The Yale expositor., 1899-10-27
Copyright 1899 by Louis Klopsch)

DdN III, WIZ IAuol EOllG llillt lldht GNEl
a deer hunt, points us here to a hunted
stag making for the water. The fas-
chatting animal, called in my text the
hart. is the same animal that in sacred
and profane literature is called the
stag, the roebuck, the hind, the gazelle,
the reindeer. In central Syria, in Bible
times, there were whole pasture fields
Of them, as Solomon suggests when he
says: II charge you by the binds Of
the field" Their antlers jutted from
the long grass as they lay down. No
hunter who has been long in John
Browns track VIII wonder that in
the Bible they were classed as clean
animals, for the dows, the showers the
lakes, washed them as clean as the
Sky. When Isaac, the patriarch, longed
for venison, Esau shot and brought
home a roebuck. Isaiah compares the
sprightliness of the restored cripple of
millennial times 10 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 a deer, is too lazy to cook
1t, saying: The slothful man roasteth
not that which he took in hunting"
But one day David, while far from
the home from which he hal been
driven, and sitting near the mouth OF
q lonely cave where he had lodged.
and on the banks of a pond or river,
hears a pack of hounds in swift pur-
suit Because of the previous silence
in the forest the claneor 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
wonder of the woods, and the antlers
of deer rend the leaves of the thicket,
and by an instinct which all hunters
recognize, nlunges into a pond or lake
or river to cool its thirst. AMI at the
same time by it's capacity for swifter
and longer swimming. to get away
from the foaming barriers.
David says 10 himself: AHA, that IS
myself! Saul after me, Absa.om after
me, enemies without number after ne:
l am chased, their bloody muyzles at
my heels, barking at my good name,
barking after my body. barking after
my soul. Oh, the hounds, the hound5
But look there" says David, that
hunted deer has splashed into the
water 1t puts its hot lips and nostrl.5
into the cool wave that lasnes the
lathered tanks, and it swims away
from the fiery CANNES, and it is free
at last. Oh, that l 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"
Some of you have just come from the
Adirondacks, and the breath of the
balsam and spruce and pine IS still or
you. The Adirondacks are now ponu-
lous with hunters. and the deer are be-
ing slain by the score. Once while
there talking with a hunter, | thought
l would Ike to see whether my text
was accurate in its allusion ard as !
heard the dogs hoying llttl? way off,
and supposed they were on the track OF
a deer | said to the hunter in rough
corduroy: do the deer always make
for the water when they are pursued"
He said: "Oh, yes. mister you see
they are a hot and thirsty animal, and
they know where the water is. and
when they hear danger in the distance,
they l!rt their antlcrs and snuff the
breeze and start for Racquet or Loon
or Saranac: and we get into our cedar
she'll boat or stand by the runway
with rifle loaded ready to blaze away"
My friends. that Is one reason why
like the Bible so much-its illusions
are so true to nature. Its cartridges
are real partridgcs, its ostriches real
ostriches, and its reindeer real rein
deer. ! do not wonder that this ant
Tered glory CT the text makes Jhe hunt
er's eye sparkle, and his cheek glow,
and his respiration quicken. To say
nothing of its usefulness. although it
is the most useful of all game, its flesh
delicious, its skin turned into human
apparel, its sinews fashioned into bow
strings, its antlers putting handles on
cutlery, and the shayings OF its horns
used as restorative. its name taken
from the hart and called hartshorn-
by putting aside its usefulness. this
enchanting creature seems made out
of gracefulness and elasticity. What
an eye, as If gathered up from q hun
bred lakes at sunset! The horns, a
coronal branching into every possible
curve, and after 1t seems done, ascend
ing into other projections of exquisite
ness, tree of polished bone, uplifted
in pride, or swung down for awful COM
bat. 1t is velocity embodied. Timid-
ity impersonated. The enchantment OF
the woods. Eye lustrous in life and
pathetic in death. The splendid ami
NAL a complete rhythm of muscle and
bone and color and attitude and loco
motion, whether couched in the grass
amsng the shadows, or a living bolt
shot through the forest, or turning at
bay TO attack the hounds, or rearing
for its last fall under the bucksbot of
the trapper.
1t is a splendid appearance, that the
painters pencil fails to sketch. and