Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-10-09
DR.. 7ALMAGE'S SERMON
PEOPLE WHO HAVE LOST
THEIR WAY.


Morning breaks upon Beer Sheba. There
Is an early stir in the house of Abraham
There has been trouble among the domestics
Sarah, the mistress of the household, puts
her foot down very hard and says that they
will have to leave the premises. They are
packing up. 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 pro-
vides, but warrant you there would have
been enough Of it had they not lost their
way. "God be with your said old Abra-
ham as he gave the lunch to Hagar and
good many charges as to how she should con-
duct the journey. Ishmael, the boy, sup
pose bounded away in the morning light.
Boys always like change. Poor lshmaell
He hasno idea of the disasters thatare ahead
of him.. Hagar gives one long, lingering
look on the familiar place where she had
spent so many happy days, each scene asso-
ciated 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 in
siderable suffocation. Ishmael, the boy,
begins to compain and lies down, but Hagar
rouses him up, saying nothing about her own
WEAKNESS or the sweltering heat; for mothers
can endure anything. Trudge-trudge-
trudge, crossing the dead level of the desert,
how weariy and slowly the miles slip. A
tamarind that seemed hours ago to stand only
just a little ahead, inviting the travellers to
come under its shadow now is as far off as
ever, or seeming so. Night drops upon the
desert and the travellers are pillowless Ish-
mael, very weary suppose, instantly falls
asleep. Hagar-as the shadows of the night
begin to lap over each other-Hagar hugs
her weary boy to her bosom and thinks Of
the fact that it is her fault that they are in
desert. A star looks out and every falling
tearit 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 titfully and in her dreams travels over
the weary day and half awakes her son by
crying out in her sleep: "Ishmaell Ishmael"
And 50 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 the -four;
the water gone from the bottle. What shall
she dos AS she puts her fainting Ishmael
under stunted shrub OF arid plain, she sees
the bloodshot eye and feels the not hand and
watches the blood bursting from the cracked
tongue and there is Shrek in the desert of
Beer-Sheba: I'VE shall del We shall die! |"
Now, no mother was ever made strong
enough to hear her son cry in vain for a
drink. Heretofore she had cheered her boy
by promising a speedy end of the journey
and even smiled upon him when he felt des-
perately enough. Now there is nothing to
10 but place him under shrub and let him
die. She had thought that she would sit
there and watch until the spirit of her boy
would go away forever, ami then she would
breathe out her own life on his silent heart;
but as the boy begins to claw his tongue in
agony of thirst and struggle in distortion and
beg his mother to Stay him, she cannot en-
dure the spectacle. She puts him under a
shrub and goes off a bow-shot ard begins to
weep until all the desert seems sobbing, and
her cry strikes clear through the heavens;
and an angel of God comes out on q cloud and
IinO errin md
cries. "Hagar, what aileth thee." She looks
up and she sees the angel pointing to a!well
of water, where she nils the bottle for the
lad Thank Godi Thank Godl
/ learn from this Oriental scene in the first
place what q sad thing it is when people do not
know their place and get too proud for their
business. Hagar was an assistant in that
household, but she wanted to rule there She
ridiculed and leered until her son, Ishmael,
got the same tricks. She dashed out her own
happiness and threw Sarah into a great fret
and if she had stayed much longer in that
household she would have upset calm ADra-
hams equilibrium My friends, one-half of
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
a place ready for us. A place for Abraham.
A place fer Sarah A place for Hagar. A
place for lshmael A place for you and a
place for me. Our first duty is to find our
sphere, our second is to keep it. We may be
born in a sphere far off from the one for
which God finally intended US Sixtus V.
was born on the low ground and was swine
herd. God called him up to wave a sceptre.
Ferguson spent his early days in looking after
the sheep: God called him up to look after
stars and be shepherd watching the fiocks
OF light on the hillsides of heaven. Hogarth
began by engraving pewter pots; God raised
him to stand in the enchanted realm of a
painter. The shoemaker's bench held Bloom
field for little while; but God called him
to sit in the chair of philosopher and Chris
tian scholar. The soap boiler Of London
could not keep his son in that business for
God had decided that Hawley was to be one
Of the greatest astronomers of England.
On the other hand we may be born in a
sphere little higher than that for which
God intends us. We NAV be born in a castle
and play in costly conservatory and feed
high. bred pointers and angle for goldfish in
artificial ponds and be familiar with princes;
yet God may better have fitted us for a car.
penter's shop or dentists forceps or a wesv
er's shuttle or a blacksmith's forge. The
great thing is to find just the sphere for
which God intended us and then to occupy
that sphere and occupy it forever. Here is
a man God fashioned to make plow. There
is man God fashioned to make q constitu-
ton. The man who makes the pillow is Just
as honorable as tie man who makes the con-
st1tution. There Is a woman who was made
W AaouAou u IODc anu yOuueT Is one lnJouueQ
to be queen and wear it. 1t seems to me
that in the one case as in the other, God ap-
points the sphere: and the needle is just as
respectable in nus sight as the sceptre. i do
! not know but that the world would long ago
have been saved, if some of the men out of
the ministry were in it, and some of those who
arc in it were out of it. l really think that
one half the world may be divided into two
quarters-those who have not found their
sphere and those who, having found
it, are not willing to STAY there. How many
are struggling for position little higher
than that which God intended them. The
bondswoman wants to be mistress. Hagar
keeps crowding Sarah. The small wheel of
watch which beautifully went treading its
golden pathway, wants TO be the balance
wheel and the sparrow with chagrin drops
into the brook because it cannot, like
the eagle, cut a circle under the sun.
In the Lords army we all want TO he
rigadier-generals. The sloop says: more
mast, more tonnage, more canvas. Oh, that
were topsail schooner, or full-rigged
brig, or Cunar1 steamer" And SO the
world Is filed with cries Of discomfort be-
cause we are not willing 70 stay In the place
where God put US and intended us to be-
My friends, be not too proud TO do anything
God tells you to do. For the lack OLA right
disposition in this respect the world is strewn
with WanderiuV Ha0arq and Tahfnaale t.od