The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-06-22

$500 - 49, N"J
see the wheel of fortune turn. Here Is
some one who lived In the very bright
home of her father. She had every thing
possible to administer to her happiness.
Plenty at the table. Music in the draw
ingroom. Welcome at the door. She is
led forth into life by some one who can
not appreciate her. A disappointed soul
comes and takes her out in the desert In
EQUITIES blot out all the lights of that home
circle. Harsh words wear out her spirits.
The high hope that shone out over the
marriage altar while the ring was being
set and the vows given and the benedic-
ton pronounced, ave all faded with the
orange blossoms. and there she Is to- day,
broken-hearted, thinking of past joy and
present desolation and coming anguish.
Hagar In the wilderness.
How often IL Is we see the weak arm of
woman conscripted for this battle with
the rough world. Who is she, going down
the street in the early light of the MORN
ing, pale with ~exhausting work. not half
a sleep out of SAUNDERS of last night.
tragedies of suffering written air over her
face, her lusterless eyes looking far ahead
as though for the. coming of some other
troubfef Her parents called her Mary, or
Bertha, or Agnes on the day when they
VI W AO AOAb1 INV IA SAI 10 bthu
minister sprinkled on the infants face
the washings Of a holy baptism. = Her
name Is changed now. / hear it in the
shuttle of the worn out shoes. / see 1t In
sthe figure of the faded calico. l find it in
the lineaments of the woe begone coun-
teuance Not Mary, nor Bertha, nor
Agnes, but Hagar In the wilderness. May
God have mercy upon woman In her tolls,
her struggles, her hardships, her desola-
ton, and may the great heart of divine
sympathy inclose her forever.
Again; l find in this Oriental scene the
fact that every mother leads forth tre-
mendous destinies. You say: ''Tha isn't
an unusual scene, a mother leading her
child by the hand" Who Is 1t she Is lead
ingf Ishmael, you say. Who is Ishmael?
A great nation Is to be founded; a nation
so strong that 1t is to stand for thousands
of years against all the armies of the
world. Egypt and Assyria thunder
againstit; but in vain. Gaulus brings up
his army; and his army is smitten.
Alexander decides upon a campaign,
brings up his hosts and dies. For a long
while that nation monopolizes the learn
Ing Of the world. 1t Is the nation Of the
Arabs. Who founded it? Ishmael, the
lad that Hagar led into the wilderness.
She had no idea she was leading forth
such destinies. Neither does any
mother. You pass along the street, and
see pass boys and girls who will yet
make the earth quake with their influence.
Who Is that boy at Sutton Pool, Plymouth,
England, barefooted, wading down into
the slusb and slime, until his bare foot
ONE upon a piece of glass and he lifts it.
bleeding and pain struck? That wound in
the foot decides that he be sedentary in his
life, decides that he be a student That
wound by the glass in the foot decides
that he shall be John Kitto, who shall
provide the best religious encyclopedia
the world has ever had provided, and,
with his other writings as well. throwing
a light upon the word of God such as has
come from no other man in this century.
o, mother, mother, that little hand that
ander over your face may yet be lifted
to hurl thunderbolts of war, or drop bene-
dictions. That little voice may blaspheme
God in the grog shop, or cry: Forward"
to the Lords hosts. as they go out for
their last victory.
My mind to-day leaps thirty years
ahead, and l see a merchant prince Of
New York. One stroke of his pen brings
a ship cut of Canton. Another stroke Of
his pen brings a ship into Madras. He is
nlKuby III Ill Inc u1Ou6Y markets. Oh the
world. Who is her He sits to-day beside
you in the tabernacle. My mind leaps
thirty years forward from this time and I
find myself in a relief as ~sociation. A
great multitude of Christian women have
met together for a generous purpose.
There Is one woman in that crowd who
seems to have the confidence of all the
others, and they all look up to her for her
counsel and for her prayers. Who is shei
To-day you will find her in the Sabbath
school. while the teacher tells her of tina
Christ who clothed the naked and fed the
hungry and healed the sick. Ny mind
leaps forward thirty years from now
nd@I find myself in an African
jungle; and there Is a missionary
Of the cross addressing the natives,
and their dusky countenances are irradi-
ated with the glad tidings of great joy
and salvation. Who Is her Did you not
hear his voice to-day in the first song of
the service? My mind leaps forward
thirty years from now and l lind myself
looking through the wickets of q prison.
l see a face SCARED with every crime. His
chin on his open palm. his elbow on his
knee-a picture Of despair. AS l open the
wicket he starts and 1 hear his chain
clank. The Jail keeper tells me that he
has been in there now three times; first
for theft, hen for arson, now for murder.
He steps upon the trap door, the rope is
fastened to his neck, the plank falls, his
body swings into the air, his soul swings
off into eternity. Who Is he, and where
is hef To-day playing kite on the city
commons. Mother, you are to-day hoist
ing a throne or forging a chain-you are
kindling a star or digging a dungeon.
a 0nnA manU vaara aDn m Chricfion
mother sat teaching lessons of religion to
her child; and he frank in those lessons.
She never knew that Lamphier would
come forth and establish the Fdlton street
prayer meeting. and by one meeting revo-
~utionizs the dsvotions 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 hat she was lead
ing forth sucn destinies. But O.. when ]
see q mother reckless of her influence,
rafting on toward destruction, ~garlanded
for the sacrifice with unseemless mirth
and god~lessness, gayly tripping on down
to ruin, taking her children in the same
direction, 1 can not help but say: There
they go, there they go, Hagar and lsh-
maelW 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 60 through every street,
up every dark alley, into every cellar
along every highway. Hagar and Ish-
maeli And while l pronounce their names
1t seems like the moaning of the death
wind-Hagar and Ishmaeli
/ learn one more lesson from this ORR
entail scene, and that Is, that every wilder
ness has a well In it. Hagar and lshmael
gave up to die. Hagar's heart sank with
In her as she heard her child crying:
'.Wateri wateri waterI" "Ah," she says,
"my darling, there Is no water. This is o
DESERT" And then Gods angel said from
the cloud: what aileth thee, Hagar?'
And she looked up and saw him pointing
to a well OF water, where she filled the
bottle for the lad. Blessed be God that
there Is In every wilderness a well, IL you
only know how to hnd it-fountains for
all these thirsty souls to-day. "On that
last day, on that great day OF the feast,
Jesus stood and cried: II 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 IL taken
would keep one p~erpetually 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 Brock of Ages" and
that drinking hat wafer 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 a man who says: ~ have beer