The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-09-30

20 SUNNI oIo hHO iNtu III tue very DrlbnC
home of her father. She had everything
possible to administer to her happiness.
flenty at the table. Music in the drawing
room. Welcome at the door. She is leo
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. The 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
sha is to-day broken hearted, thinking of past
joy and present desolation and coming an
guish. Hagar In the wilderness
Here is 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 domesti; Joy full and
running over. Dark night drops. Pillow
hot Pulses futter. Eyes close. And tie
root whose well kno wn steps on the door-sill
brought the whole household out at eventide
crying: "Father's coming" will never sound
on the door sill again. A long, deep. grief
plouShed through all that lightness of do
meotic life. Paradise lost! Widowhood,
Hagar in the wilderness
How often is it we see the weak arm of
"o au conScrlpted Tor this battle with the
rough world. Who is she, going down the
street in early light of the morning, pale
with eXhau,tng work, not half slept out
with the slumbers of last night, trage lies 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 hell her up to the font
and the Christian minister sprinkled on the
infant face the Shinrs IF a bpl,, IA,
Her name is changed now. hear it in the
shuttle Of The worn out shoes. sec it in the
figure OF the faded calico. l 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 toiis, her struggles, her hardships, her
desoiation, and may the great heart of divine
sympathy in2lose her forever.
Again l find in this Oriental scene the fact
that every mother leads forth tremendous
destinies. You say: THAT isn't an unusual
scene, mother leading her child by tho
hand" Who is it that she is leadings Ish-
mael, you say. Who is Ishmael9 A great
nation is to be founded; nation So strong
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.
Gaulus brings up his army and his army is
smltten. Alexander de cideS upon a cam
paigu, brings up his hosts and dies For a
long while that nation monopolizes the learn
ing of the world. 1t is the nation of the
Arabs. Who founded it? Ishmael the lad
that Hagar led into the wilderness. She had
no idea that she was lea ling forth such des-
TIMES. Neither does any mother. You pass
along the street and see boys and girls who
will yet make the earth quake with their in
fiuence. 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 and pain-struck. That wound in
the foot decides that he be sedentary in
his life, decides that he be student
decides that he shall be John kitto,
who shall provide the best religious
encyclopedia the world has ever had provided,
AMI 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.
Oh, mother, mother, that little hand that
wanders over your face may yet be lifted to
hurl thunderbolts of war or drop benedic-
tions. 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 | seq a merchant prince of New
York. One stroke of his pen brings ship
out of Canton. Another stroke of his pen
bring, a ship into Madras He is mighty in
all the money markets of the world. VINO is
he! 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 find her in the
| Sabbath-school, while the teacher tells her of
THAI Christ who clothed the naked and fed
the hungry and healed the 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 counteLances are
irrGdated with the glad t.dings Of great joy
and salvation. Who is he' Did you not
hear his voice this morning in the first song
of service!
Ny mind leaps forward thirty years from
now and find myself looking through the
wiclSetS of prison. | see a 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 soul swings
into eternity Who is he and where is he!
This afternoon playing kite on the city COM
mons. Mother, you are this morning hoist
ing throne or forging a chan-you are
kindling star or digging dungeon.
A good many years ago 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-
! tons of the whole earth and thrill the eter-
mites with his Christian influence. Ian
pher said it was his mother who brought him
to Jesus Christ. She never had an idea that
! she was leading forth slch deStinieS. But
! oh, when | se1 mother re rklesS OF her III
fluence, rattling on toward destruction, gar
| landed for the sa 'rifice with unseemly mlrth
and godlessness, dancing on down to perdi-
| ton, taking her children in the same dlrec-
ton, preparing them for a life of frivolty, Q
death of shame and an eternity of disaster,
cannot help but say: There they go-there
they go: Hagar and Ishmael" tell you
there are wider deserts than Beer -Sheeba IL
many of the fashionable circles of this day.
DissiEated parents lea9ing dissipated chill
! dren Avaricious parents leading avaric Gus
children. Prayerless parents leading prayer
les children. They 60 through every street
mn every dark alley, into every cellar, along
every highway Hagar and 1shmael! an
while prorounce their names it seems like
TIE moaning of the death wind: Hagar anc
Ishmaell
learn one more lesson from this Orienta
enc. and that is that every wilderness has 6
wei in it. Hagar AMI Ishmael gave up to
die Hagar's heart sank within her as sht
hcGrl her child crying: 'Waterl water
water!' "Ah," she says, ''my darling, there
is no wate~. This is DESERT And then
Gods angel said from the cloud: 'What
aieth thee, Ha yarF' And she looked up and
saw him pointing to a well of water, where
she filed the bottle for the al. Blessed bC
God tbat there is in every wilderness well
if yol only know how to find it-fountain:
for all these thirsting souls this morning
On that last day, on that great day of the
feast. Jesus stood and cried: IF any mar
thirst, let him come to me and drink AL
these ether fountains You find are mer,
mrages of the desert. Paracelsus, you
know spent his time in trying to find ont the
elixir of li.e-a liquid which, if taken, would
keep one perpetually young in this world
and would change the age back again tC
youth OF course he was disappointed h,
founi not the elixir But here | tell you this
morning of the elixir of everlasting life
bursting from the 'Rock of Ages and thai
drinking that water You shall never get old
and you will never be sick, and you viii
never die 'Ho, every one that thirsteth
come We TO the waters' All, here is a MAI
who SAWS al have heen looking for tha