Daily globe., 1879-03-16

And While they stand moment half aiar,
CLEANS from the inner glory
| Stream brightly through the azure vault afar
And half reveal the story
Oh, land unknown, oh, land of love divine!
Father, all wise, eternal,
Guide, guide these wandering way-worn feet
of mine
Into those pastures vernal.
THE WE'LL IN THE DESERT. OR
| HELP FOR ALL.
Extracts From Sermon Preached bv
Rev. DR.. Talmadge in the Brooklyn,
N. Y, Tabernacle, on Sunday, Feb.
28.
Text: Genesis xxi. 10, "And God opened
her eyes and she saw well Of water; and she
went and filled the bottle with water, and
gave the lad drink"
Morning breaks upon Beer-Sheba.
There is an early stir IN the house of old
Abraham. There has been trouble
among the domestics. Hagar, an assist
ant III the household, and ner son, brisk
lad OF sixteen years, have become i'm
pudent and insolent, and Sarah, the mis-
tress of the household, puts her foot down
very hard and says that they will have to
leave the premises. They are packing
up now. Abraham, knowing that the
journey before his servant and her son
will be very long and across desolate
places, in the kindness of his heart sets
about putting up some bread and bottle
with water in it. 1t is very plain lunch
that Abraham provides, but I warrant
you there would have been enough of it
had they not lost their way. 'God be
with you," said old Abraham, as he gave
the lunch to Haga1, and a good many
charges as to how she should conduct the
journey. Ishmael, the boy, I suppose
bounded away in the morning light.
Boys always like change. Poor Ishmael
He has no ideas of the disasters that are
ahead of him. Hagar gives one long,
lingering look on the familiar place
where she had spent so many happy days,
each scene associated with the pride and
JOY of her heart, young Ishmael.
The scorching noon comes on. The
air is sitting and moves across the desert
with insufferable suffocatlon. Ishmael,
the boy, begins to complain and lies down,
but Hagar raises him up, saying nothing
about her own WEAKNESS or the swelter-
heat, for mothers can endure anything.
Trudge, trudge, trudge, crossing the dead
level OF the desert, how YEARLY and slow
ly the miles slip. A tamarind that
seemed hours ago to stand only Just a
little ahead inviting the travellers to come
under it's shadow, now is as far off as ever,
or seemingly so. Night drops upon the
desert and the travellers are pillowless
Ishmael, suppose, instantly falls asleep.
Hagar-as the shadows Of the night
begin to lap over each other-hugs her
weary boy to her bosom and thinks of
the fact that it is her fault that they are
in the desert. A star looks out and every
falling tear it kisses with sparkle. A
wing of wind comes over the hot earth
and lifts the locks from the fevered brow
of the boy. Hagar sleeps fitfully, and in
her dreams travels over the weary day,
and half awakes her son by crying out in
her sleep, "Ishmael! Ishmael" and 80
they go on, day after day and night after
night, for they have lost their way. No
path in the shifting sands, no sign in the
burning sky. The sack empty of flour,
the water gone from the bottle; what shall
she do? As she puts her fainting Ishmael
upon a stunted shrub Of the arid plain
she secs the bloodshot eye, and feels the
hot hand, and watches the blood bursting
from the cracked tongue, and there is a
shrek in the desert of Beer-Sheba, :'We
shall die! We shall diel" Now, no moth
er was ever made strong enough to hear
her son cry in vain for drink. Hereto
fore she had cheered her boy by promis-
ing a speedy end of the journey, and even
smiled upon him when she felt desperate
| ly enough. Now there is nothing to do
but place him under shrub and let him
die. She had thought that she would sit
there and watch until she would breathe
out her own life on his silent heart; but
as the boy begins to claw his tongue in
agony of thilst, and struggle in distortion
and beg his mother to slay him, she
cannot endure the spectacle. She puts
him under shrub and goes off bow
shot and begins to weep until all the des-
ert seems sobbing, and her cry strikes
clear through the heavens, and an angel
Of Ged comes out on cloud and looks
down upon the appalling grief and cries,
"Hagar,iwhat aileth thee?" She looks up
and sees the angel pointing to well Of
water, where she fills the bottle for the
lad. Thank God! Thank God!
I learn from this Oriental scene, in the
first place, what a sad thing it is when
people do not know their place and get
TOO proud for their business. Hagar was
! ali assistant in that household, but she
wanted to rule there. She ridiculed and
.ieered until her son Ishmael got the same
| tricks. She dashed out her own happi-
ness and threw Sarah into great fret;
and if she stayed much longer in that
household she would have upset calm
Abraham's equilibrium. Ny friends,
one half the trouble in the world to day
comes from the fact that people do not
know their place; or, finding their place,
will not stay in it. When we come into
the world there is always place ready
for us. A place for Abraham. A place
for Sarah. A place for Hagar. A place
for Ishmael. A place for you and a
place for me. Our first duty is to find
our sphere; our second is to keepit. We
may be born in sphere far off from the
one God finally intends us. Sextus V.
was born on the low ground, and was a
swine herd. God called him up to wave
sceptre. Ferguson spent his early days
In looking after the sheep; God called
HIM up to look after the stars and be
shepherd watching the focKs of light on
the hillsides of heaven. Hogarth begun
hv oorrauinr pou+or no+o. No1 ro;co1