Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-11-16
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The Water Brooks-The Gospel
OF 1sefreshment Shows How We May
Elude the Hounds of Trouble and
Safely Reach the Lake of Divine Solace.

Safely Reach the Lake of Divine Solace.
Copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1892,
WASHINGTON, D. C.-The Gospel as n
great refreshment is here set forth by DR..
Talmage, under n figure which will be
found particularly graphic by those who
have gone out as hunters to find game in
the mountains; text, Psalm Kill, l, Gas the
hart panteth after the water brooks"
David, who must some time have seen
deer hunt, points US here to a hunted stag
making for the water. The fascinating ami
NAL, called in my text the hart, is the same
animal that in sacred and profane litera-
ture is called the stag, the roebuck, the
hind, the gazelle, the reindeer. In central
Syria in Bible times there werc whole pas
ture fields OF them. as solomon suggests
when he says, II charge you by the hinds
OF the field" Their antlers jutted from
the long grass as they lay down. No hunter
who has been long in "oohn 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 patrl-
arch, longed for venison, Esau shot and
brought home roebuck. Isaiah compares
the sprightliness of the restored cripple OF
mllennial times to the long and quick
Jump Of the stag, saying, "The lame shall
leap as the hart Solomon expressed his
disgust at hunter who, having shot
deer, is too lazy to cook it, saying, THE
SlOtnIul man IOuSCclu uOl tuut Wulcu Ao
took in hunting"
But one day David, while far from the
home from which he had been driven and
sitting near the mouth of lonely cave
where he had lodged and on the banks OF
apond or river, hears pack or hounds In
swift pursuit. Because OF the previous
silence of the forest tho clangor startles
him, and he says to himself, II wonder
what those dogs are after" Then there Is
n cracking in the brushwood and the loud
breathing OF some rushing wonder OF the
woods, and the antlers of Il deer rend tho
leaves of TIL, thicket, and by an instinct
which all hunters recognize it plunges into
pond or lake or river to cool it's thirst
and at the same time, by its capacity for
swifter and longer swimming, to get away
from the foaming barriers.
David says to himself: "Aha! That Is
myself Saul after me, Absnlom after me,
enemies without number after me. am
chased, their bloody muzzles at my heels,
burkin, ut my good name, barking after
my body, barking after my soul. Oh, the
hounds, the hounds! But look there!''
says David, THAT hunted deer has splashed
into the water 1t puts its hot lips and
nostrils into the cool wave TINT washes the
lathered flanks, and it swims away from
the fiery CANNES, and 1t is free mt last.
Oh, that / might find in the deep, wide
lake of Gods mercy and co ISOLATION es-
cape from my pursuers! On, for the
waters OF HE ana TeSCue. AS tllo HuTt
panteth after the water brooks, so panteth
my soul after thee, o God!"
Some OF you have just come from the
kdironlacks and the breath of the balsam
and spruce and pine is still on you. The
Adirondacks are now populous with
hunters, and the deer are being slain by
| the score. Once while thert talking with Il
hunter I thought l would like to see
whether my text was accurate In its allu-
sion and rs / heard the dogs baylng lit
tie way off and supposed they were on the
| track of n deer said to tue hunter in rough
corduroy "Do the deer always make for
| the wnter when they are pursued?" He
| said "Oh yes, mister! You see, they are
n hot and thirsty animal and they know
| where the water is, and when they hear
danger in the distance they lift their ant
! lers and snuff the breeze and start for Rae
! quet or Loon or Saranac, and we get into
! our cedar shell boat or stand by the runway
| with riae loaded ready to blaze away"
Nv friends, that is one reason why like
| the Bible so much. It's illusions are so
true to nature. Its partridgcs are real part
ridges its ostrlches real ostriches and its
| reindeer real reindeer. / do not Won
| der that this antlered glory OF the text
| makes the hunters eye sparkle and his
| cheek glow and his respiration quicken, to
| say nothing of its usefulness, althout. h 1t fs
| the most useful of all game, Its ilesh deli
! cious, it's skin turned into human apparel
!
antlers putting handles on cutlery and
| the shavings OF its horns used as restora-
tive it's 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, with a liquid brightness rs II
gathered up from hundred lakes at sun
/ set! The horns n coronal branching into
every possible curve, and, after 1t seems
done, ascending into other projections OF
exquisiteness, u tree OF polished bone, up
lifted in pride or swung down for awful
combat! 1t is velocity embodied, timidity
impersonated, the enchantment Of the
woods, eye lustrous in life and pathetic in
death, tho splendid animal a complete
rhythm Of muscle and bone and color and
attitude and locomotion, whether couched
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.
It Is a splendid appearance, that the
painters pencil fails to sketch, and only a
hunters dream on pillow of hemlocks at
the foot of st. Regis is able to picture.
| 1t comes down at eventide to the lakes
edge to drink among the lilypads, and,
with its sharp-edged hoof, skaters the
crystal Of Long lake, 1t is very picturesque.
But only when after miles OF pursuit. with
heaving sides and boiling tongue and eyes
|
cliff to cliff into Upper Saranac can you re-
alize how much David had suffered from
his troubles and how much he wanted God
when he expressed himself In the words,
Gas the hart panteth after the water
brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, o
God"
Well, now, let all those who have coming
after them the lean hounds of poverty or
the black hounds OF persecution or the
spotted hounds of vicissitude or the pale
hounds OF death or who are in any wise
pursued run to the wide, deep glorious
lake of divine solace and rescue. The
most OF the men and women whom l hap
pen to know, at different times, II not now,
have had trouble after them, sharp
muzzed troubles, swift troubles, all de-
vouring troubles. Many of you have
made the mistake of trying to fight them.
Somebody meanly attacked you, and you
attacked them. They deprecated you, and
you deprecated them, or they overreached
you in bargain, and you tried, In Wall
street parlance, to get u corner on them.
Or you have had bereavement, and In
stead OF being submissive You are flghting
that bereavement. You charge on the doc
tors who have failed to effect cure, or
you charge on the careiessness OF the rail