The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-09-21
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Hunting Scene in the Adirondacks
Furnishes a Theme.
As the Stag Is Pursued by the Hounds, So
Is Mankind Beset by Temptations
aud Troubles The DE
vine Solace.

bbAJ Wdbs
As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after Thee. o God. Psalm
xiii, /.
David, who must some time have seen
a deer-hunt, points US here to hunted
stag making for the water. The fasciuat-
ing animal called in my text the hart Is
the same animal that IN sacred and pro-
fame literature is called the stag, the roe
buck, the hind, the gazelIe the reindeer.
In Central SYRIA in Blble times there
were whole pasture fields of them, as
Solomon suggests when he says: Il
charge you by the binds OF the field"
Their antlers jutted from the long gras
as they lay down. No hunter who has
been long in "John Browns tracp viii
wonder that in the Bible they were
classed among clean animals, for the
dews, the showers, the lakes washed them
as clean as the sky.
When Jacob, the Patriarch, longed for
venison EsRu shot aud brought home q
roebuck. Isaiah compares the sprig htlt-
ness Of the restored cripple OF millennial
times to the long and quick jump OF the
stag, saying; "The lame shall leap as
the hart" Solomon expressed his dis
gust at q hunter who having shot deer
is too lazy to cook it, saying;
1.-THE slothfuI man roasteth not that
which he took in hunting"
But one day David, while far from the
home from which he had been driven,
and sitting near the door of lonely cave
whore he had lodged, and on the banks OF
a pond or river, hears pack OF hounds
in swift pursuit Because of the previous
silence Of the forest the clangor startles
him, and he says to himself: 'T wonder
what these dogs are after" Then there
IS a cracking in the brushwOOd, and the
loud breathing of some rushing wonder
of the woods, and the antlers OF a deer
rend the leaves Of the thicket and by an
instinct which all hunters recognize
plunges into pond or lake or river to
cool its thirst and at the same time, by
its capacity for swifter and longer swim
ming, to get away from the foaming har-
riers. David says to himself:
"Aha, that is myself Saul after me,
Absalom after me, enemies without num-
Dor after me. am chased, their bloody
muzzles at my heels, barking
at my good name. barking after
my soul. Oh, the hounds, the hounds
But look there" says David, that rein
deer has splashed into the water. it puts
its hot lips and nOstrils into the cool wave
that washes the lathered TANKS, and 1t
swims away from tina fiery CANNES, and 1T
IS free at last. Oh that might mud In
the deep, wide lake OF Gods mercy and
consolation escape from my pursuers.
Oh, for the waters Of life and rescued As
the hart pauteth after the water brooks,
80 panteth my soul after Thee, o God"
have Just come from the Adirond acks
and the breath Of the balsam and spruce
and pine is still on me. The Adiron-
dacks are now pOpulOus with hunters and
the deer are being slain by the score.
Talking a few days ago with a hunter
thought would like to see whether my
text was accurate in its allusion, and as
I heard the dogs baying a little way off
aud supposed they were on the track Of
reindeer, 1 said to the hunter in rough
corduroy:
do the deer always make for the water
when they are pursuedS"
He said:
go, yes, Mister, you see they are hot
and thirsty animal aud they know where
the water is, and when they hear danger
In the distance they lift their ant4ers and
- snuff the breeze and start for the Racquet
or Loon or Saranac, and we get into our
cedar shell boat or stand by the run
away with rifle loaded ready to blaze
away"
NV friends, that is one reason why I
like the Bible so much-its illusions are
30 true to nature. Its cartridges are real
cartridges, it's ostriches real Ostriches,
and its reindeer real reindeer. do not
wonder that this antlered glory Of the
text makes the hunters eye sparkle and
his cheek glow, and his respiration quick
en-. To say nothing Of its usefulness,
although 1t is the most useful Of all game,
its flesh delicious, its skin turned into
human apparel, its sinews fashioned into
bow-strings, it's antlers putting handl es
on cutlery, and the shavings Of its horns
used as q restorative, taken from the
name Of the hart and called hartshorn.
But putting aside its usefulness, this en-
chanting creature seems made out of
gracefulness and elasticity. What an
- farn,Nv . rsnkH
cred up from a hundred lakes OF sunset
The horns, a corOnal branching into every
possible curve, and, after it seems
done, advancing into other pro-
ieCtions of eXquisiteness, tree of
polished bone, uplifted in pride
or swung down for awful combat.
Il is velocity embodied Timidity I'M
personated. The enchantment OF the
woods. Eye lustrous in life and pathetic
In death. The splendid animal COM
plete rhythm Of muscle, and bone, and
color, and attitude, and lOcomo ton,
whether couched in the grass among the
shadows, or living bolt shot through the
forest, or turning at bay to attack the
hounds or rearing for its last fall under
The buckshot OF the trNpper. It is SPLEEN
did appearance that the painters pencil
fails to sketch, and only a hunters dream
on a pillow of hemlock at the foot Of st.
Regis is able to picture. Then, twent y
miles from any settlement It comes down
at eventide to the lakes edge to drink
among the lily pads, and, with its sharp
edged hoof, skaters the crystal OF Long
lake II is very picturesque. But only
when, after miles OF pursuit. with heav
Ing sides and lolling tongue and eyes
swimming in death, the stag leaps from
the cliff into Upper Saranac, can you re
alize how much he wanted God when he
expressed himself in the words Of tn,
text;
As the hart panteth after the water brooks
so panteth my soul after Thoe,O, God
Well. now, let all those who have com
ing after them the lean hounds OF power
~ or the black hounds of persecution, o.
the spotted hounds OF vicissitude, or tn
pale hounds Of death, or who are in an
wise pursued, fly 10 the wide, deep, glori
ms lake OF Divine solace and rescue. Tn
most Of the men and women whom hap
men 70 know, Rt different times, IL nc
now. have had trouble after them, sharp
muzzled trouble, swift troubles, all de
rouring troubles. Many Of you hRv
made the mistake OF trying to hght then
some body meanly attacked you, and 70
attacked them; they deprecated you, yo
aenreci ated them; or they OverreaChe
Won in a bargain, and you tried, in Wa
street parlance, 20 get "a corner on then
or Won have had a bereavement and n
stead Of being submissive, you are ngh
Ing that bereavement; you charge on Oh
doctors who failed 20 effect "a cure; {
YOU charge on the carelessness OF III
railroad company through which the acc
dent occurred; or you are a chronic il
valid, and you fret and worry and scol
and wonder why you can not be well lii
other people, and you angrily charge @
the neuralgia or the laryngiis or II
ague or the sick headache.
rfFH.- L. n ~ "a III
stead of running to the waters Of Divir
,.,,so1,tior and sIaklnr your thirst ar