Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1899-11-02
Dr.TALMAGE SERMON
THE GREAT DlVlNE'S ELOQUENT
MESSAGE.

sabJect: The Wafer Rr0oks-The Gospsl
| OF hefreshment shows How We Nav
EIude the Hounds of Trouble and
Safely Reach the Lake OF Divine Solaes.
ICopyrieht Louis Klopsch 1891
WASHINGTON, D. C-The GOSPEL as a
great reireshment is here set forth bv Dr..
iaimage, under figure which will be
found particularly graphic by those who
nave gone out as hunters to find game in
the mountains; te2t, Psalm xiii. /, LAS the
naii panteth after the water brooks"
Dsvfd, who must some time have seen q
deer hent, points US here to hunted stag
making Tor the water. The fascinating ami
mat. called in my text the hart, is the same
aafH.al shet In sacred and profane lltera-
ture IS called the stag, the roebuck the
| mind. the GIZele, the reindeer. In central
| Syria Ia Bible times there We're whole pas
ture fields Of them. as Solomon suggests
| when be says, II charge you bv the kinds
OF the field" Their antlers jutted from
the long grass as they lay down. No hunter
| who has been long i'll - ohm Brown s tract"
"ttl wonder that in the Bible they were
ciassed among clean animals, for the dews.
the showers, the lakes, washed them as
clean as the sky. When Isaac the patri-
arch, longed for .enison. Esau shot and
brought home a rOebuck. Isaiah compares
the sprightliness of the restored cripple OF
Jump OF the stag. saying, The lame shall
| leap as the hart Solomon EXPRESSED his
| disgust at a hunter who, having shot a
deer, is too lazy to cook it, saying ''The
slothful man roasteth not that which he
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 be had lodged and on the banks OF
pond Or river, hears pack OF hounds in
| swift pursuit. Because Of the previous
silence OF the forest the clangor startles
| him. and he says to himself, Il 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 autlers of a deer rend the
| leaves of thu thicket, and by an instinct
which all hunters recognize it punges into
a pond or lake or river to cool its thirst
and at the same time. by its capacity for
sWifter and longer swimming, to get away
| from the foaminS harrers
! David says to himself Aha That is
myself, Saul after me. Absa.Om after me
enemies without number after me- Lam
chased, their bloody muzzIes at my heels
barking 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 that wasues the
iathered 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 es-
| cape from my pursuersi OH for the
waters Of life and rescue! As the hart
| panteth after the water brooks so panteth
| mt soul after thee, 0 God!''
| Some of You have Just come from the
Adirondacks, and the breath Of the balsam
| ana 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 ther, talking with a
hunter I thought l would like to see
whether my text was accurate in its aliu-
sion, and AS heard the dogs baying Il lit
tie way Off and supposed they were on the
! truck Of a'deer said to the hunter in rough
corduroy, ID 0 the deer always make for
the water when they are pursued?" He
said: "Oh. yes, mister! You see. they are
| 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 she'll boat or stand by the runway
with rae loaded ready to blaze away
My friends, that is one reason why like
tho Bible SO much. Its illusions are 50
true to nature. Its partridges are real part
ridges, its Ostriches real ostriches and its
reindeer real reindeer. l 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, althoul Ii ii is
the most useful OF all game, its flesh deli
cous, its skin turned into human apparel
it's snews fashioned into bow strings its
antlers putting handles on cutlery and
the shavings OF its horns used AS a restora-
tive, 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, with liquid brightness as il
gathered up from hundred lakes at sun
setl The horns coronal branching into
every possible curve, and, after it seems
done, ascending into other projections ot
exquisiteness, tree OF polished bone, up
lifted in pride or swung down Tor avful
combat! 1t Is velocity embodied, timidity
ltnPersonated, the enchantment OF the
woods, eye lustrous in life and pathetic IN
death, the splendid animal a complete
rhythm OF muscle and bone and color and
attitude and loc0motion, whether couched
in the grass among the shadows or a living
bolt shot through the forest or turning at
bay to attack the hounds rearing for IT.
last fall under the buckshot Of the trapper
Il Is splendid appearance. that the
painters pencil fails to sketch and only u
hunters dream on pillow OF hemtocks al
the foot OF St. Regis IS able to picture.
When twenty miles from any settlement
it comes down at eventide 10 the lakes
edge to drink among the lilvpads, and.
with its sLarp-edgei hOof, skaters tho
crystal OF Long LAKE, il IS Very picturesque.
Blu; only w1en liter miles o. pursuit. with
heavinS sides and boiling tongue ant eyes
swim ming in death. the stag leaps from
cllf 10 cliT into Upper Saranac can Won re-
ah:e now much DAVID had suffered from
his troubles and how much h wanted G Goi
when he EXPRESSED himself /. the wor!s
As the mart ranteth after tie water
brooks. so panteth M soul after Thee. 0