Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-12-02
THE ART OF HUNTING
REV. DR.. TALMAGE AGAIN DISCUSSES
A SEASoNABLE TOPIC.

REV. DR.. TALMAeE AGAIN DISCUSSES
A SEASoNABLE TOPIC.
The Crack Of the sportsman's Gun-uunt.
ing the Gains of the world-Religion II
Dividing the Spoil-A Resting Place.
BROOKLYN. Nov. 26.-In the forenoon
service at the Tabernacle today Rev. DIR.
Talmage took for his subject most sea
sonable one. "A Hunting Scene," the
text being Genesis xix, 81. I'm the
morning he shall devour the prey. and at
night he shall divide the spoil"
A few nights ago 800 men encamped
along the Long Island railroad so as tc
be ready for the next morning. which
was the .Grst "open day" for deer hunt.
ing. Between sunrise and o'clock in
the afternoon of that day 10 deer were
shot. On the Goth Of October our woods
and forests resound with shock of FIRE
arms and are tracked of pointers and
settlers, because the quail are then q
lawful prize for the sportsman.
On certain day in all England you
can hear tho crack of the sportsman's
gun, because grouse hunting has begun,
and every man that can afford the time
and ammunition and can draw bead
starts for the fields. Xenophon grew
eloquent in regard to the art of hunting.
In the far east people, elephant mount
ed, chase the tiger. The American In
dian darts his arrow at the buffalo until
the frightened herd tumble over the
rocks. European mobiles are often found
in the fox chase and at the stag hunt.
Francis was called the father of hunt
ing. Moses declares of Nimrod, He
was mighty hunter before the Lord"
Therefore, i'll all ages of the world, the
imagery of my text ought to be suggest
i've, whether it means wolf after fox
or man after lion.
Old Jacob, dying, is telling the for
tunes of his children. He prophesies the
devouring propensities of Benjamin and
his descendants. With his dim old eyes
he looks 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 a
coney, and another rabbit, and another
roe. I'm the morning he shall devour
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 divide it among the young.
THE WORLDS GAIN.
take my text, in the first place, as de-
scriptive of those people who in the
morning of their life give themselves up
to hunting the world, but afterward, by
the grace of God. in the evening of their
life divide among themselves the spoil
of Christian character. There are aged
Christian men and women in this house
who, if they gave testimony, would tell
you that in the morning of their life they
were after the world as intense as
hound after hare, or as falcon swoops
upon gazelle. They wanted the worlds
plaudits and the worlds gains. They
felt that if they could get this 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 repaTtee and conundrum and bur
lesque and madrigal.
They thought they would like to be
Tom Hoods or Charles Lambs or Ed
gar A. Poes. They mingled wine and
music and the spectacular. They were
worshipers of the harlequin. and the
Merry Andrew, and the buffoon, and the
| jester. Life was to them foam and bub-
BILE and exclamation and registering and
grimace. They were so full of glee they
could hardly repress their mirth even
on solemn occasions, and they came near
bursting out hilariously even at the bur-
ial because there was something so dol
orous in the tone or countenance of the
undertaken.
After awhile misfortune struck them
hard on the back. They found there was
something they could not laugh at. I'm
| der their late hours their health gave
way, or there was death in the house.
Of every green thing their soul was ex-
foliated. They found out that life was
more than joke From the heart of
God there blazed into their soul an ear
nestness they had never felt before.
| They awoke to their sinfulness and their
Immortality, and here they sit at 60 or
70 years of age as appreciative of all in
nocent mirth as they ever were, but they
are bent on a style of satisfaction which
in early life they never hunted-the
evening of their days brighter than the
morning. In the morning they devoured
the prey, but at night they divided the
spoil.
| Then there are others who started out
for financial success. They see how linn
Der the rim of mans hat is when he
bows down before some one transpicu-
ous. They felt they would like to see
how the world looked from the window
of 81 900 turnout. They thought they
would like to have the morning sunlight
| tangled in the headgear of dashing
| span. They wanted the bridges in tire
park to resound under the rataplan of
their swift hoofs. They wanted gilded
baldric, and SO they started on the dol
lar hunt. They chased it up one street
and chased it down another They fol-
lowed it when it burrowed in the cellar.
They freed it in the roof.
Wherever q dollar was expected to be,
they were. They chased it across the
ocean. They chased it across the land.
! They stopped not for the night. Hear
thrilled them as an Adirondack sports
man is thrilled at midnight by a looms
laugh. They chased that dollar TO the
money vault They chased it to the gov
eminent treasury. They routed it from
under the counter All the hounds were
out-all the pointers and the settlers
They leaped the hedges for that dollar,
A dollarl" And when at last they came
upon it and had actually captured it
their excitement was Ike that Of fall
coner who has successfully flung his first
hawk.
/ In the morning of their life, oh, how
they devoured the preyl But there came
| better time to their soul. They found
/ out that an immortal nature cannot live
/ on bank stock They took up a North
ern Pacific bond, and there was hole in
it through which they could look into
the uncertainty of ali earthly treasures.
They saw some Ralston. living at the
rate of $4,000 month, leaping from
San Francisco wharf because he could
not continue to live at the same ratio
They saw the wien and paralytie bank
ers who had changed their souls into
molten gold stamped with the image Of
the earth. earthly. They saw some great
souls by avarice turned into homuncuh,