The Washington weekly post., 1899-10-17
DR.. Talmage Compares Man to
a Deer Chased by Dogs.
RELIGION HIS ONLY SAFE REFUGE
just as the sta. Piunges Into the Water
to Escape the Pursuing Pack and he Re-
freshed, SO Man should Cast HImseIf
Into the yivifyiug Abundance of God's
Consoiing Love and Mercy and See His
Sorrows sAssuaged-Church Services.

| Rev. DR.. T. De Witt Talmage took for
| his subject Sunday "The Deer Hunt
| Text: Psalm kill: ''As the hart panteth
| after the water brooks" He said:
David, who must some time have seen
a deer hunt. points US here to a hunted
| stag making for the water. The fascinat-
| ing animal, called in my text the hart, is
| the same animal that in sacred and pro-
| fame literature Is called the stag the zoe
| buck, 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: L charge you by
| the binds of the field Their antlers jut-
| ted from the long grass as they lay down.
| No hunter who has been long in John
| Browns track Will wonder that in the
| Bible they we're elasSed among clean ami
| mails, for the dews, the showers, the
| lakes, washed them as clean as the sky
| When Isaac, the patriarch, lOnged for
| venison, Esau shot and brought home
| roebuck. Isaiah compares the sprightli-
ness of the restored cripple of miIlennial
! times TO the long and quick jump of the
| stag, saying; The lame shall leap as the
| hart Solomon expressed his disgust at q
| hunter, who, having shot a deer, is too
lazy to cook e, saying: The slothful man
| roasteth rot that which he took in hunt
| ing
But one day David, while far from the
home from which he had been driven, and
| sitting near the mouth of a lonely cave
! where he had lodged and on the banks Of
a pond or river, hears d pack OF hounds
| in swift pursuit. Because of the previous
| silence of the forest the clangOr startles
| him. and he says to himself: L 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, plunges 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 foaming barriers.
G ories Of the Chase.
David says to himself: Aha, that Is
myself! Saul after me, Absalom after
me- enemies without number after me;
i 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, that hunted deer has
splashed into the water. 1t puts its hot
lips and nostrils into the cool wave that
washes the Iathered flanks, and ii swims
away from the fiery CANNES, and it is free
at last. Oh, that 1 might find in the
deep, wide lake of Gods mercy and con-
ISOLATION escape from my pursuersi Oh,
for the waters Of life and rescued As the
hart panteth after the water brooks, so
panteth my soul after thee, o Godp
1T is healthful TO go out in the woods
and hunt 1t rekindles the luster of the
eye. 1t strikes the brown of the au-
tumnal leaf into the cheek 1t gives to
the rheumatic limbs strength to lean
like the roe. Christopher North's pet
gun, the Muckle-Mons- Meg, going off in
the summer in the forests, had its echo
in the winter-time in the eIoquence that
rang through the university halls of Edin-
burgh. l can understand why Mithridates
liked hunting so well that for seven years
ne never went indoors. Xenophon wrote
IN admiration of the art of hunting.
never snot anything, but / have friends
VINO this autumn stand in pulpits as
clergymen. and in sick rooms as physi-
ciahs, and In court houses as advocates
ali the better prepared for their duties
| py the gun and game-bag. The Bible ap-
pIauds Nimrod. as "a mighty hunter be-
fore the Lord"
Bible Illusions True to Nature.
Some of you have just come from the
Adlrondacks, and the breath of the bal.
sam ana spruce and pine Is still on YOU
Inc Adlrondacks are now populous with
hunters and the deer are being slain by
the score. Once while there, talking with
hunter, thought l would like to see
whether my text was accurate in its iIIu.
sion, and as l heard the dogs baying q
little way off, and supposed they were or
the track Of a deer l said to the hunter
in rough corduroy: DO the deer always
make for the water when they are DUR
sued% He said oh, yes, mister; you see
, they are hot and thirsty animal. and
they know where the water is, and wher
!, they hear danger in the distance, they
lift their antlers and snuff the breeze
. and start for Racquet or Loon or Sara
nae; and we get into our cedar-shell boa
or stand by the runway with rifle load
2 ed ready 10 blaze away
My friends, that is one, reason why
like the Bible so much-its allusions ar,
so true to nature. Its partIidges are rea
/, partridges, its ostriches real ostriches
l ana ats reindeer real reindeer. ! do no
wonder that this antlered glory of tht
text makes the hunters eye sparkle, anC
D his cheek glow, and his respiration quick
| Soy AAOAaA4lS VI It's usefulness
although ii is the most useful of al
game, its flesh delicious its skin turne,
into human apparel, its sinews fashionet
into bowstrings. its antlers putting han
dies on cutlery. and the shavings of IL
horns used as a restorative, It's nam
I taken from the hart, and called harts
norm. BY putting aside its usefulness
. THIS enchanting creature seems made ou
; OF gracefulness and elasticity. What al
q eye, with liquid brightness, as if gath
. cred up from a hundred lakes at sunset
: The horns a corOnal branching int
: every possible curve. and after il seem
done, ascending into other projections o
: eNquisiteness, a tree OF polished bone
uphtted in pride or swung down for aWfu
combat.
d Entertainments of the Woods.
at Is velocity embodied Timidity I'm,
personated. The enchantment Of III
> woods. Eyes lustrous in life and patheti
= in death. The splendid animal a com
: plete rhythm Of muscle and bone an
color and attitude and locomotion. wheth
er couched IN the grass among the shad
ows, or a living bolt shot through tn
forest, or turning az bay TO attack III
=. hounds. or rearing for its last fall unde
the buckshOt OF the trapper
1T is a splendid appearance, that tn
g painters pencil fails 10 sketch, and only
l. hunters dream on a pillow Of hemlock a
u the foot Of ST. Regis is able to picture
: When, twenty miles from any settlement
) it comes down at e; -ntide TO the lake
e edge, 10 drink among the nly-pads, and
with its sharp-edged hoof. skaters tn
: crystal OF Long Lake, it is very plctul
esque. But only when, after miles q
9 pursuit, with heaving sides and lollin
: tongue. and eyes swimming in death tn
Il stag leaps from the cliff into Upper San
! anac. can YOU realize how much Davi
Tad suffered from his troubles, and ho1
nuch he wanted God when he expresse
himself In the words: AS the hart pan
e eth after the water brooks, so pantet
. my soul after thee, o God
e We'll. now. lex all those who have con
ins after them the lean hounds Of poS
l., erty. or the black hounds OF persecution
r or the spotted hounds Of vicissitude. 9