Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-06-26

the appalling grief and cries, "Hagar, wha
aileth thee?" She looks up and she see
the angel pointing to well of water, wher
she fills the bottle for the lad. Thank God
Thank Godl
lsarn from this Oriental scene. in th'
first place, what sad thing it is when peo
pie do not know their place, and get toe
proud for their business. Hagar was ar
assistant in that household, but she want
ed to rule there. She ridiculed and jeered
until her son, Ishmael, got the same tricks
She dashed out her own happiness ano
threw Sarah into great fret; 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 thrir place; or,
finding their place, will not stay in it, When
we come into the world, there is always a
lplace ready for us. A place for Abraham.
A place for Sarah. A place for Hagar- A
place for Ishmael. A place for you and a
place for me. Our first duty is to find our
sphere; our second is to keep it. We may
be born iu sphere far off from the one for
which God finally intends US. Sextus ".
was born on the low ground, and was a
swineherd; God called him up to wave a
scepter. Ferguson spent his early days in
looking after the sheep; God called him up
to look after stars, and be shepherd
watching the flocks of light on the hillsides
of heaven. Hogarth began by engraving
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
astronomers of England. On the other hand,
we may be born in sphere little higher
than that for which God intends US. We
may be born in q castle. and play in cost
ly conservatory, and feed high-bred point
ers, and angle for gold fieh iu artificial
ponds, and be familiar with princes; yet
God may have fitted us for carpenters
shop, or dentists forceps, or a weaver's
shuttle, or blacksnith's forge. The great
thing is to find just the sphere for which
God intended us, and then to occupy that
sphere and occupy it forever. Here is a
man God fashioned to make plow. There
is man God fashioned 10 make constitu-
tion. The man who makes the plow is just
as honorable as the man who makes the
constitution, provided he makes the plow
as we'll as the other makes the constitution.
| There is a woman who was made to fashion
a robe, and youder is one intended to be a
queen and wear it. 1t seems to ne that in
| the one case as in the other, God appoints
the sphere; and the needle is just ns respect
able in His sight as the scepter. l do not
| know but that the world would long ago
| have been saved if some of the men out of
| the ministry were in it, and some of those
who are in it were out of it. | really think
that one-half 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 position little higher
than that for which God intended them.
The bondwoman wants to be mistress.
Hagar keeps crowding Sarah. The small
wheel of a watch, which beautifully went
treading its golden pathway wants to be the
balance wheel, and the sparrow, with cha
grin, drops into the brook, because it can
not like the eagle, cut circle under the
sun. In the Lords army we all want to be
brgadier generals. The sloop says, "More
mast; more tonnage; more canvas o, that
l were topsail schooner, or a full.rigged
brig, or Cunard steamer" And SO the
world is filled with cries of discomfort, be-
cause we are not willing to stay in the place
where God put US and intended US to be.
NV 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 Hagar and Ishmaels
God has given each one of us work to do.
| You carry a scuttle of coal up that dark
alley. You distribute that Christian tract.
| You give ten Thousand dollars to the mis-
sionary cause. You, for fifteen years, sit
with chronic rheumatism, displaying the
beauty of Christian submission. Whatever
God calls you to, whether it win Kissing or
huzza; whether to walk under triumphal
arch or lift the sot out of the ditch; wheth-
er it be to preach On a Pentocost, or tell
some wanderer of the street Of the mercy
of the Christ of Mary Magdalene; whether
it be to weave garland for laughing
child on a spring morning and call her
May queen, or to comb but the tangled
locks of waif of the street and cut up one
of your old dresses to fit her out for the
sapctuary-do it, and do it right away.
whether iS be a crown or yoke, do not
fidget. Everlasting honors upon those who
do their work, aud do their whole work,
aud are contented in the sphere in which
God has put them; while there is only wan
dering, and exile, and desolation, and will
derness, for discontenGed Hagar and Ish-
mael:
Again: l find in this Oriental scene a
lesson of Sympathy with woman when she
goes forth trudging in the desert. What a
great change it was for this Hagar. There
was the tent and all the surroundings of
Abrahams house, beautiful and luxurious
no doubt. Now she is going out into the
hot sands of the desert. o, what 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 ad-
minister to her happiness. Plenty at the
table. Music in the drawing room. Wei
come 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. Iniquities blot out all the
lights of that home circle. Harsh words
wear cut 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 she is
to-day, broken hearted, thinking of past
ioy and present deso)ation and coming
: anguish. 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 suggest
ion of 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
And the foot whose well-known 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 ploughed through all that
, lightness of domestic life. Paradise lost
: Widowhood! Hagar in the wilderness!
How often it is we see the weak arm ol
r woman conscripted for this battle with the
| rough world. Who is she going down the
r street in the early light of the morning
, pale with exhausting work, not half slept
, out with the slumbers of last night,
tragedies of suffering written all over hel
! face, her lusterless eyes looking far ahead,
! as though for the coming of some Other
trouble. Her parents called her Mary, OF