Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-10-09

do their work and do their whole work and
are contented in that sphere in which God
has put them, while there is wandering and
exile and desolation and wilderness es for dis
contented Hagar and Ishmael
Again, / find in this Oriental scene lesson
OF sympathy with woman when she goes forth
\ trudging in the desert What a q eat change
1t was for this Hagar. There was the tent
and all the surroundings of Abrahan's house,
beautiful and luxurious, no doubt. Now she
is going out into the hot sands of the desert.
Oh, what change it wasl And in our day
we often see the wheel of fortune turn. Here
is some one who lived in the very bright
home Of her father. She had everything
possible to administer to her happiness.
| tlenty at the table. Music In the drawing
room. Welcome at the door. She is led
forth into life by some one who cannot ap-
preciate her. A dissipated soul comes and
takes her out in the desert Cruelties blot
out all the lights of that home circle Harsh
words wear out her spirits Tho high hope
that shone out over the marriage altar while
the ring was being set and the VOWS given
/ and the benediction pronounced, have all
faded with the orange blossoms and there
she isto-day broken-hearted, thinking of past
| joy and present desolation and coming an
guish. Hagar in the wilderness
Here is a beautiful home. You cannot
think of anything that can be added to it,
For years there has not been the suggestion
of single trouble. Bright and happy chill
dren fill the house with laughter and song
Books to read. Pictures to look at Lounges
to rest on. Cup of domestic Joy full and
running over. Dark night drops. Pillow
hot Pulses hutter. Eyes close. And tie
foot whose well kne wn steps on the door-sill
brought the whole household out at eventide
crying: Fathers coming" will never sound
on the door sill again. A long, deep, grief
ploughed through all that lghtness of do
nestle life. Paradise lostl Widowhoodl
Hagar in tine wildernessl
How often is it we see the weak arm of
woman conscripted for this battle with the
rough world. Who is she, going down the
street in early light of the morning, pale
with exhausting work, not half slept out
with the slumbers of last night, tragedies of
suffering written all over her face, her lus-
treless eyes looking far ahead as though for
the coming of some other trouble Her par
ents called her Mary, or Bertha or Agnes on
the day when they held her up to the font
and the Christian minister sprinkled on the
infants face the washings of a holy baptism,
Her name is changed now. hear it in the
shuttle OF the worn out shoes. Isee it in the
figure of the faded calico. find it in the
woe-begone countenance. Not Mary, nor
Bertha, nor Agnes, but Hagar in the wilder
ness. May God have mercy upon woman in
her tolls, her struggles, her hardships, her
desolation, and may the great heart Of divine
sympathy inclose her forever.
Again / find in this Oriental scene the fact
that every mother leads forth tremendous
destinies. You say: "That isn't an unusual
scene, a mother leading her child by the
hand" Who is it that she is leadinga Ish-
mael, you say. Who is Ishmael! A great
nation il to DO founded: a nation 30 strnno
that it is to stand for thousands of years
against all the armies of the world. Egypt
and Assyria thunder against it but in vain.
GapsIs brings up his army and his army Is
smittsn. Alexander decides upon cam
paign, brings up his hosts and dies For a
long while that nation monopolizes the learn
ing of the world. It is the nation of the
Arabs Who founded its Ishmael, the lad
that Hagar led into the wilderness. She had
| no idea that she was leading forth such des
tinies. Neither does any mother You pass
along the street and see boys and girls who
will yet make the earth quake with their in
iuence. Who is the boy at Sutton Pool, Ply
mouth, England, bare-footed, wading down
into the slush and slime until his bare foot
comes upon piece of glass and he lifts it,
bleeding aud pain-struck. That wound in
tho foot decides that he be sedentary in
1is life, decides that he be a student.
decides that he shall be John Kitto,
who shall provide the best religious
encyclopedia the world has ever had provided,
and with his other writings as well, throw
ing light upon the Word of God such as
has come from no other man in this century.
Ou, ulOtuoI, tuolueF, Oudb libulo uAuu OnuO
wanders over your face may yet be lifted to
hurl thunderbolts of war OF drop beDedic--
lions. That little hand may b.aspheme God
in the grog-shop or cry "Forwardr' to the
Lords hosts as they go out for their last
! victory.
MY mind this morning leaps thirty, years
ahead and l sea a merchant prince of New
York. One stroke of his pen brings ship
out of Canton Another stroke of his pen
brings ship into Ma1ras He is mighty in
all the money mar cts of the world. Who is
hel He sits this morning beside you in the
Tabernacle. My mind leaps thirty years
forward from this time and find myself in
a relief association. A great multitude of
Christian women have met together for a
| generous purpose There is one woman in
that crowd who seems TO have the confidence
Of all the others, and they all look up to her
for her counsel and for her prayers WHO'S
she, This afternoon you will ind her in the
Sabbath-school, while the teacher tells her of
thai Christ who clothed the naked and fed
the hungry and healed tine sick. My mind
leaps forward thirty years from now and /
find myself in an African jungle; and there
is missionary Of the cross addressing the
natives and their dusky countenances are
irradiate1 with the gla1 t.dings Of great JOY
and salvation. Who is he; Did you not
hear his voice this morning in the first song
of servicel
My mind leaps forward thirty years from
now ana ma mySelL LOOKING JnTOuRn tne
wickets of prison. / see face Scared
with every crime. His chin on his open
palm, his elbow on his knee-a picture of
despair As open the wicket he starts and
/ hear his chain clank. The jail-keeper tells
me that he has been in there now three times
First for theft, then for arson, now for
murder. He steps upen the trap door, the
rope is fastened to his neck, the plank falls,
his body swings into the air, his soll swings
into eternity. Who is he and where is hei
This afternoon playing kite on the city com
mons Mother, you are this morning hoist
ing throne or forging a chain-you are
kindling a star or digging a dungeon.
A good many years ago a Christian mother
sat teaching lessons Of religion to her child;
and he drank in those lessons. She never
knew that Lanphier would come forth and
establish the Fulton street prayer meeting,
and by one meeting revolutionize the devo-
lions Of the whole earth and thrill the eter-
mites with his Christian Influence. Lam
phier said it was his mother who brought him
TO Jesus Christ. She never had an idea that
she was leading forth such destinies. But
oh, when ses a mother reckless of her in
fluence, rafting on toward destruction, gar
landed for tho sacrifice with unseemly mirth
and godlessness, dancing on down to rerdi-
ton, taking her children in the same direc-
ton, preparing them for a life of frivolity, a
death of shame and an eternity of disaster,
cannot help but say: There they go-there