The Banner-Democrat., 1894-01-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Hunt In the Morning and the
Division Of Spoils at Night.
The Hunting Season and It's Application
to Worldly and Religious Life-The
Chase of Pleasure and the Spoils
of Christianity.

| the following discourse in the Brook
lyn tabernacle, the subject being -
Hunting Scene," and the text:
In the morning he shall devour the prey
| and at night he shall divide the spoil. =
Genesis. Xix. q.
few nights ago eight hundred mer
encamped along the Long Island rail
road, so as to be ready for the mex
morning, which was the first ''oper
day" for deer hunting. Between sun
rise and two o'clock in the afternoon
of that day fifteen deer were shot Or
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 GER
tain day in all England you can hea,
| the crack of the sportsman's gun, be
cause grouse hunting has begun; and
every man that can afford the
time and ammunition and car
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 l. 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 it means wolf after a
fox, or o 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. ssIn
the morning he shall devour the prey,
and at night he 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 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
ward, by the grace of God, in the even
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 hound after
a hare. or as a 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.
casions, and they came near bursting
ouC 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
N the house. of every green thing
their soul was exfoliated They found
)ut that life was more than a Joke. |
From the heart of God there blazed |
nto their soul an earnestness they had |
never felt before. They awolse to their |
'infulness and immortality, and here
hey sit at sixty or seventy years of |
lge, as appreciative of all innocent |
nirth as they ever were, but they are
,ent on style of satisfaction which |
n early life they never hunted; the
.vening of their days brighter than
he morning. In the morning they de-
'oured the prey, but at night they di-
7ided the spoils.
Then there are others who started |
nut for financial success. They see
low Timber the rim of a mans hat is
when he bows down before some one
ranspicuous. They felt they would
ike to see how the world looked from
he window of ur-thousand-dollar
turnout. They thought they would
ike to have the morning sunlight tan
led up in the head-gear of dashing
pan. The wanted the bridges in the
ark to resound under the rataplan of
heir swift hoofs. They wanted a
'ilded baldrick, and so they started on
he dollar hunt. They chased it up
ne street and chased it down another.
hey followed it when it burrowed in
he cellar. They treed it in the roof.
Wherever a dollar was expected to
e, they were. They chased it
cross the ocean, They chased it
cross the land. They stopped not for
he night. Hearing that dollar, even
a the darkness, thrilled them as an
adirondack sportsman is thrilled atmid-
lght by looms laugh. They chased
hut dollar to the money vault. They
hased it 70 the government treasurv