Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-06-29

little while; but God called him to cit in
the chair of a 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 a sphere a little higher than that
for which God intends US. We may be
born in a castle, and play in q costly
conservatory, and feed high bred point
ers, and angle for gold fish in artificial
ponds, and be familiar with princes; yet
God may have fitted us for q carpenter
shop, OF dentists forceps, or a weaver 8
shuttle, or q blacksmith's forge. The
great thing 10 to find just the sphere for
which God intended us, and then to &C.
cupy that sphere and occupy 1t forever
Here is q man God fashioned to make q
pillow. There is a man God fashioned to
make q constitution. The man who makes
the plow is Just as honorable as the man
who makes the constitution, provided he
makes the pillow as well as the other man
makes the constitution. There is a
woman whe was made to fashion q robe,
and yonder is one intended to be q queen
and wear it. II seems TO me that in the
one case as in the other, God appoints
the sphere; and the needle is just as re-
spectacle IN his sight as the scepter. | do
not know but that the world would long
ago have been saved If some OF the men
out OF the ministry were In 1t, and some
Of those who are in it were out OF II. /
really think that one-half of the world
may be divided into two-quaIters-those
who have not found their sphere, and
those who, having found it, are not will
ing TO stay there. How many are strug.
Cling for a position a little higher thar
that for which God intended them. The
bondswoman wants TO be a mistress.
Hagar keeps crowding Sarah. The small
wheel Of a watch, which beautifully went
treading It's golden pathway. wants to be
the balance wheel, and the sparrow, with
chagrin, drops into the brook, because it
cannot, like the eagle. cut a circle under
the sun. In the Lords army we al want
TO be brigadier generals, The sloop
says: More mast; more tonnage; more
canvas. o, that l were a topsail
schooner, or a full rugged brig, or a Gu
nard steamer" And so the world is
filed with cries Of discomfort, 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 any
thing God tells you TO do. For the lack
Of a right disposition in this respect the
world is strewn with wandering Hsgars
and Ishmaels. God has given each one
of us a work TO do. You CARY a scuttle
Of coal up that dark alley. You distrib-
ute that Christian tract. You give Sl0,-
600 to the missionary cause. You, for
fifteen years, sit with chronic rheuma-
tism, displaying the beauty Of Christian
submission. Whatever God calls you to
do, whether 1t win kissing or huzza;
whether to walk under triumphsl arch
or lift the sot out of the ditch;
whether it be to preach on a Pente-
cost, or tell some wanderer Of the street
Of the mercy Of the Christ Of Mary Mag
1alene; whether il be TO weave a garland
for a laughing child on q spring norm
ing, and cali her a May queen, or to
comb out the tangled locks Of a waif Of
the street and cut up one of her old
dresses to lit her out for the sanctuary
do it, and do it right away. Whether it
be a crown ora yoke, do not idget.
Everlasting honors upon those who do
their work, and do their whole work, and
are contented in the sphere ia which God
has put them; while there is only wan
dering, and exile, and desolation, and
wilderness, for discontinued Hagar and
lshmae..
Again: I find in this Oriental scene a
lesson Of sympathy with woman when
she goes forth trudging in the desert.
What a great change Il was for this Ha-
gar. There was the tent and al the
surroundings of Abraham's house, beau
tiful and luxurious no doubt. Now she
is going out into the hot sands OF the
desert. ., what a change ii was! And
in our day we often see the vince Of for
tune turn. Here is some one who lived
IN the very bright home of her father,
She had everything possible TO admins
ter TO her happiness. Plenty at the
table. Music in the drawing
Welcome at the door. She is led forth
into life by some one who cannot appre-
ciate her. A dissipated soul comes and
takes her u into the desert. %Jhlquities
blot out all the lights OF that home circle.
Harsh words wear out her spirits. The
high hope that shOne out over the mar
riage alter 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 today,
broken hearted, thinking Of past Joy and
present des0lation and coming anguish.
Hagar in the wilderness!
Here is a beautiful home. You cannot
think of anything that can be added TO
il. For years there has not been the sug-
gestlen of a single trouble. Bright and
happy children fill the ous with laugh
ter 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
hutter. Eyes close. And the foot whose
we'll known steps on the door sill brought
the whole household out at eventide cry
ing: Fathers coming" will never
sound on the door sill again. A long,
deep grief plowed through al that light
ness of domestic life. Paradise lost!
Widowhoedl Hagar in the wilderness!
How often it is we see the weak arm
| Of woman eonscripted for this battle with
the rough world. Who is she going
down the 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 her face, her lusterless eyes looking
far ahead as though for the coming Of
some other trsrblef Her parents called
her Mary, OF Bertha, or Agnes on the
day when they held her up to the fount,
and the Christian minister sprinkled on
| the infants face the washinge Of q holy