Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-07-10
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Washington Divine's
Sunday Sermon.
Subject: "The Mighty Hunter"
TEXT: "He was mighty hunter before
the Lord. "-Genesis K, 8.
ubiect: "The Mighty Hunter"

IL OuI uur Is u sport; Out III tu6
lands and the times infested with wild beasts
1t was a matter of life or death with the
people. 1t was very different from going
out on sunShiny afternoon with patent
breechloader, to shoot reedbiras on the flats,
when POlluX and Achilles and Dlomedes went
out to clear the land Of lions and tigers and
bears. My text sets forth Nimrod as a hero
when it presents him with broad shoulders
and shaggy apparel and sunbrowned face,
and arm punched with muscle-''a mighty
hunter before tho Lord" think he used
the bow and the arrows with great success
practicing archery,
have thought If it is such grand thing
and such brave thing to clear wild beasts
put OF country, II it is not better and
Drawer thing to hunt down and destroy those
great evils of society thatAre stalking the
land with fierce eye and bloody paw, and
sharp tusk and quick spring. have won.
dered II there Is not such thing as gospel
archery, by which those who have been flying
from the truth may be captured for God and
heaven. The Lord Jesus In Hissermon used
the art OF angling for an illustration when
He said, II will make you fishers of men,"
And so l think l have authority for using
hunting as an illustration of gospel truth,
and pray God that there may be many
man to-day who will begin TO study gospel
archery, of whom it may, after while, be
said, "He was a mighty hunter before the
| Lord"
How much awkward Christian work there
| Is done in the world! How many good peo-
| pie there arc who drive souls away from
| Christ instead of bringing them to Him! All
their fingers are thumbs-religiOus blunder-
ers who upset more than they right. Their
| gun hasa crooked barrel and kicks as 1t
! goes off. They are like stupid comrade
who goes along with skillful hunters. At
the very moment when he ought to be most
quiet, he is cracking an alder, or falling
over a log and frightening away the game.
How few Christian people have ever learned
the lesson of which read at the beginning
Of this service. how that the Lord Jesus
Christ at the well went from talking about
a cup of water to the most practically re-
| liglOus truths, which won the woman's soul
| Tor God. Jesus in the wilderness was break
| Ing bread to the people I think it was good
bread. IT was very light bread and the
! yeast had done ITS work thoroughly. Christ,
after He hal broken the bread, said to the
people, "Beware OF the yeast or of the lea
| zen of the Pharisees." So natural transit
! lion it was. and how easily they all uG-
derstood Him. But how few Christian peo-
pie there are who understand how to fasten
the truths Of God and religion to the souls
Of men Truman Osborne, one Of the evan
k6IlSlS VIII WSul lHTOuRu tulS yedth
Ago, had q wonderful art in the right direc-
lion. He camo to my fathers house one
lay, and while we were all seated in the
room he said, 'Mr. Talmage, are all your
children CbristjansY Father said, "Yes, all
but De Witt" Then Truman Osborne
looked down into the fireplace and began to
tell story Of storm that came on the
mountains, and all the sheep were in the
told, but there was ore lamb outside that
2erished in the storm. Had he looked me in
he eye should have been angered when he
| .old that story. But he looked into the fire.
/ place. and it was so pathetically and beauti-
! tally done that 1 never found any peace I'M
! til was sure was inside the fold where
he other sheep were.
The archers of Olden times studied their
art They were very precise in the matter
The old books gave special directions as to
low an archer should 60 and as to what an
richer should do. He must stand erect and
lrm, his left foot little in advance of the
light foot. With his left hand he must take
lold of the bow in the middle, and then
With the three fingers and the thumb of his
light hand he should lay hold of the arrow
md af1ix it to the string-so precise was the
! direction given. But how clumsy we are
lbout religious work. How little skill and
rare we exercise! How often our arrows miss
he mark Oh, that there were more insti-
utions established in all the towns and cit
es of our land where men might learn the
lrt of doing good-studying spiritual arch
Try, and known as "mighty hunters before
he Lord"
In the first place, If you want to be effec-
ual In doing good, you must be very sure OF
| FOUR weapon. There was something very
| fascinating about the archery of olden times.
| Perhaps you do not know what they could
| IL fho hO, nd
battles fought by the English Piantagenets
we're with the long bow. They would take
The arrow of polished wood, and feather it
With the plume of a bird, and then 1t would
! ly from the bow string of plated silk. The
rOad fields Of AgIncOurt and Solway Moss
ind Neville's Cross heard the loud thrum Of
he archer's bow string. Now, my Christian
| friends, we have mightier weapon than
| hat. II is the arrow of the gospel; 1t Is
| Iharp arrow; it is straight arrow: 1t is
Gathered from the wing of the dove Of Gods
| Spirit; it flies from bow made out OF the
wood of the cross. AS far as l can estimate
or calculate it has brought down 4O0, 200, 900
souls. Paul knew how to bring the notch Of
| that arrow on to that bow string, and its
Whir was heard through the Corinthian
theatres, and through the courtroom, until
| the knees of Felix knocked together. 1t was
hat arrow that struck in Luther's heart
when he cried out "Oh, my sins! Oh, my
| .ins!' If it strike man in the head, 1t kills
| his skepticism; If it strike Il man in the heel,
! t will turn his step: if il strike him in the
! Eeart, he throws up his hands, as did the
| Emperor Julian Of old when wounded In the
attic, crying, 20 Gallean, Thou has con-
Iuered!'
In the armory of the Earl Of Pembroke
there are old corseets which show that the
arrow of the English used to so through the
oreastplate through the body of the warrior
and through the backplate. What symbol
Of that gospel which is sharper than two
edged sword, piercing to the dividing asun-
der Of body aud soul, and Of the joints and
marrow! Would TO God we had more faith
In that gospel! The humbest man, If he had
enough faith in it, could bring 100 souls to
Jesus-perhaps 500. Just in proportion as
his age seems to believe less and less in it,,
believe more aud more in ii. What are
men about that they will not accept their
own deliverance2 THERE'S nothing proposed
| by men that can do anything like this gospel.
| fhe religion of Ralph Waldo Emerson was
The philosophy of icicles; the religion OF
| Theodore Parker was sirocco of the desert
covering up the soul with dry sand; the re-
| ligion of Renan was the romance of be-
leving nothing; the religion of the HuXleys
| md the Spencers merely pedestal on which
human philosophy sits shivering in the night
of the soul looking up TO the stars. Offering
no help to the nations that crouch and
groan at the base. Tell me where
there is one man who has rejected
that gospel for another who is
thoroughly satisfied and helped and con-
tented in his skepticism, and will take the
car tomorrow and ride 500 miles to see him
The full power of the gospel has not yet
been touched. AS a sportsman throws up