St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-11-05
THE DIVINE REFUGE.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Describes the
Haven fer the Oppressed.
sure RI fuss from NE Hounds of Psrss-
eatl0D, Ylcissitudo and Death n
the Broad and Deep Lake
Of Divine SolaeA.

Sure Rsfugs from Me Hounds Of Perss-
estios, vIeissitude and Death N
the Broad and Deep Lake
Of Divine solaee.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in the fol-
lowing sermon, calls all of the pur-
sued and troubled of the earth to
come and slake their thirst at the deep
river of divine comfort. The text:
AS the hart panteth after water
brooks, SO panteth my soul after thee,
o God.
David, who must some time have
seen a deer hunt, points us here to .
hunted stag making for the water.
The fascinating animal called in my
text the hart is the same animal that
in sacred and profane literature is
called the stag, the roe buck, the hind.
the gazelle, the reindeer. In central
Syria, in Bible times, there were whole
pasture fields of them, as Solomon sug-
gests, when he says: II charge you
by the kinds of the field" Their ant
lers jutted from the long grass as they
lay down. No hunter Who has been
long in John Browns tract" will
wonder that in the Bible they were
classed among clean animals, for the
dews, the showers, the lakes washed
them as clean as the sky. When
Isaac, the patriarch, longed for ven
ison, Esau shot and brought home .
roe buck. Isaiah compares the
sprightliness of the restored cripple of
millennial times to the long and quick
jump of the stag, saying: 'The lame
shall leap as the hart" Solomon ex-
pressed his disgust at a hunter who,
having shot deer, is too lazy to cook
it, saying: "The slothful man roast
eth not that which he took in hunt
ing"
But one day David, while far from
the home which he had been driven,
and sitting near the mouth of n lone
ly cave where he had lodged, and ON
the banks of pond or river, hears
pack of hounds in swift pursuit. Be
cause of the previous silence OF the
forest the clangor startles him. and he
says to himself: II wonder what
those dogs are after" Then there is
a cracking in the brushwood. and the
loud breathing of some rushing won
der of the woods, and the antlers of a
deer rend the leaves of the thicket,
and by an instinct which all hunters
recognize the creature plunges into a
pool or lake or river to cool its thirst,
and Mt the same time by it's capacity
for swifter and longer swimming to
get away from the foaming barriers.
David says to himself: AHA, that il
myself! Saul after me, Absalom after
me, enemies without number after me;
! am chased; their bloody muzzles at
my heels. barking at my good name.
barking after my body, barking after
my soul. Oh, the hounds, the hounds!
But look there" says David to him
self; ..that reindeer has splashed into
the water. 1t puts its hot lips and
nostrils into the cool wave that washes
it's lathered flanks, and it swims away
from the fiery CANNES, and it is free
Mt last. Oh, that / might find in the
deep, wide lake of Gods mercy and
consolation escape from my pursuers!
oh, for the waters of life and rescue!
AS the hart panteth after the water
brooks, so panteth my soul after thee,
O God"
The Adirondacks Are now populous
with hunters. and the deer are being
slain by the score. Talking one sum-
mer with hunter, thought / would
like to see whether my text was ac-
curate in it's allu.5on. and as heard
the dogs baying little way off and
supposed they were on the track of q
deer, / said to one of the hunters in
rough corduroy: DO the deer al.
ways make for water when they are
pursued?' He said: "Oh, yes, mis-
ter; you see they are hot and thirsty
animal, and they know where the wa
ter is. and when they hear danger in
the distance they lift their antlers and
sniff the breeze and start for the
Racquet or the Loon or Saranac; and
we get into our cedar shell boat or
stand by the runaway with rifle
loaded and ready to blaze away"
My friends, that is one reason why
/ like the Bible so much-its illusions
are SO true to nature. Its partridges
are real partridges, its ostriches real
ostriches. and its reindeer real rein-
deer. / do not wonder that this an-
tlered glory of the text makes the
hunters eye sparkle and his check
glow and his respiration quicken. To
say nothing of its usefulness, although
it is the most useful of all game, i.s
| flesh delicious, its skin turned into
human apparal, its sinews fashioned
| into bow-strings, it's antlers putting
handles on cutlery, and the shavings
of it's horn used as pungent restora-
| tive, the name taken from the hart
| and called hartshorn. But putting
aside its usefulness, this enchanting
creature seems made out of graceful
| ness and elasticity. What an eye, with
q liquid brightness as if gathered up
from hundred lakes at sunset! The
horns, a coronal branching into every
possible curve, and after it seems COM
| plete ascending into other projections
| of exquisiteness, u tree of polished
bone, uplifted in pride, or swung down
for awful combat. The hart is velocity
embodied. Timidity impersonated.
The enchantment of the woods. Its
eye lustrous in life and pathetic In
death. The splendid animal q COM
plete rhythm of muscle, and bone,
and color. and attitude, and locomo-
ton, whether crouched in the grass
among the shadows, or living bolt
shot through the forest, or turning at
bay to attack the hounds, or rearing
for its last fall under the buckshot OF
the trapper. 1t il a splendid appear
ance that the painters pencil fails to
sketch. and only hunters dream on
. pillow Of hemlock at the foot Of st.
Regis Is able to picture. When, 20
miles from any settlement. it comes
down at eventide to the lakes edge to
drink among the lily ponds and. with
its sharp-edged hoof, skaters the
crystal Of Long Lake, it il very pic
turesque. But only when, after miles
Of pursuit. with heaving sides and
lolling tongues and eyes swimming II
death the stag leaps from the clif In
to Upper Saranac, can you realize