Dodge City times., 1889-07-04


fifteen years sit with chronic rheuma-
tism, displaying the beauty Of Christian
submission. Whatever God calls you
to, whether it win Kissing or huzza;
whether you walk under triumphal arch
or lift the sot out of the ditch; whether
1t be to preach on q Pentecost, 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 q spring morning,
and call her q May queen, or to comb
out the tangled locks of . waif Of the
street and cut up one of your old dresses
to fit her out for the sanctuary-do it,
and do it right away. Whether it be .
crown or yoke, do not 6dget. Ever
lasting honors upon those who do their
work, and do their whole work, and are
contented in the sphere in which God
has put them; while there is only wan
dering, and exile, and desolation, and
wilderness. for discontented Hagar and
1shmael.
Again: Innd in this Oriental scene q
lesson of sympathy with woman when
she goes forth trudging in the desert.
What great change it was for this
Hagar. There was the tent and all the
surroundings of Abraham's house, beau
tiful 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
ADMINISTERED her happiness. Plenty at
the table. Music in the drawing room.
Welcome at the door. She is led forth
nj "a hVv h4
preciate her. A dissipated soul comes
and takes her out in the desert. Iniqui-
ties 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-
tion pronounced, have 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!
Here is beautiful home. You can
not think of anything that can be added
to it. For years there has not been the
suggestion 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 futter. Eyes close. And the
foot whose well-known steps on the
door-sill brought the whole household
out at eventide, crying: Fathers COM
ing, will never sound on the door-sill
again. A long, deep grief plowed
through all that lightness of domestic
life. Paradise lost! Widowhood! Hagar
in the wilderness!
How often it 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
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 trouble? Her
parents called her Mary, or Bertha, or
Agnes on the day when they held her up
to the font. and the Christian minister
sprinkled on the infants face the wash
ings of a hely baptism. Her name is
changed now. I hear it in the shuttle of
the worn out shoes. I see it In the
figure of the faded calico. find it in
the lineaments of the woe begone coun-
tenance. 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
desolation, and may the great heart of
Divine sympathy inclose her forever.
Again: find in this Oriental scene the
fact that every mother leads forth tre-
mendous destinies. You say: That
isn't an unusual scene, mother leading
her child by the hand. Who is it that
she is leading? Ishmael, you say. Who
is lshmael? A great nation is to be
founded; a nation SO strong that it is to
stand for thousands of years against all
the armies of the world. Egypt and
Assyria thunder against it; but in vain.
brings up his army; and his army
is smitten. Alexander decides upon u
brings up his hosts and dies.
For long while that nation monopo-
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
ut Sutton Pool, Plymouth, England,
wading down into the slush
and slime, until his bare foot comes
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 encyclo-
pc iia the world has ever had provided.
and. with his other writings as we'll.
throwing light upon the Word of God
this century. o mother, mother, that
may vet be lifted to hurl thunderbolts
of war, or drop benedictions. That lit
tie 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 see merchant
prince of New York. One stroke of his
pen brings ship out of Canton. An
other stroke of his pen brings a ship
into Madras. lie is mighty in all
the money markets of the world.
Who is he? He sits to-day be-
side you in the tabernacle. My mind
leaps thirty years forward from this
time, and 1 find myself in the relief as
sociation. A great multitude of Chris.
tian women have met together for gen.
erous purpose. There is one woman in
that crowd who seems to have the conf
dence Of all the others, and they all
look up to her for her counsel and her
prayers. Who is she? To-day you will
ind her in the Sabbath-school, while
the teacher tells her of that Christ who