Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1892-04-29


of eager listeners. Avoiding abstruse the
illogical subjects, DR.. Talmage preached
sermon on a practical topic, giving shrewd
common sense lessons Of inestimable value
to his hearers, especially to the young peo-
pie, who make up large part OF his con
Rregation. His text was Proverbs XII, ~,
s'The slothful man roasteth not that which
he took in hunting"
David and jeremiah and Ezekiel and
Micah and Solomon of the text showed
that some time they had been out on
hunting expedition. Spears, lances,
swords and nets were employed in this
service. A deep pitfall would be digged.
In the center Of it there was some raised
ground with pole on which lamb, would
Be- fastened, and the wild beast not seeing
the pitfall but only seeing the lamb would
plunge for its prey and dash down, itself
captured. Birds were caught IN gins or
pierced with arrows. The hunters in olden
time had two missions-One to clear the
land of ferocious beasts, and the other TO
obtain meat for themselves and their fam
lies. The occupation and habit OF hunters
are a favorite Bible smile. David said he
was hunted by his enemy like partridge
upon the mountain. My text is hunting
scene.
A sDortsman arrayed in a garb appropri-
ate to the wild chase lets slip the blood
thirsty hounds from their kennels. and
mounting his feet horse, with hallOO and
tbe veil Of a greyhound pack they are of
and away, through brake and dell, over
marsh and moor, across chasms where
misstep would hurl horse and rider to
death, plunging into mire up to the
launches or into swift streams up to the
bit. till the game is tracked by dripping
foam and blood, and the antlers crack on
the rocks and the hunter has just time to
he in at the death. Yet, after all the haste
and peril of the chase, my text represents
this sportsman as being too indOlent to
dress the game and prepare it for food. lie
let's it lie in the dooryard Of his home and
become a portion for vernin and beaks OF
prey. Thus by one master stroke Solomon
gives a picture of laziness when he says,
ssThe glothful man roasteth not that which
he took in hunting" The most Of hunters
have the game they shot or entrapped
cooked the same evening or the next day,
but not so with this laggard of the text.
Too lazy to rip off the hide. Too lazy to
kinille the fire and put the gridiron on the
Goals.
The first picture ! ever bought was an
engraving of ThOrwaldsen's Autumn"
The clusters of grapes are ripe on the vine
of the homestead, and the returned hounds,
Danting from the chase, are lying on the
/ dOorsill and the hunter is unshouldering
the game, while the housewife is about to
take portion of it and prepare it for the
evening meal. Unlike the person OF the
text, she was enough industrious to roast
that which had been taken IN hunting
But the world has had many specimen
| since SolomOn's time of those whose lassi-
tude and imprOvidence and absurdlty were
Denoted in my text. The most OF those
who have made dead failure OF life can
Ioolx hack and see time when a great OPP
portunity opened, but they did not know IT,
They were not as wise as George Stephen
zon. s.the father of railways" who, when
at sixteen years of age he received an ap-
nointnent to work at pumping engine
for twelve shillings a week, cried ont,
,eNow. / am made man for life" God
gives to most men at least one good Oppor-
tunity. A great Grecian general was met
bv a group Of beggars, and he said to them;
ssIf YOU want beasts to pillow your land
will lend you some If you want land
will give YOU some If you want seed to
sow YOUR land, will see that you get it.
Rut I will encourage none IN ldieness.
So God gives to most people an oppor-
tunity of extricatiOn from depressed cir
cumstances. As if to create in us hatred
for Incidence, God has made those animals
which are sluggish to appear loathsome In
our ewes, while those which are fleet and
active he has clothed with attractiveness.
The tortoise, the sloth, the snail, the
crocodile repel us, while the deer and the
gazelle are as pleasing as they are meet
and from the swift wings Of innumerable
birds God has spared no purple or gold OF
let or crimson or snowy wilderness. Besides
ali this. the Bible is constantly assaulting
tbe vice of laziness. Solomon seems to or
lder the idler out Of his sight as being be
vond all human instruction when ne says
sGO to the ant, thou sluggard; consider
her ways and be wise" And Paul seems
to drive him up from his dining table be
fore he gets through with the first course
of food with the assertion, III any Will no'
work, neither shall he eat"
CAUSES OF LAZINESS.
Now. what are the causes of iaziness anC
what are its evil results2 l knew mar
,ybo was never up to time It seemed I'M
nossible for him to meet an engagement
When he was to be married he missed thu
train. His watch seemed to take on th'
habits of its owner, and was always to'
slow. He had a constitutional lethargl
for which he did not seem responsible. y
, Incidence often arises from the natura
temperament. / do not know but there Il
a constitutional tendency to this vice Il
! every man. However active you may gen
3 eraliv be, have you not on some warn
sDrin0 day felt touch Of this feeling OF
YOU. although you may have shaken II OF
as YOU would reptile? But some are s.
nowerfully tempted to this by their bodll.
constitution that all the work Of their lif
has been accomplished with this letharg
hanging on their back or treading on thei
heels.
You sometimes behold it in childhood
The child moping and longing withil
doors while his brothers and sisters are
Dlav. or is he Join them he is behind j
every race and beaten in every game. Ill
. nerves, his muscles, his bones are smitte
with this palsy. He vegetables rather tina
lives. creeps rather than walks, yawn
rather than breathes. The animal in m
nature is stronger than the intellectual
He is generally great eater ana ac.iF
: only when he cannot digest what ne ma
{ eaten. 1t requires as much eHort TOT MI
to walk as for others to run. Languor an
: droursiness are his natural inheritance. II
/ IS OllllL LOT u SLOW HstAAAh5 $500 -
I hulk and an insufficient cntwater. Flae
! an active man in such bodily structuI
: and the latter would be shaken to pieces
one day. Every law of physiology demand
J that he be supine Such one is not =
sponsible for this powerful tendency OF b
: nature. His great duty is resistance.
When sec a man fighting an unfort
Z nate temperament all my sympathies q
8 aroused. and think Of Victor Hugo's q
I count Of scene on a warship, where,
4 the midst Of a storm at sea, great cann'
got loose, and it was crashing this way al
that and would have destroyed the shi
and the chief gunner, at the almost certa
destruction of his own life, rushed at
Z with handspike to thrust between g
smokes of the wheel Of the rolling canno
and by fortunate leverage arrested t
gun till it could be dashed fast. But th
p strn0Ole did not seem so disheartening