The Penn's Grove record., 1893-12-01
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE,s SUM-
DAY SERMON


pYsY. and nj Hi9hthe shaHdtcide the spoit.'s-J
Genesis Xix, y.
4 few nights ago 800 mon enelnped a oag
| the Long Island railroad so as to be ready
for the next morning, which was the first
s'open day Sordeer hunting. Between sun
| rise and q O'Clock In the afternoon OF that
| lay fifteen deer were shot. On the Goth Of
| October our woods and forests resound with
the shock of firearms n are tracked Of
| pointers ard settlers because the quail are
! then a lawful prize for the sportsman.
On a certain day in all England you can
! hear the crack Of the sportsman's gun.
because grouse hunting has begun, and
| every MAJ that can afford the time and am.
| munition and can draw a bead starts for the
fields. Eeponhon grew eloquent in regard
10 the art OF bunting. In tho far east peo-
| pie, elephant mounted, chase the tiger. The
| American Indian darts his arrow at the buff
faio nntil the frightened herd fall over the
| rocks. European mobiles are often found In
the fox chase and at the stag hunt. Francis
/ was callet the father of hunting. Moses
! declares OF Nimrod, "He was a mighty
hunter beforetho Lord" Therefore, in ali
ages Of the world, the imagery Of my text
| ought to lie suggestive, whether it means q
! wolf after a fox or u man after a lion.
Old Jacob, dying, is telling the fortunes
of his children. He prophesies the devour-
ing propensitips OF Benjamin and his de-
scendnnts. With his dim old eyes he looks
of AMI sees the hunters going out to the
| folds. ranging them all day, and at nightfall
soming home, the game slung over the
shoulder, and reaching the door of the tent
the hunter beginto distribute tho game, and
one takes a coney. and another q rabbit, and
another a roe. In the morning he shall de-
vour the prey, and at night he shall divide
tho spoil" Or it may be a reference to the
haoits of wild beasts that STAY their prey and
thea drag it back 20 the cave or lair n d.
vide it among the young.
take my text, in the FIRST place, as de-
scripttve OF those people who IN the morn
ing OF their life give themselves up to hunt
ing the world, but after ward, by the grace of
God, in the evening Of their life divide
among themselves the spoils of Christian
character. Therear 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 a hound after Il hare, or as a falcon
swoops upon Il ga1elle. They wanted the
! worlds plaudits and the worlds gains.
They felt that il thoy could get this world
they would have everything. Some of them
They thought that the nan who laughed
ioudest was happiest. They tried repartee
and %conundrum md burlesque and madrigal.
They thought hoy would like to be Tom
Hoods or Charles Lambs or Edgar A. Poes.
They mingled vino 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 exclamation and registering
and grimace. They were so full OF glee they
could hardly repress their mirth even on SOL
emn occasions, and they came near bursting
out hjlarioGsly even at the burial because
there was something SO dolorous in the tone
or rountenance 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 WA
y 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 # Goo there blazed into their soul an
ea~rnestness they had never felt before. They
ayoke to their sinfulness and their immoral
lty. and here they sit at sixty or seventy
years OF age as appreciative OF all innocent
mirth as thsy ever were, but they are bent
on a style OF satisfaction which in early life
they never huuted-the evening of their days
brighter than the morning. In the morning
divided the spoils.
TLen there arc others who started out for
financial success. They see how limber the
rim of a mans hat is when he VOWS down
before some cns transpicuous. They felt
they wGuli like to see now the world looked
from !ae window of q $4,000 turnout. They
No light they would like to have the morn
ng sunlight tangled in the headgear Of q
lashing span. They wanted the bridges In
!he park TO resOund under the rataplan Of
their swift hoofs. They wanted a gilded
~baldric, and SO they started OIL the dollar
hunt. They chased it up one street and
ahased it down another. They followed 1t
when /. 5urrowed In the cellar. They freed
1t in the roof.
Wherever a dollar was expected to be,
they were. They chased 1t across the ocean.
They chased it across the land. They stopped
cot o. the night. Hearing that dollar, even
IN the darkness. thrilled them as an Adiron-
lack sportsman is thrilled ut midnight by q
loons laugh. They chased that dollar to the
,honey vault. They chased 1t to the Gov
m treasury. They routed 1t from
under tho counter. All the hounds were out
all the pointers and the settlers. They
leaped the hedges for that dollar, and they
cried "Hark away! A dollar! A dollarE
And when at last they came upon 1t and had
actually captured 1t their excitement was
flung his first hawk.
In the morning Of their life, oh, how they
deyoured the prey! But there came q bet
ter time to their soul. They found out that
an immortal nature cannot live on ban
stock. They took up a Northern Pacific
bond, and there was q hole in it through
which they could look into the uncertainty
OF all earthly treasures. They saw some
halston, living at the rate Of $25, 900 q month,
leaping from a San Francisco wharf because
ne could not CONT lue to live at the same
ratio. They saw the wien and paralyttc
banker who had changed their souls into
molten gold stamped with the image OF the
earthly, earthly. They saw some great souls
by avarice turned into homunculi, and they
said to themselves, II 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 a mansion
or In a hut ifthey dwelt under the shadow
OF the Almighty nor whether they were
rooed In French ~broadcloth or in homespun
ii they had the robe OF the Saviour's right
eousness nor il they were sandalled with
morocco or calfskin Il they were shod with
the preparation Of the Gospel. Now you see
peace on their countenance. Now mai man
says What a fool 1 was to be enchanted
with this world. Why, 1 nave more satisfac-
ton in five minutes In the service OF God
than a all the first years OF my life
while was gaingetting. like this evening
OF my day a great deal better than l did the
morning. In the morning 1 greedily de-
youred the prey, but now it Is evening, and
1 am g~lorlously dividing the SPOIL"
My friends, this world Is a poor thing 10
It is healthful to go out in the woods
and hunt. 1t rekindles the luster OF the eye.
II strikes the brown OF the autumnal leaf in
10 the cheek. 1t gives to the rheumatic limbs
me strength TO leap like a roe. Christopher
Norths pet gun, the muekle-mou'd Meg, go,
ing on In the summer In the forest had its
eeho in the winter time In fhe eloquence that
a through the university halls OF Edin-
6urgh. 1t is healthy to go hunting In the
helds. but l tell you that It is belittling and
bedwaring and belaming for a man to hunt
this world. The hammer comes down on the
guneap, and the barrel explodes and kills
you instead of that which you are pursuing.
When you turn out to hunt the world, the
world turns out to hunt you, and as many
sportsman aiming his gun OF a partners
heart, has gone down under the striped
claws, so while you have been attempting
to deyour this world the world has been de-
youring you. So it was with Lord Byron. !
20 was with Coleridge. So 1t was with
catherine of Russia. Henry II. went out
hunting for this world, and its lances struck
through his heart. Francis ]. aimed at the
world, but the assassin's dagger put an end
70 bis ambition and his life at one stroke.
MARY Queen of Scots wrote on the window
From y, q, :. u ter, .ar trina.
Mlshap hath laid me In the dust. Z