The free press., 1893-12-14
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON


TExa: "Es he 8,oraing he sbaR degour tn
prey. and Al night he staAdicide the sPo'L
Genesis Xix. II
a lew nights ago SOJ men encampad along
the Long Island railroad 50 as to be ready
for the next morning watch was the hrsf
stopen day" for deer hunting. Between sun
rise and o'clock in the afternoon OF tnai
day fifteen deer We're sl0t. On the zSth %
October our woods and forests resOund with
the shock OF firearms Gad ara :racke1 OF
pointers and settlers because the quAll are
then q lawful prize for the sportsman.
On q certain day in all England you can
hear the crack OF the sportsman gun
because grouse hunting has begun. and
every man that can afford the time ana am
munition and can draw a bead starts lor ths
fields. Xenophon grew eloquent IN regard
TO the art OF hunting In the far east peo-
ple. elephant mounted chase the tiger. The
American Indian darts his arrow at the Dui'
falo until the frigh, med herd fall over tne
rocks. European noD!es are often found ls
the fox chase and at the -taS hunt. francls
/ WIS called the father OF hunting. Moses
declares Of Nimrod, "He was mighty
hunter before the Lord. Therefore, in all
ages Of the world, the imagery of my text
ought to be suggestive whether it means
wolf after fox or Il man after lion.
Old Jacob, dying. is telling the fortunes
OF his children. He prophesies the de7our'
scendants 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
onetakes eoney, and another rabbit, and
another roe. I'm the morning he shall de-
your the prey, and at night ne shall divide
the spoil" Or it may be a reference to the
habits Of wild beasts that slay their prey and
then drag it back to the cave or lair and di-
vide itamong the young.
Itake my text, in the first place, as de-
scriptive of those people who in the M orn-
ing of their life give themselves up to hunt
1ng the world, but afterward, by the grace OF
God, in the evening OF their life divide
among themselves the spOils of Christian
character. There are aged Christian men and
women in this house, who, ifthey gave testi-
mony, would tell you that in tine morning OF
their life they were after the world as ia
tense 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 repartee
and conundtum and buresaue 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-
iequin. and the Merry Andrew, and the buff
foon, and the jester. Life was to them foam
and bubble and cachinnation and registering
and grimace. They were so full of glee they
could hardly repress their Inirth even on sol
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
a death in the house. OF every green thing
their soul was exfoliated. They found out
that life was more than a joke. From the
heart of God there blazed into their soul an
earnestness they had never felt before. They
awoke to their sinfuness and their immoral
ity, and here they sit at sixty or seventy
years Of age as appreciative of all innocent
mirth az 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 devoured the prey, out at night they
divided the spoils.
Then there are others who started out for
financial success. They SEQ how timber the
rim OF a 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 a $4,000 turnout They
thought they would like to have the morn
ing sunlight tangled in the headgear of a
dashing span. They wanted the bridges in
the park to resound under the rataplan of
their swift hoofs. They wanted "a gilded
oaldr1c, and 50 they started on the dollar
aunt. They chased it up one street and
chased it down another. They followed il
ghen it burrowed in the cellar. They treed
J in the roof.
Wherever 81 dollar NUas axuAsfad =, ha
hey We're. They chased it across the ocean
They chased 1t 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 a
looms laugh. They chased that dollar to the
money vault. They chased it to tho Gov
ernment treasury. They routed it from
under the counter. All the hounds were out
AL tho pointers and the settlers They
leaped the hedges for that dollar, and they
cried: "Hark awayi A dollarl A dollar
And when at last they came upon it and had
actually captured it their excitement was
like that of a falconer who has successfully
flung his first hawk.
In the morning of their life, oh, how they
devoured the prey But there came bet.
ter time to their sou'. They found oIt that
an immortal nature cannot live on bank
stock. They took up Il Northern Pacific
bond, and there was a hole in it through
Wllcn tneY could lOok INTO Int uncertainty
of all earthly treasures. They saw some
Ralston, living at the rate ot S25. 900 a 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 staplped with the image of the
earthly, earthly. They saw some great souls
by avarice turned into honunculi, and they
said to themselves, II will seek after higher
treasure"
From that time they did not care whether
they walked or rode if Christ walked with
them nor whether they lived in mansion
or in a hut ifthey dwelt under the shadow
of the Almighty, nor whether they were
robed in French broadcloth or in homespun
II they had the robe OF the Sayiour's right
eousness nor if they were sandalled with
morocco or calfskin if they were shod with
the preparation of the Gospel. Now you see
peace on their countenance. Now that man
says: "What fool 1 was to be 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 gaingetting. l like this evening
of my day great deal better than did the
morning. In the morning 1 greedily de-
youred the prey, but now it is evening, and
r .1<.-f sell, a I,,.r