. Now that man says what
a fool was to re enchanted with this world
Why, have more satisfaction in FIVE minutes
IN the service OF God than I had ia all the first
years of my life while was gain getting like
this evening of my day great deal better than
did the morning. In the morning | greedily
deyoured the prey; but now it is evening. and
am gloriously dividing the spoils.s
Ny friend. this world is poor thing to hunt.
II is heathful to go out in the woods and hunt.
q - L.