The Bossier banner., 1893-12-28
"A HUNTING SCENE"
Rev. DR.. Talmage Discourses on a
Seasonable Topic.
The Life of Man Hunt for Pleasure and
Riches which VIII Count as Nothing
Unless Gods Love is Included
in His Spoils.

The following discourse on "a Hunt
ing Scene" was delivered by Rev. I.
Dewitt Talmage in the Brooklyn taber-
nacle, being based on the text:
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
and at night he shall divide the spoil
Genesis Xix, q.
A few nights ago eight hundred men
encamped along the Long Island rail
road, so as to be ready for the next
morning, which was the first ''open
day" for deer hunting. Between sun
rise and two o'clock in the afternoon
of that day fifteen deer were shot. On
the Goth of October our woods and for
ests resound with shock Of firearms,
and are tracked of pointers and set
ters, because the quail are then a law
full prize for the sportsman. On a GER
tain day in all England you can hear
the crack of the sportsman's gun, be-
cause grouse hunting has begun; and
every man that can afford the
time and ammunition and can
draw bead starts for the fields. Keno
phon 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 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 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 a wolf after a
fox, or a man after lion. Old
Jacob, dying, is telling the for
tunes of his children. He prophesies
the devouring propensities of Benja
min and his descendants. With his
dim old eyes he looks off and sees the
hunters going out to the fields, rang
ing them all day, and at nightfall com
ing 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 an
other rabbit, and another roe. "In
the morning he shall devour the prey,
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 divide it among the young.
take my text, in the first place, as
descriptive of those people who in the
morning of their life give themselves
up to hunting the world but after
r.d hvy ha e 10 -
ing of their life divide among them
selves the spoils 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 a 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 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 spectacular. They were wor-
shippers of the harlequin, and the
Merry Andrew, and the buffoon, 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 re-
press their mirth, even on solemn oc-
caslons, and they came near bursting
out hilariously even at the burial. be-
cause there was something so dolorous
In the tone or countenance of the under
taker. After awhile misfortune struck
them hard on the back. They found
there was something 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 Joke.
From the heart of God there blazed
into their soul an earnestness they had
never felt before. They awol1e to their
sinfulness and immortality, 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 de-
voured the prey, but at night they di-
vided the spoils
Then there are others who started
out for financial success. They see
how timber the rim of mans hat is
when he bows down before some one
tran spicuous. They felt they would
like to see how the world looked from
the window of a four ur-thousand-dollar
turnout They thought they would
like to have the morning sunlight tan
gled up in the head-gear of dashing
span. The wanted the bridges in the
park to resound under the rataplan of
their swift hoofs. They wanted a
gilded baldrick, and so they started on
the dollar hunt. They chased it ND
one street and chased it down another.
They followed it when it burrowed in
the cellar. They treed it in the roof
Wherever a dollar was expected to