The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-06-22
PEOPLE OUT OF PLACE.
DR.. Talmage on the 'Hagars OF
This Life.
The Lessons Taught BY the Experience OF
The Bond Woman-The Duty of Keep
ing the Proper Plaoe-A Well
For Every Desert.

Ialmage recently preached a sermon at
brooklyn was: people Who Have Lost
1neir way" He took for his text: ''And
900 opened her eyes, and she saw a we'll
OK water; and she went and filled the
pottle with water, aud gave the lad
drink" Gen. xxi. 10. DIR. Talmage said :
Morning breaks upon Beersheba. There
IL an early stir in the house of old Abra-
ham, There has been trouble among the
aomestics. Hagar, an assistant in the
household, and her son, a brisk lac of
sixteen years, have become impuaent and
insolena and Sarah, tho mist feza .of Z31
lesa1rc'a <a't W. 4
ieuk and across ndssoiatee piasss, In the
kindness OF his heart sets about putting up
some bread and a bottle with water in 1t.
10 isa very plain lunch tina Abraham
provides, but l warrant you there would
have been enough Of 1t had they not lost
their way. God be with you!i said old
Abraham as he gave the lunch to Hagar,
n q good many charges as to how she
should conduct the journey. Ishmael, the
boy, l suppose bounded away in the
morning light Boys always like a change.
Poor Ishmaell He had no idea of the dis
asters that were ahead of him. Hagar
gives one long, lingering look IN the
familiar place where she had spent SO
many happy days, each scene associated
with the pride and joy of her heart
young Ishmael,
The scorching noon comes on. The air
10 sitting and moves across the desert
with insufferable s~uffocation. IshmaeL,
the boy, begins to complain, and lies
down, but Hagar rouses him up, saying
nothing about her own WEAKNESS or the
sweltering heat; for mothers can endure
any thing. Trudge. tIudge, trudge.
Crossing the dead level of the desert, how
wsarily and slowly the miles slipl A
tAmarind that seemed hours ago to stand
only just a little ahead, inviting the trav-
elers to come under its shadow, now Is as
Tar on as ever, or seemingly so, Night
drops upon he desert and the travellers
are pillowless. lshmael, very weary, /
suppose, instantly falls asleep. Hagar.. as
the OF the night begin 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 a sparkle. A wing of wind
comes over the hot earth and lifts the
locks from the fevered brow OF the boy.
Hagar sleeps atfully, and in her dreams
travels over the weary day, and half
Awakes her son crying out in her sleep,
sIshmaell Ishmael" And so they go 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 -four, the water
gone from the bottle. What shall she do?
Az she puts her fainting Ishmael under q
stantsd shrubo of the arid plain she sees the
blood-shot eye and feels the hot hand and
watches the blood bursting. from the
cracked tongue. and there is a shrek in
the desert OF Beersheba. ''We shall die
we shall die 20 Now, no mother was ever
made strong enough to hear her son cry
In vain for q drink. Heretofore she had
ehsered her boy by promising a speedy
end OF the journey, even smiled upon him
when he felt desperately enough. Now
there II 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 for
ever and then she would breathe out her
" life on his silent heart; but as the boy
begins to claw his tongue in agony OF
thirst and struggle in distortion and beg
nt9 hA0bhJN W blby ulIu bu6 CdU HOL 6uuuf6
the spectacle. She puts him under a shrub
and goes of a bow shot and begins to
weep until all the desert seems sobbing
and her cry striker clear through the
heavens; and an angel of God comes out
ON q cloud and looks down upon the apall-
ing grief and cries: '.Hagar, what aileth
thee?" She looks up and she sees the
angel pointing to a we'll of water, where
she alls the bottle for the lad. Thank
God I Thank God (!
learn from this Oriental scene in the
hrst place what q 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 70 rule there. She ridiculed and
5ssrsd until her son Ishmael got the same
tricks. She dashed 0nf her happiness
and threw 2efat great fret; aud if
abe DAG = ger In hat house,
hold |[@t upset calm Abra-
hn<1 81 friends. -half
~ TN ~ b <1s world to-day comes
f1et that people do not know
Lhzir< Hl4e6; or andfng their place, will
net stay-inrfE When we come into the
world there is alwaysa place ready for
us. A place for Abraham. A place for
Sarah. A place for Hagar. A place for
Ishmasl. 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
In q sphere far OF from the one for which
God finally intends us. Sextus v. was
born on the low ground. and was a swine-
herd; God called him to wave a 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
- - Il-1A - tHa hfIl1iIaa ~ uaouan
Hogarth began by engraving pewter
pots; God raised him to stand in the en-
chanted realms Of q painter. The shoe
makers bench held Bloomfield for a little
while; but God called him to sit in the
chair Of q 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
che greatest astronomers Of England. On
the other hand, we may be born in "A
sphere O little higher than that for which
God intends Us. We may be born in q
castle, and play In q costly conservatory.
and feed high bred pointers, and angle for
gold fish in artificial ponds, and be famil-
lar with princes; yet God may have fitted
M for q carpenters shop, or dentists
forceps, or q weaver's shuttle, or a black.
smtthss forge. The great thing is to find
iust the sphere for which God intended us,
and then to occupy that sphere and occupy
ss forever. Here Is a man God fashioned
% make q pIow. There Is a man GOD
fashioned to make a constitution. The
man who makes the pillow is just as hon
cradle as the man who makes the consti-
tuition, provided he makes the pillow as
well as the other man makes the consti-
tution. There Is a woman VINO was made
20 fashion q robe. and yonder Is one in.
tended to be a queen and wear it =
seems to me that in the one case as in tn
other, God appoints the sphere; and tn
needle Is just as respectable in His sigh
~ the scepter.
do not know but that the world woul,
long ago have been saved IL some OF the mel
outof the ministry were in 1t, and some o
those who are In 1t were out of it. / really
think that one-half of the world may b,
divided into two-quarters-those VIII
have not found their sphere, and thos'
who having found 1t, are not willing Il
stay there. How many are struggling To-
q position higher than that for which Go(
intended them. The bondswoman wanti
10 be mistress. Hagar keeps crowdinG
Sarah. The small wheel of q watch
which beautifully went treading its COLDER
pathway, wants to be the balance wheel
and the sparrow, with chagrin, drops intc
the brook because it can not, like the eagle,
eet . circle under the sun. In the Lord,
army we all want to b1 Brigadier-Gene
ais. The sloop says: more mast; more
tonnage; more canvas. 0, that l were a
topseil schooner, or full-rigged brig, or q
Canard steamer" And so the world Ia
Alled with cries of ~sconten because w
ere not willing to stay in the place where
0od put US and intended us to be. Ny
friends be not too proud TO do any
thing God tells you to do For the