Sharp County record., 1888-10-04
TALMAGEYS SERMON.
A Hunting Scene in the AdirondacKs
Furnishes Theme.
As the Stag is Pursued by the HOUNDS oo
is Mankind Bsset by Temptations
and Troubles - The d.
vine SOlace.

Rev, T, Dewitt Talmage preached the
following sermon in the Brooklyn Tao-
ernacle at the opening service after MS
return from his summer vacation. HIS
text was
AS the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth nv soul after Thee, o God. psalm
xiii, 1.
David, who must some time have seen
q DEER hunt, points us here to hunteu
stag making for the water. The tasclnaC-
ing animal called in my text the mart Is
the same animal that in sacred and pro-
fame literature is called the stag, the roe
buck, the hind, the gazelle, the relnae er.
In Central Syria, in Bible times there
were whole pasture fields OF them' as
Solomon suggests when he says:
charge YOU by the binds of the field" I"
Their antIers iutted from the long gras
AS thev lay down. No hunter who mas
been long in "John Browns tract" Will
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 1or
yenison Esau shot and brought nome a
roebuck. Isaiah compares the sprlg htll-
ness of the restored cripple of mlllennlal
times to the long and quick jump of the
stag. saving: '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:
"The slothful 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
where 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: II wonder
what these dogs are after" Then there
is cracking in the brushwood, and the
loud breathing of some rushing wonder
of the woods, and the antlers of deer
rend the leaves of the thicket and by an
instinct which all hunters recognize
plunges into q 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 foamlng 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 nv good name, barking after
nv soul. Oh, the hounds, the hounds
But look there" says David, THAT rem
deer has splashed into the water it puts
its hot lips and nostrils into the cool wav
that washes the lathered fauks, and II
swims away from the fiery CANNES, and II
is free at last. Oh, that might find II
the deep, wide lake of Gods mercy and
consolation escape from my pursuers'
Oh, for the waters of life and rescue! AS
the hart pauteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after Thee, o God"
Ihave just come from the AdlrondacKs
and the breath of the balsam and spruce
{ and pine is still on me. The Adiron.
&lsne rs ,are ses- Ben4lcusinFby the score
/ Talking a few days ago with hunter
thought would like to see whether my
text was accurate in It's allusion, and as
/ heard the dogs baying little way of
and supposed they were on the track of &
reindeer | said to the hunter in rough
corduroy:
'Do the deer always make for the water
when they are pursued?"
He said:
80, yes, Mister, you see they are hot
and thirsty animal and they know where
the water is, and when they hear danger
in the distance they lift their autlers and
snuff the breeze and start for the Racquet
or Loon or Saranac, and we get into our
cedar she'll boat or stand by the run
away with rife loaded ready to blaze
away"
As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after Thee,O, God.
Well, now, let all those who have com
ing after them the lean hounds of power.
ty, or the black hounds of persecution, or
the spotted hounds Of vicissitude, or the
pale hounds of death, or who are in any
wise pursued fly to the wide, deep, glori-
Gus lake of Divine solace and rescue. The
most of the men and women whom | hap
pen to know, at different times, if not
now, have had trouble after them, sharp
muzzled trouble, swift troubles, all de-
vouring troubles. Many of you have
made the mistake of trying to fight them.
Some body meanly attacked you, and you
attacked them; they deprecated you, you
deprecated them or they overreached
you in a bargain, and you tried, in Wall
street parlance, to get corner on them;
or you have had bereavement, and in
stead of being submissive, you are fight
! ing that bereavement; you charge on the
! doctors who failed to effect a cure: or
you charge on the carelessness of the
railroad company through which the acci-
dent occurred; or you are a chronic in
valid, and you fret and worry and scOld
and wonder why you can not be well like
other people, and you angrily charge on
the neuralgia or the laryngitis or the
ague or the sick headache.
The fact is you are deer at bay. In
stead of running to the waters of Divine
| consolation and shaking your thirst and
cooling your body and soul in the goo d
cheer of the Gospel, and swimming away
into the mighty deeps of Gods love, you
are fighting a whole KENNEL of barriers.
A few days ago l saw in the Adlron-
dacks dog lying across the road, aud he
seemed unable to get up, and l said to
some hunters near by:
"What is the matter with that dog?"
They answered: "a deer hurt him"
And l saw he had q great swollen paw
aud battered head, showing where the
animal struck him. And the probability
is that some of you might give mighty
clip to your pursuers you might damage
their business YOU might worry them