The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-06-28
OFF THE TRACK.
DR.. Ta1mage breaches to ssPeople
Who Have Lost Their Way"
There is Well in Every Desert and
Christ Stands at It's Brink, that All
Who VIII May Find It-A
New AstrOlogy.

bIOOk1yu 1dD6Tnacles LaIk0u 10 UdCA-
eHders, or ''People Who Have Lost Their
Way" His text was:
And God opened her eyes and she saw a we'll
of water; and she went. and filed the bottle
with water, and gave the lad drink.-Gen.,
XXI, 49,
Morning breaks upon Beer-sheba.
There is an early stir in the house of old
Abraham. There has been trouble
| among the domestics. Hagar, an assist
ant in the household, and her son. a brisk
lad of sixteen years, have become impu-
dent and insolent, and Sarah, the mis-
tress of the household, puts her foot
down very hard and says that they will
have to leave the premises. They are
packing up now. Abraham, knowing that
the journey before his servant and her
son will be very Iong and across desolate
places, in the kindness Of his heart sets
about putting up some bread and bottle
with water in it. 1t is a very plain lunch
that Abraham provides, but 1 warrant
you there would have been enough of it
| had they not lost their way. ''God be
with you said old Abraham, as he gave the
lunch to Hagar, ana good
many charges as to how she
| should conduct the journey. Ishmael,
Gne boy, 1 suppose bounded away in the
morning light. Boys always like a
| change. Poor Ishmaell He has no idea
| of the disas ters that are ahead of him.
| Hagar gives one long, lingering look on
| the familiar place where she had spent
| so many happy days, each scene asso-
ciated with the pride and joy Of her
| heart-young Ishmael. The scorching
| noon comes on. The air is sitting and
moves across the desert with insufferable
| sUffocation. IshmaeI, the boy, begins to
| complain, and lies down, but Hagar
| rouses him up, saying nothing about her
| own wearings or the sweltering heat; for
mothers can endure any thing. Trudge,
trudge, trudge. Crossing the dead level
of the desert, how weariIY and slowly the
| miles slip. tamarind that seemed
hours ago to stand only just a little
| ahead, inviting the travellers to come
| under its shadow, now is as far off as
| ever, or seemingly so.
Night drops upon the desert, and the
travellers are pillowless. Ishmael, very
weary, suppose, instantly falls asleep.
Hagar, as the shadows 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 fitfully, and IL
| her dreams travels over the weary day
and half awakes her son by crying out IL
her sleep: ''Ishmael! IshmaeIp' AnC
so they go on day after day and nigh
| after night, for they have lost their way
! No path in the shifting sands, no sign il
| the burnins. 81 The sack empty of tbs
| -four, the water gone frcw the bottle
What shall she do? As she puts hel
fainting IshmaeI under stunted shrub
Of the arid plain she sees the blOodsho
eve, and feels the hot hand, and watches
| 80
tongue, and there is q shrek in the deser
of Beer -Sheba: "We shall diel W.
shall dep
Now, no mother was ever made strong
enough to hear her son cry in vain for
drink Heretofore she had cheered hel
boy by promising a speedy end of th'
: iourney-even smiled upon him when n
felt desperately enough. Now there i
nothing to do but place him under tn
shrub and let him die. She had though
that she would sit there and watch unit
the spirit of her boy would go away for
ever, and then she would breathe out he
own life on the silent heart; but as tn
boy begins to claw his tongue in agony o
thirst, and struggle in distortion, and be-
his mother to slay him, she can not en-
dure the spectacle. She puts him unde
! q shrub and goes off bow shot, and be
gins to weep until all the desert seem
gODDlDEt
| through the heavens; and an angel 0
God comes out on cloud and look
down upon the appalling grief, and cries
"Hagar, what aileth theeW She look
up, and she sees the angel pointing to
; well of water, where she fills bottle 70
the lad. Thank God! Thank GOdl
I learn from this Oriental scene. in tn
: | first place, what a sad thing it is whel
people do not know their place, and ge
too proud for their business. Hagar wa
an assistant in that household, but sh
wanted to rule there. She ridiculed an
: ieered until her son, Ishmael, got th
= same tricks. She dashed out her Ow
happiness and threw Sarah into a gret
L fret: and il she had stayed much longe
: in that household she would have ups'
i calm Abraham's equilibrium. NJ
: friends, one half of the trouble in I'll
= world to day comes from the fact thu
u peeple do not know their place, or, fine
ing their place, will not stay in it. Whe
we come into the world there is always
place ready for US. A place for Abraham
L A place for Sarah. A place for Haga
A place for Ishmael. A place fC
you and place for m
Our first duty is to find our sphere; OF
second is to keep it. We may be born
a sphere far off from the one for whic
God finally intends us. Sextus V. wa
born on the BIOuul anu was o SHAAS
herd; God called him up to wave sceI
ter. Ferguson spent his early days
looking after the sheep; God called hi
f up to look after stars, and be shephe1
: watching the focks Of light on the hill
Z sides Of Heaven. Hogarth began by er
n craving pewter pots; God raised him
# | stand in the enchanted realm of painte
!. The shoemaker's bench held BloOmfie
"a for a little while: but God called him
q sit in the chair OF a philosopher al
=, Christian scholar. The soap boiler
"a London could not keep his son in tn
# business, for God had decided that Ha'
ley was to be one Of the greatest astro
oners Of England. On the other han
we may be born in sphere little mig
e er than that for which God intends us.
n We may be born in a castle. and play
I. p costly conservatory, and feed high br
z pointers, and angle for gold fish in ar
ID | fetal ponds, and be familiar with Prince
1T vet God may have fitted us for a carPe
d. ter's shop, or dentists forceps, or
: weaver's shuttle, or q blacksmith's for:
The great thing IS to find just the sphe
for which God intended US, and then
occupy that sphere and occupy It forev
d Here is a man God fashioned to maxi
T.fow There is a man God fashioned
y make a constitution. The man who mai
70 the plow is just as honorable as the N
who makes the constitution provided