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

position A little higher thau that which
God intended them. The b0ndsWomar
wants TO he mistress. Hagar keeps
crOwding Saraa. The small wheel OF
watch which beautifully went treadlng
its golden pathway, wants to he the bal
ance wheel, and the sparrow with cha
grin drops into the brook because 1t can
not. like the eagle, cut circle under the
sun.
In the Lords army we all want to be
Brigadier Generals. The slOop says: IN ore
mast, more tonnage, more canvas. On
that | were a topsail schooner or full
rugged brig or Cunard steamerW AND
so the world is filed with cries OF discon'
tent because we are not willing to 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 Of right disposition in this respect
the world is strewn with wandering Ha-
gars and Isbmaels. God has given each
one ofus work to do. You carry scut-
tie of coal up that dark alley. You DIS
tribute that Christian tract. You give
$4,000 to the missionary cause. You Tor
fifteen years sit with chronic rheumatism
displaying the beauty Of Christian sub
mission. Whatever God calls you to,
whether it win Kissing or hnZZa, whether
to walk under triumphai arch or lift the
sot out OF the ditch, whether it be
to preach on Pentecost or
tell some wanderer of the
street OF the mercy of the Christ,
or OF Mary Magdalene; whether it
be to weave a garland for a laugh
ing child on a spring morning and
call her a May Queen, or to comb out
the tangled locks OF a wait of the street
and cut up one OF your old dresses to fit
her tor the sanctuary-do 1t, and do it
right away Whether it be a crown or
yoke, do not fidget. Everlasting honors
upon those who do their work, and do
their whole work, and are cOntented in
the sphere In which God has put them {;
while there is wandering, and exile, and
desOlatiOn, and wilderness for discomfort
ed Hagar and Ishmael.
III. Again, find IN this oriental scene
lesson of sympathy with woman when
she goes forth trudging in the desert.
What great change it was for this Ha-
gar! There was the tent and all the sur
roundings OF Abraham's house, beautiful
and luxurious, no doubt. Now she is
going out into the hot sands of the desert.
Oh, what a change it was! And in our
day we often see the wheel OF fortune
turn. Here is some one who lived in the
very bright home of her father. She had
everything possible to administer to her
ndDplucSS-DltUII ut bDt bdDISs iHublC III
the drawing room, welcome at the door
She is led forth into life by some one who
cannot appreciate 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 shODe 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
she is to-day broken hearted, thinking OF
past joys and present desOlation, and
coming anguish. Hagar in the wilder
ness!
Here is beautiful home. You cannot
think OF anything that can be added to
it. For years there has not been the sug-
gestion Of a single trouble. Bright and
happy children fill the house with
laughter and song. Books to read
Pictures to look at. Lounges to rest on.
Cup of domestic joy full and running
over. Dark night drops. Pillow hot.
Pulses fiutter. Eyes close. Aud the
foot, whose well-knOwn steps on the
door sill brought the whole household
out at eventide crying: Fathers COM
Ing" will never sound on the door sill
again. A long, deep grief ploughed
through all that brightness of domestic
life. Paradise lost. Widowhood. Hagar
in the wilderness.
How often is 1t we see the weak arm of
woman cOnscripted for this battle with
the rough world. Who is she, going down
the street in the early light of the morn
ing, pale with eXhausting work, not half
slept out with the slumbers Of last night
tragedies of suffering written all over her
face, her lustreless eyes looking far ahead,
as though for the coming of some other
trouble? Her parents called ner Mary, or
Bertha, or Agnes, on the day when they
held her up to the font and the Christian
minister sprinkled on the infants face the
washings of holy baptism. Her name
is changed now. l hear it in the shuttle
of the worn out shoes. l see 1t in the fig
ure OF the faded calico. | find it in the
lineaments of the woe BECOME counte-
nance. Not Mary, nor Bertha, nor Agnes,
but Hagsr In the wilderness. May God
have mercy upon woman In her tolls, her
struggles, her hardships, her desoation,
and may the great heart of divine SYM
pathy inclose her forever.
Ill. Again, ind in this oriental scene
the fact that every mother leads forth
tremendous destinies. You say: "That
isn't an unusual scene, a mother leading
her child by the hand" Who is it that
she is leadingY Ishmael, you say. Who
is lshmael? A great nation is to be found
ed; a 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 smit-
ten. Alexander decides upon cam
paign, brings up his hosts, and dies. For
a long while that nation monopolizes
the learning 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
she was leading forth such destinies.
Neither does any mother. You pass along
the street and see pass boys and girls
who will yet make the earth quake with
their influence. VINO ia that boy at SUIT
tonpoOl, Plymouth, England. barefooted,
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. That wound by the
glass in the foot decides that he
shall be John Kltto, who shall
provide the best religious encyclopedias
the world has ever had provided, and with
his other writings as well, throwing a
light upon the Word OF God such as has
come from no other man in this century.
y mother, mother. that little hand that
wanders over your face may vet be lifted
10 hurl thunderbolts of war or drop bene-
dlctions! That little voice may bias.
pbeme God in the grog-shOp or cry "Cow-
ardl' to the Lords hosts as they 20 out
for their last victory.
MY mind this morning leaps thirty