Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-13

HAGAR,s DEPARTURE FROM
THE HOUSE OF ABRAHAM.

Searched Sands of the Desert-Gods
Provision of the Well of Water-Les-
sons Deducted from the Story by DR..
TalmsGe.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 12.-The Rev. t. De-
Witt Taimsge, D. D., preached in the
Brooklyn Tabernacle to day. His Ta0er-
nacle was reprinted and reuphOlstered
and otherwise improved during the vaca-
ton that ended last Sunday, when the
vast throngs greeting the return of their
pastor responded literally to his appeal
on behalf of the sufferers by the earth
quake at Charleston.
DR.. Talmage's subject to-day was:
s'Cast out, but rescued" and the text,
Genesis xxi, 10: "And God opened her
eyes, and she saw a we'll OF water; and
she went and filed the bottle with water,
and gave the lad drink" The preacher
said:
Morning breaks upon Beer-sheha. There
is an early stir in the house of old Abra-
ham. There has been trouble among the
domestics. Hagar, an assistant in the
household, aud her son, a brisk lad of l6
years, have become impudent and inso-
Dent, and Sarah, the mistress OF the house
hold, puts her foot down very hard and
premises. They are packing up now.
Abraham, knowing that the journey be-
fore mis- 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 a bottle with
water in 1t. 1t is a very plain
lunch that Abraham provides, but L war
rant you there would have been enough
of it had they not lost their way. "GOd
ha will oil no q
gave the lunch to Hagar and good many
Charges as TO how she should conduct the
Journey. Ishmael, the boy, | suppose
bounded away in the morning light. Boys
always like change. Poor Ishmael! 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
associated with the pride and JOY of her
heart, young lshmael.
The scorching noon comes on. The air
Is sitting and moves across the desert
with lnsu ferahle sutfocation. Ishmael,
the boy, begins To complain 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 YEARLY and slowly the miles slip!
stand only just a little ahead, inviting
the travellers to come under its shadow,
now is as far of as ever, or seemingly 80.
Night drops upon the desert
and the travellers are pill
lowless. IshmaeI, very weary, j sup
pose, 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
hot 10 hon fa1 hot hnu in Z ho
desert. A star looks out, and every fall
Ing tear it kisses with sparkle. A wing
of wind comes over the hot earth aud 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: "Ishmael! Ishmael~
And so they 90 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 bot
tie. What shall she do! As she puts her
faintlng lshmael under stunted shrub of
the arid PLAIN, she sees the blood-shOt eye,
and feels the hot hand, and watches the
blood bursting from the cracked tongue,
and there is shrek in the desert ot Beer
sheb: eve shall die! We shall diet" Now,
10 mother was ever made strong enough
Heretofore she had cheered her boy by
promising a speedy end of the journey,
and even smiled upon him when be felt
desperately 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
the spirit OF her boy would go away for
ever. and then she would breathe out her
own life on his silent heart; but as the
hnu hnu 70 nj hi ;,,o
thirst, and struggle in distortion, and
begs his mother to slay him, she cannot
endure the spectacle. She puts him under
"a shrub, and goes off bow shot, and be-
gins TO weep until all the desert seems
sobbing, and her cry strikes clear through
the heavens; and an angel OF God comes
out on cloud, and looks down upon the
appalling grief and cries: "Hagar, what
aileth theer She looks up and she sees
the angel pointing to a well of water,
where she fills the bottle for the lad.
Thank God! Thank Godl
/. 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
an assistant in that household, but she
wanted TO rule there. She ridlculed and
,eered until her son, Ishmael, got the
same tricks. She dashed out her own
happiness. and threw Sarah into great
fret, aud if she had stayed much longer
in that household, she would have upset
calm Abraham's equilibrium. Ny friends,
0ne-halt 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 il. When we come into
the world there Is ALWAYS Il 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
place for me. Our first duty is to find
our sphere; our second is to keep it, We
may be born in sphere far off from the
one for which God finally intends us.
Sixtus V. was born on the low ground.
aud was a swineherd; God called him up
TO wave sceptre. Ferguson spent his
early days i'll looking after sheep; God
called him up 20 look after stars, and be a
shepherd watching the flocks or light on
the hillsIdes OF heaven. Hogarth began
by engraving pewter pots; God raised him
to stand In the enchanted realm OF
painter. The shoemaker's bench held
Bloomfield for a little while; but God
raised MIN to sit in the chair Of philoso-
pier and Christian scholar. The soap
boiler Of London could not keep his son IN
that business, for God had de-
cided that Hawley was to be
Dne 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 may be born in a