The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-09-16

MES. But oh. when So a mother reck.
less OF her influence. rafting on toward
destruction, garlanded for the sacrifice
with unseemly mirth and gedlessness,
dancing on down to perdition, taking her
children in the SAM direction. prepar-
ing them for a life of frivolity. death
OF shame, and an eternity OF disas; err I
cannot help but say There they 20
there they go; Hagar and Ishmael!'
tell you. there are wilder deserts than
3 er-sheba in many OF the fashionable
circles OF this day. Dissipated parents
leading dis-iPated children. Avaricious
parents leading ayaricious children.
PrayerleSS parents leading prayerless
children. They go through every street,
up every dark alley, into every cellar,
along every highway. Hagar and Ish-
mael! and while I pronounce their
names, it seems like the moaning OF the
death wind: "Hagar and Ishmael !"
~. l learn one more lesson from
this Oriental scene, and that is, that every
wilderness has well in it. Hagar and
Ishmael gave up 20 die. Hagar's heart
sank within her as she heard her child
All, )" she says, ''my darling, there is
no water. This is a desert" And then
Gods angel said from the cloud: "What
aileth the, Hagar?" And she looked
up and saw him pointing to we'll of
water, where she filled the bottle for the
lad. Blessed be God, that there is in
every wilderness well, you only know
how 20 find it-founta rs for ali l.. csc
thirsty souls this morning. On that last
day, on that great day of the feast Jesus
stood and cried SO II any man thirst. let
him come to Me aud drink" All these
other fountains you find are mere
mirages of the desert. Paracelsus, you
know, spent his time in trying to lind
out the elixir Of life--a liquid which ii
taken would keep one periodically Young
in this world. and would change the
aged back again to youth. OF course he
was disappointed; he found not the
elixir. But here l tell you this morning
of the elixir of everlasting life bursting
from the Rock of Ages" anu that
drinking that water you shall never get
OLD, and you Will never lie sick. and you
will never die. Ho, every o.e that
thir.teth. come ye to the waters All,
here Is - man who says: = havc been
looking for that fountain great while,
but can't find it, And here is some one
else. Who says: :" believe all you say,
but 1 have been trudging along in the
wilderness and can't find the fountain"
DO you know the reason? l will TIL
you. You never looked in the right di-
rection. "Oh, you say, Il have
looked everywhere. I have looked
North. South, East and West, and l
haven't found the fountain" Why, you
are not looking in the right direction at
all. Look up, where Hagar looked. She
never would have found the fountain at
all, but when she heard the voice of the
angel she looked up, anu she SAW the
finger pointing to the supply. And, o
soul, if to-day with one earnest, Intense
prayer you WOULD only look up to Christ,
He would point you down to the supply
in the wilderness. ''Look unto me all
ye ends of the earth. and be ye saved
I -
Look! Look, as Hagar looked!
Yes. there is a we'll for every desert of
bereavement. Looking over the audi
ence this morning, l notice an unusual
mum. er of s.gus of mourning and woe.
have you found consolation. o man
he. eft. y woman bereft, have you found
CON- lat.oi.: Hearse after lleurse. We
step from o;.e grave hillock TO another
grave hillock. We follow cor; se-. our
selves soon to be like them. The world
is in mourni :, for its dead. Every heart
has ecome the sepulchre OF some bur-
led joy. But sing We to God; every
wilderness has a we'll in it: and 1 come
to that wei tod ~, and l beg II to draw
water from that we'll. II you have lived
In the country YOU have sometimes Ia
ken hold Of the rope Of the old we'll
sweep, and you know now how the buck
ct came up, dripping with bright, cool
WdLoI Anu uOlu Ol LILO rope
of Gods mercy this morning. and
begin to draw on the Gospel we'll
sweep. and see the buckets coming up.
Thirsty soul! Here is one bucket Of
life! Come and drink of it. Whose
ever will, let him come and take of the
water of life freely" Ip-ll away again
at the rope, and another bucket comes
up. 1t is this promise .. Weeping may
endure for a night, but JOY cometh in
the morning" I lay hold Of the rope
again. and pull away with all my
strength, and the bucket comes up,
bright. and beautiful. and cool. Here is
tho promise: Come unto Me all ye
who are weary and heavy laden, ard I
will give you rest"
The old astrologers used to cheat the
people with the idea that they could
tell from the position of the stars what
would occur in the future, and If q
cluster OF stars stood in one relation,
why, that would be q prophecy of evil j;
II q cluster OF stars stood in another
relation, that would be a prophecy of
good. What superstition But here Is
faith. By looking up to the star of
Jacob, the morning star Of the Redeem
er. can make this prophecy in regard
to those who put their trust in God /:
:. All things work together for good to
! those who love God" Do you love
Him? Have you seen the Nyctanthes?
1t is a beautiful flower, but it gives very
little fragrance until after sunset. Then
| it .pours its richness on the air. And
this grace Of the Gospel that 1 commend
| TO you this morning while it may be
| very sweet during IL days of prosperity,
| it pours fourth its richest aroma after
| shutdown. And it Will be shutdown with
! you and me after awhile. When you
come to go out of this world, will it be
/ rah will no. tyI,t Of
| fountain?
A Christian Hindoo was dyi.-g, and
| his heather comrades came around him
and tried to comfort him by reading
some of the pages OF tne.r theology, but
| he waved his hand as mech as TO say
s. don't want TO hear it. Then they
called III a hea then priest, and he said
g II you will only recite the \ -mtra, il
will deliver you from hell He waved
| his hand as much as 20 cIX .. DOM