Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-06-27

commons. Mother, you are to-day hoist.
| ing throne or forging q chain-you are
kindling star or digging a dungeon.
A good many years ago. q Christian
mother sat teaching lessons of religion to-
her child; and he drank in those lessons.
| She never knew that Lamphier would
come forth and establish the Fulton street
prayer meeting, and by one meeting reyo.
lutionize the davotions of the whole earth.
and thrill the eternities with his Christian
! influence. Lamphier said it was his
mother that brought him to Jesus Christ.
She never had an idea that she was lead
ing forth such destinies. But o. when 1
see a mother reckless OF her influence,
rattling on toward destruction, garlanded
for the sacrifice with unseemless mirth
and godlessness, gayly tripping on down
to ruin, taking her children ir, the same
direction. 1 can not help but say: There
they 60. there they 60 Hagar and lsh-
mael" tell you there are wider deserts
than Beersheba in many of the domestic
circles of this day. Dissipated parents
leading dissipated children. Avaricious
parents leading avaricious children.
Prayerless parents leading prayerless
children. They go through every street,
up every dark alley, into every cellar
along every highway. Hagar and Ish-
mael! And while pronounce their names
it seems like the moaning of the death
wind-Hagar and Ishmael,
| / learn one more lesson rom this ORR
entail scene, and that is, that every wilder
ness has well in it Hagar and lshmael
gave up to die. Hagar's heart sank with
in her as she heard her child crying:
| "Water! wateri waterr "Ah," she SAYS
my darling, there is no water. This is .
| desert" And then Gods angel said from
the cloud: ''What aileth thee, Hagarf''
And she looked up and saw him pointing
| to well of water, where she filled the
| bottle for the lad. Blessed be God that
| there is in every wilderness a well, if you
only know how to find it-fountains for
all these thirsty souls to-day. son that
last day, on that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried: If any man thirst
let him come to me and drink" All these
other fountains you find are mere mirages
OF the desert Paracelsus, YOU know,
spent his time in trying to find out the
elixir of life-a liquid which if taken
would keep one perpetually young in
this world and would change the
aged back again to youth. OF
course he was disappointed; he found
not the elixir. But here L tell you to-
day of the elixir of everlasting life
bursting from the "Rock of Ages" and
that drinking that water you shall never
get old and you will never get sick and
you will never die. ''Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters" All,
here is man who says: 81 have been
looking for that fountain a great while,
but can't find it." And here is some one
else who says: 81 believe all you say but
1 have been trudging along in the wilder
ness and can't find the fountain" Do you
know the reason? 1 will tell you. You
never looked in the right direction. "O,'
you say, II have looked everywhere.
have looked north, south. east and west,
and haven't found the fountain" Why,
you are not locking in the right direction
at all. Look up where Hagar looked.
She never could have found the fountain
at all, but when she heard the voice of the
angel she looked up and saw the finger
pointing to the supply. And o, soul, if to.
day. with one earnest, intense prayer you
would only look up to Christ, He would
point you down to the supply in the will
derness. "Look unto Ne, all We ends OF
the earth. and be We saved; for 1 am God,
and there is none else" Look look as
Hagar locked.
Yes, there is we'll for every desert oil
bereavement. Looking over the audience
to-day, notice signs of mourning. Have
you found consolation? o man bereft,
woman bereft, have you found consola-
ton? Hearse after hearse. We step from
one grave hillock to another grave hillock.
We follow corpses, ourselves soon to be
like them The world is in mourning for
its dead. Every heart has become the
sepulcher ofVbme buried joy. But sing
ye 10 God, every wilderness has we'll in
it, and come to that well to-day, and
begin TO draw water from that WELL II
YOU have lived in the country you have
s1metimes taken hold of the rope of the
old we'll sweep, and you know how the
bucket came up dripping with bright,
cool water. And lay hold of the rOp;
} of Gods mercy to-day, and l begin tc
draw on that Gospel well-sweep and SEE
the buckets coming up Thirsty soul
here is one bucket of life! come and drinl
, of it "Whosoever will, let him come anC
take of the water of life freely" 1 pul
away again at the rope, and another
bucket comes up. 1t is this promise
weeping may endure for a night, but JOY
cometh in the morning." 1 lay hold of the
rope again and pull away with all my
|
and beautiful and cool Here is the
promise: "Come unto me, all ye who arr
weary and heavy laden and l will givs
you rest"
The old astrologers used to cheat the
people with the idea that they could tell
from the position of the stars what would
| occur in the future, and if a cluster of star:
stood in one relation that would be 6
| ,~ropboov Of aviI. IL 0f stars
stood in another relation that would be 6
prophecy of good. What superstition
But here is a new astrology in which
put all my faith By looking up to the
star of Jacob. the morning star of the
Redeemer, can make this prophecy in re.
gard to those who put their trust in God;
"All things work together for good
to those who love God" 1 read il
out on the sky. read it out in the Bible.
read it out in all things: "All things work
together for good to those who love God.
Do You love Him? Have you seen the
Nyetanthes? 1t is beautiful flower, but
!. it gives very little fragrance until after
sunset Then it pours its richness on the
air. And this grace of the Gospel that
commend to you this day, while it may be
very sweet during the day of prosperity,
it pours forth its richest aroma after sun
down with YOU and me awhile. When
you come to go out of this world, will il
be a desert march or will it be fountain
for your soul?
A Christian Hindoo was dying and his
heather comrades came around him and
tried to comfort him by reading some OF
the pages of their theology, but he waved
his hand as much as to say: II don't
want to hear itU Then thew called in a