The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-12-13
REV, DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON
Subject: GA Hunting Scene"

TEXT: "In the morning he shall deuour the
prey. and at niqhthe ShdHdtUide the Spoll. -
Genesis Xix, u.
| A few nights ago 800 men encamped along
! the Long Island railroad 80 as to be ready
| for the next morning, which was the first
sopen day" for deer hunting. Between sun.
rise and 2 o'clock in the afternoon OF that
day fifteen deer were shot. On the 29th OF
| October our woods and forests resound with
| the shock of firearms and are tracked OF
pointers and settlers because the quail are
then lawful prize for the sportsman.
| On a certain day In all England you can
hear the crack of the sportsmans gun,
| because grouse hunting has oegun; ana
| every man that can afford the time and am
J munition and can draw a bead starts for the
! fields. Xenophon grew eloquent in regard
, to the art Of hunting. In the far east Peo-
pie, elephant mounted, chase the tiger. The
| American Indian darts his arrow at the but-
| falo until the frightened herd fall over the
rocks. European mobiles are often found In
the fox chase and at the stag hunt. Francis
| was called the father OF hunting. Moses
| declares of Nimrod, "He was a 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 after lion.
Old Jacob, dying, is telling the fortunes
| OF his children. He prophesies the devour-
ing propensities of Benjamin and his de-
scendants. With his dim old eyes he locks
| off and sees the hunters going out to 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 to distribute the game, and
one takes coney. and another rabbit, and
another a roe. SIN the morning he shall de-
YOUR the prey, and at night he shall divide
the spoil" Or it may be reference to the
habits of wild beasts that slay their prey and
then drag it back to the cave or lair and d.
vide 1t among the young.
Itake my text, in the first place, as de-
scriptive Of thoss people who in the morn
ing OF their life give themselves up to hunt
Ing the world, but atterward, by the grace OF
God, in the evening Of their life divide
among themselves the spoils Of Christian
character Thereare aged Christian men and
women in this house, who. ifthey gave testi-
mony. would tell you that in the morning OF
their life they were after the world as in
tense as hound after hare, or as falcon
swoops upon gazelle. They wanted the
worlds plaudits and the worlds gains.
They felt that II they could get rhis world
they would have everything. Some OF them
started out for the pleasures OF the world.
They thought that the man who laughed
loudest was happiest. They tried repartee
and conundrum and burlesque and madrigal.
They thought they would like to be Tom
Hoods or Charles Lambs or Edgar A. Poes
They mingled wine and music and the spec
tacular. They were worshipers Of the har-
lequin. and the Merry Andrew, and the buf-
foon, and the jester. Life was to them foam
and bubble and cachinnation and registering
and grimace. They were so full OF giee they
hor 1xy mi on
emn occasions, and they came near bursting
out hilariously even at the burial because
there was something so dolorous In the tone
or countenance OF the undertaken.
After awhile misfortune struck them hard
on the back. They found there was some
thing they could not laugh at. 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 joke. From the
heart OF God there blazed into their soul an
earnestness they had never felt before. They
awoke to their sinfulness and their immoral
ity, and here they sit at sixty or seventy
years of age as appreciative OF all innocent
mirth as they ever were, but they are bent
on style OF satisfaction which in early life
they never hunted-the evening OF their days
brighter than the morning. In the morning
they deyoured the prey, but at night they
divided the spoils.
Then there are others who started out for
financial success. They see how timber the
rim Of q mans hat is when he bows down
before some one transpicuous.. They felt
they would like to see how the world looked
from the window of $4,000 turnout. They
thought they would like to have the morn
ing sunlight tangled in the headgear OF
dashing span. They wanted the bridges in
the park to resound under the rataplan OF
their swift hoofs. They wanted a gilded
baldric, and 80 they started on the dollar
hunt. They chased it up one street and
chased it down another. They followed it
when it burrowed In the cellar. They treed
It in the roof.
Wherever dollar was expected to be,
they were. They chased 1t across the ocean
They chased it across the land. They stopped
not for the night. Hearing that dollar. even
In the darkness, thrilled them rs an Adiron-
dack sportsman is thrilled at midnight by .
looms laugh. They chased that dollar to the
money vault. They chased it to the Coy
ernment treasury. They routed 1t from
under the counter. All tho hounds were out
ALI the pointers and the settlers. They
leaped the hedges for that dollar, and they
cried clark away! A dollar! 4 dollar '
And when at last tney came upon 1t and had
actually captured it their excitement was
like that OF a falconer who has successfully
flung his first hawk.
In tho morning OF their life, oh, how they
devcc--4 the prey! But there came bet
ter time to their SOU. Tney found o1t that
an immortal nature cannot live on bank
: stock. They took up Northern Pacific
bond, and there was q hole in 1t through
| which they could look into the uncertainty
| OF all earthly treasures They saw some
Ralston. living at the rate OF S25 900 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
| earthly, earthy.. They saw some great souls
| by avarice turned into homunculi, and they
| said to themselves, Il will seek after higher
treasure"
From that time they did not care whether
they walked or rode il Christ walked with
them nor whether they lived in mansion
| or in hut ifthey dwelt under the shadow
OF the Almighty nor whether they were
II they had the robe Of the Saviour's right
eousness nor If they were sandalled with
morocco or calfslin If they were shod with
the preparation OF the Gospel. Now you sea
| peace on their countenance. Now that man
says "What fool was to to enchanted
with this world. Why, have more satisfac-
tion In five minutes in the service OF God
than had in all the first years OF my life
while was guingetting. like this evening
OF my day great deal better than did tho
morning. In the morning greediy de-
voured the prey, but now it Is evening, and
am gioriously dividing the SPOIL"
| My friends, this world is a poor thing to
hunt. 1t is healthful 10 go out In the woods
and hunt It rekindles the luster OF the eye.
/ It strikes the brown Of the autumnal leaf In
to the cheek. 1t gives to the rheumatic limbs
the strength to leap like roe. Christopher
| Norhs pet gun, the muckle-mou'd Meg. go
ing Off in the summer in the forest had its
i IL