THE LOST HUNTER | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 7, 1862

THE LOST HUNTER.

Several years ago, a hunter with his faithful dog went among the Adirondac mountains in northern New York, in pursuit of game. Days and weeks passed, and he did not return. At length the half-famished hound came back without his master. The winter spread its snows upon the summits and in the valleys, and no tidings from the hunter reached the settlement from which he started. When spring lifted the winding-sheet of her burial from the earth, and the boats were again upon the lovely lakes, his skeleton form was found on the shore of one of these transparent waters, in sight of his humble dwelling. What a bitterness must the fact that he was so near home when he laid himself down to die, have given to his lonely death.

And thus will it be with very many who are lost for eternity. Pursuing the objects of pleasure or ambition amid the wastes of time, they wander on from the warm centers of love and mercy, till, bewildered and disappointed in the chase, they perish with the refuge of the soul in full view. Then comes the burning tide of memories, and the pang of self-exile and ruin, with the shining windows of glory gleaming on the sight, thro' the darkness and storm.

Oh, sinful hunter after a portion for the mocked and weary spirit, turn to that single oasis in the boundless desert in which stands the cross of Christ, around whose crimson form is gathered the church of the living God.—Am. Messenger.