The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-07-03
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIyINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: People Who Have Lost
Their Way"


drink."-Genesis xxi, 19.
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 become
impudent and insolent, and Sarah, the mis-
tress Of the household, puts her foot down
very hard, and says that they will have to
leave the premises. They are packing up
now. :. 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 put
ting up some bread and bottle with water
in it. It is a very plain lunch that
Abraham provides but I warrant you there
would have been enough of it had they not
lost their way. "God be with you !" said old
Abraham as he gave the lunch to Hagar, and
a good many charges as to how she should
conduct the journey. Ishmael, the boy, l
suppose, bounded away in the morning light.
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 Ish-
maeL
The scorching noon comes on. The air is
sitting and moves across the desert with in
sufferable suffocation. Ishmael, the boy, be
gins to complain, and lies down. but Hagar
WEAKNESS or the sweltering heat; for mothers
can endure anything. Trudge trudge, trudge.
Crossing the dead level Of the desert, how
wearily and slowly the miles slip. A tamc-
rind that seemed hours ago to stand only just
little ahead. inviting the travellers to come
under its shadow, now is star OFT as ever, or
seemingly so. Night drops upon the desert,
and the travellers are pillowleSS. IShmael,
very weary, suppose, instantly falls asleep.
Hagar, as the shadows of the night be-
gin 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 the desert A star looks out, and every
falling tear it kisses with q sparkle. A
wing of wind comes over the hot earth
and lifts the locks from the fevered
brow of the boy. Hagar sleeps fitfully,
and in her dreams travels over the weary
day, and half awakes her son by crying out
in her sleep: "Ishmael! Ishmaelr' And
SO they 60 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
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
desert of Beer-sheba: 1--WE shall die! we
shall diew 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,
even smiled upon him when he felt desper-
ately 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 forever, and then she would breathe
out her own life on his silent heart; but as the
boy began to claw his tongue in agony
of thirst, and struggle in distortion, and beg
his mother to slay him, she cannot endure
the spectacle She puts him under 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 cloud and looks
down upon the appalling grief and cries:
"Hagar, what aileth thee% She looks up
and She sees the angel pointing to vel! Of
water, where she fills the bottle for the Lad.
Thank God! Thank God!
learn from this Oriental scene, in the first
place, what 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 jeered until her son, Ish-
mael, got the same tricks. She dashed out
her own happiness and threw Sarah into a
great frat; and if she had stayed much longer
In that household she would have upset calm
Abraham's 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
1t. When we come into the world, there IS
always a place ready for us. A place for
Abraham A place for Sarah. 4 place for
Hagar. A place for Ishmael. A place for
you and place for me. Our first duty IS to
We may be born in sphere far
off from the one for which God
finally intends u.s. SeItus Y was horn on the
low ground, and was swineherd, Gcd called
him up to waive scepter. Ferguson spent
his early days in looking after the sheep; God
called him up to look after stars. and be a
shepherd watching the aocks Of light on the
hillsides Of heaven. Hogarth began by en-
craving pewter pots; God raised him to stand
In the enchanted realm of painter The shoe
makers bench held Bloomfield for little
while; but God called him to sit in the chair
Of philosopher and Christian 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 astrono-
mers Of England. On the other hand we
may be born in sphere a little higher than
that for which God intends US. We may be
born in CASTLE and play in costly con-
servatory, and feed high bred pointers, and
angle for gold fish in artificial ponds, and be
familiar with princes; yet Gcd may have
fitted us for carpenters shop, or dentists
forceps, or a weavers shuttle, or a black
smiths forge The great thing is to find just
the sphere for which God intended us, and
ever. Here is man God fashioned to make
plow. There is man God fashioned
70 MAKE constitution. The man
who makes the plow is just as hon
orable as the man who makes the constitu-
ton, provided he makes the plow as well as
the other man makes the constitution. There
is a woman who was made to fashion robe.
and yonder is one intended to be queen and
wear it. It seems to me that in the one case
as in the other, God appoints the sphere; and
the needle is Just as respectable is His sight as
the scepter. do not know but that the world
would long ago have been saved II some OF
the men out Of the ministry were in it, and
some OF those who are in it We're out Of it.
Ireally think that one-haf Of 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 a posi-
ton little higher than that for which God
intended them. The bondswoman wants tc
be mistress. Hagar keeps crowding Sarah
Inc small WHEEL VI u "ulSu
" 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 circle under
the sun. In the Lords army we all want to
be brigadier generals. The sloop says
s'More mast; more tonnage; more canvas
Oh, that were topsail schooner, or full
rigged brig, or Cunard steamer" And sc
the world is filed with cries OF discomfort
because we are not willing to stay in the