The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-09-24
TALMAGFS SERMON.
a Discourse on the Lessons Taught
by Hagars Exile.
The Duty OF Finding Ones Sphere and
Keeping 1.-THE Dangers OF over
weening Pride-sThe We'll in
Every wilderness.

mon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, took the
story Of Hager's exile as his theme in IL
lustrating Gods ability and readiness to
rescue the oulcast. HIS text was;
And God opened her eyes, and she saw
we'll OF water, and she went and filled the
bottle with water, and ga We the Lad drink
Genesis XXI. IS.
The preacher said; 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 assistant in the household, and her
son, brisk lad OF sixteen years, have be-
come impudent and insolent, and Sarah,
tho mistress Of the household, puts her foot
down very hard and says that they viii
have to leave the premises. They are
packing up now. AbrahBm, knowing that
the journey before his servant and her son
viii be very long and across desOiate
places, in the kindness of his heart sets
about putting up some bread and bottle
with water in it. It is a very plain lunch
that Abraham provides, but / warrant you
there would have been enough Of it had
they not lost their way. "God be with
you'll" said old Abraham as he gave the
lunch to Hagar, and good many charges
as to how she should conduct the journey.
Ishmael, the boy, 1 suppose, bounded
away in the morning light. Boys
always like a change. Poor Ishmaell He
has no idea 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 as
ISOLATED 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 suffOcatiOn. Ishmael,
the hoy, begins to complain and lies down,
but Hagar rouses him up, saying nothing
about her own WEAKNESS or the sweltering
heat; for m others can endure any thing.
Trudge, trudge, trudge. Crossing the
dead level Of the desert, how YEARLY and
slowly the miles slipl A tamarind that
seemed hours ago to stand only just
little ahead, inviting the travellers to come
under its shadow, now is as far of as
ever, or seemingly so. Night DIR ps upon
the desert and the travellers are pillowless.
Ishmael, very weary, 1 suppose, instantly
falls asleep. HagRr, 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 10 kisses with sparkle.
a wing or wind comes over the hot earth,
and lifts the locks from the fevered brow
Of the hoy. Hagar sleeps itfulIy, and in
her dreams travels over the weary day,
and half awakes her son by crying out in
her sleep: "Ishmaell Ishmaelp
And SO they 90 on day after day and
night after night; for they have lost their
way. No patti in the shifting sands; no
sign In the burning sky. The sack empty
Of the flour; the water gone from the bot
tie. What shall she do? AS she puts her
fainting Ishmael under a stunted shrub Of
the arid plain, she sees the bloodshot eye,
and feels the hot hand, and watches the
blood bursting from the CRACKED tongue,
and there is a Shrek in the deasrt of Beer
sheba;
''We shall die! We shall dep
Now, no mother was ever made strona
enough to hear her son cry for drink.
Heretofore she had cheered her boy by
promising a speedy end of the journey,
and even smiled upon him when he felt
desperately enough Now there is moth
ing to do but place him under a shrub and
let him die. She had thought she would
sit there and watch until the spirit of her
boy would 90 away forever, and then she
would breathe out her own life on his
silent heart; but as the boy begins to claw
his tongue I'm agony OF thirst, and strug-
gle in distortion, and begs his mother TO
STAY him, she can not endure the spectacle.
She puts him under a shrub, and goes off
bow shot, and 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 "A cloud and
looks down upon the appalling grief, and
cries:
"Hager, what aileth thee?"
She looks up and she sees the ange
pointing to the well of water, where 81,
Ellis the bottle for the lad. Thank God
Thank Godl
1. I learn from this Oriental scene in
the first place, what n sad thing it is wher
people do not know their place and get too
proud for their business. Hager was ar
assistant in that household, but she want
ed to rule there. She ridiculed and jeeret
until her son, Ishmael, got the same tricks
She dashed out her own happiness, anc
threw Sarah into great fret; and if sh,
had staid much longer in that household
she would have upset calm Abraham's
equilibrium. My friends, one half of tbs
trouble in the world to-day comes from
the fact that people do not know THEN
place, or, finding their place, viii not stay
in IL. When we come into the world there
is always place ready for US. A plac,
for Abraham. A place for Sarah. A plac,
for Hagar A place for Ishmael. A plac,
for you and place for me. Our first duty
is TO find our sphere; our second is to keeI
Il. We may be born in a sphere far of
from the one for which God finally intend,
us. Sixtus V. was born on the low ground
and was a swineherd; God called hin
up to wave a scepter. Ferguson spent his
early days in looking after sheep; God
called him up TO look after star,
and be a shepherd watching tn,
aocks Of light on the hillsides OF
Heaven. Hogarth began by engraving
pewter pots; God raised him to stand il
the enchanted realm of a painter. The
shoemaker's bench held Bloomfield for {
little while; but God raised him to sit il
the chair Of philosopher and Christian
scholar. The soap boiler OF London coulC
not keep his son in that business, for Goo
had decided that Hawley was to be one o
the greatest astronomers Of England.
On the other hand, we may be born in
sphere a III lie higher than that for whicl
God intends us. We may be born in a cas-
tie, and play in costly conservatory, an,
feed high-bred pointers, and angle 70
goldfish in artificial ponds, and b
familiar with princes; yet God may bet
ter have fitted us for a caTpen ter's shop
or dentists forceps, or a weaver's shuttle
or a blacksmith's forge. The great thing
Is 20 find just the sphere for which God in
tended us, and then TO occupy this sphere
and occupy Il forever. Here Is a man Coz
fashioned to make a pillow. There Is
man God fashioned to make a oonstitu
sion. The man who makes the pillow &
just as honorable as the man who makes
the constitution. There is a v oman whS
was made to fashion robe, and yonder /.
bne intended to Q queen ana wear it
&c srems TO m that in the one case as il
thn other God annoints the e~baro .-,5