The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-09-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Hunting Scene in the Adirondaoks
Furnishes q Theme.
As the stag IL Pursued by the Hounds. So
Is Mankind Beset by Temptations
and Troubles - The Di-
vine Solace.

ernacle at the opening service after his
return from his summer vacation. His
sxt was:
As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after Thee, o God. Psalm
Kill, J.
David, who must some time have seen
q er.hunt, points US here to a hunted
stag making for the water. The fascinat-
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 gazelle, the reindeer
In Central Syria, in Bible times, there
were whole pasture fields Of them, as
Solomon suggests when he says: II
charge you by the binds Of the field"
Their anters tutted from the long grass
as they lay down. No hunter who has
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, louged for
venison Esau shot aud brought home
roebuck. Isaiah compares the sprig htli-
ness of the restored cripple Of millennial
times to the long and quick jump Of the
stag saying: "The lame shall loap as
the hart" Solomon expressed his dts'
gust at hunter who having shot deer
Is too lazy to cook it, saying:
"The slothSul 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 a lonely cave
where he had lodged, and on the banks OF
pond or river, hears pack OF hounds
II - y o,-s1
silence OF the forest the claugor startles
him. and he says to himself: ~ 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 deer
repd the leaves Of the thicket and by an
instinct which ali hunters recognize
plunges into pond or lake or river to
cool its thirst, and at the same time. by
its capacity for switter and longer swim
ming, to get away from the toamiug har-
rlere. David Gays to himself:
"Aha, that is myselti Saul after me,
Absalom after me, enemies without num-
Dor after me. am cha!ed, 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 hanks, and 1t
swims away from the fiery CANNES, and it
is free at last. Oh, that l might ind in
the deep, wide lax 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,
SO panteta 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 aud
the deer are being slain by the score.
Talking a few days ago with hunter l
thought would like to see whether my
text was accurate in its allusiou. and as
/ heard the dogs baying little way off
and supposed they were on the track of
reindeer l said to the hunter in rough
corduroy:
"Do tire deer always make for the water
when they are pursuedr
He said:
20 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 antlers 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 rife loaded ready to blaze
away"
As the hart pan,eth after the water brooks,
30 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, glorl-
Gus lake of Divine solace and rescue. The
most of the men and women whom hap
pen to know, at different times, II not
now, have had trouble after them, sharp
fnuzzled 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 bargain, and you tried, In Wall
street parlance to get corner on them;
or you have had a 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 h which the acci-
dent occurred; or you are chronic in
valid and you fire: and worry and soold
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 whole KENNEL of barriers.
A few days ago l saw in the Adlron-
dacks g 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 dogf"
They answered: "A deer hurt him"
And l saw he lad a great swollen paw
aud a battered head, showing where the
animal struck him. And the probability
is that some of you might give a mighty
clip to your pursuers, you might damage
their business, you might worry them
into ill-health, you might hurt them as
they have hurt you, but after all, 1t is not
worth while. You only have hurt a
hound. Better be of for the Upper
Saranac, into which the mountains of
Gods eternal strength look down and
moor their shadows. As for your
physical disorders, the worst strychnine
you can take is fretfulness, and the best
medicine is religion. know people who
were only little disordered, yet
have fretted themselves into COM
plete valetudinarianism. while others
put their trust in God and came up from
the very shadow of death, and have
glved comfortably twenty-five years with
only one lung. A man With one lung,