The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-06-28
SUBSCRIPTION; Sl.OO Per Year.

yCnder is one intended to be Queen and
wear it. 1t seems to me that IN the one
case as in the other, God appoints the
sphere, and the needle is just as respect
able in His sight as the scepter. do not
know but that the world would long
ago have been saved if some of the men
out of the ministry were in it, and some
of those who are in it were out OF 1t.
1 really think that One-half of the
world may be divided into two-quarters
those who have not found their sphere,
and those who. having found it, are not
willing to stay there. How many are
| struggling for a position little higher
| than that for which God intended them.
! The bondswoman wants to be mistress.
Hagar keeps crowding Sarah. The small
wheel of a watch, which beautifully went
treading its golden pathway, wants to be
the balance wheel, and the sparrow, with
| chagrin, drops into the. brook, because it
can not, like the eagle, cut a circle under
! the sun. In the Lords army we all want
| to be Brigadier- Generals. The sloop
says: ''More mast; more tonnage;e more
| canvas. o, that 1 were a topsail
schooner, or a full -rigged brig, or
! Cunard steamer" And so the world is
filed with cries of discomfort, because
we are not willing to stay in the place
where God put US and intended US to be.
My friends, be not too proud to do any
! thing God tells you to do. For the lack
of right disposition in this respect the
world is strewn with wandering Hagars
and Ishmaels. God has given each one
of us a work to do. You carry a scuttle
| of coal up that dark alley. You distrib-
ute that Christian tract. You give ten
| thousand dollars to the missionary cause.
/ You, for fifteen years, sit with chronic
rheumatism, displaying the beauty of
! Christian submission. Whatever Cod
] L.
| huzza; whether to walk under triumphal
arch or lift the sot out of the ditch;
whether it be to preach on PentecOst,
or to tell some wanderer of the street Of
the mercy of the Christ of Mary Magda-
lene; whether it be to weave a garland
for laughing child on spring morn
! ing, and call her a May queen, or to comb
/ out the tangled locks of a 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 a crown
or yoke, 40 not fidget. Everlasting
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 wandering, and exile,
and desolation, and wilderness for dis
contented Hagar and Ishmael.
Again, find in this Oriental scene a
lesson of sympathy with woman when she
|
| What a great change it was for this
Hagar. There was the tent and
all the surroundings of Abraham's
house, beautiful and luxurious, no
doubt. Now she is going out into the hot
sands of the desert. o, what change it
wasi 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 every thing possible to
/ Il 70 har hnT planfW a
the table. Music in the drawing-room,
Welcome at the door. She is led forth
into life by some one who can not appre-
ciate her. A dissipated soul comes and
takes her out in the desert. Iniquittes
blot out all the lights Of that home circle.
Harsh words wear out her spirits. The
high hope that shown out over the mar
! riage altar while the ring was being set
and the vows given and the benediction
pronounced have all faded with the
orange blossoms, and there she is to-day,
} broken hearted, thinking of past JOY and
present desoIation and coming anguish
Hagar in the wildern essl
/ Here is a beautiful home. You can not
think of any thing shat can be added to
, it. For years there has not been the sug-
gestion of a single trouble. Bright anc
happy children fill the house With laugh
ter and song. Books to read. Pictures
t to look at. Lounges to rest on. Cup ol
domestic JOY full and running over
Dark night drops. Pillow hot. Pulses
r dutter. Eyes close. And the foot whose
, well-known step on the doOr-sill brought
f the whole household out at eventide cry
: ing. sFather's comingU will never sounC
on the doOr-sill again. A long, deeI
r grief plowed through all that lightness Of
domestic life. Paradise lost! Widow
) hOodl Hagar in the wilderness!
r How often it is we see the weak arm o
woman conscripted for this battle will
3 the rough world. Who is she, going down
the street in the early light of the morn
) ing, pale with exhausti9g work, not hal
/ slept out with the slumbers Of last night
r tragedies of suffering written all over he
face, her lusterless eyes looking far ahea'
g as though for the coming of some othe
l | trouble? Her parents called her Mary, ol
t Bertha or Agnes on the day whom the
S held her up to the font. and the Christian
o minister sprinkled on the infants fac
d the washings of a holy baptism. He
Q name is changed now. hear it in tn
n shuttle of the worn-out shoes. / see it i
It the figure of the faded calico. 1 find it i
r the lineaments of the woe begone cOun
It tenance. Not Mary, nor Bertha, nc
Y Agnes, but Hagar in the wilderness. Ma
g God have mercy upon woman in her tolls
It her struggles, her hardships, her desola
: ton, and may the great heart of Divin
n sympathy inclOse her forever.
a Again: I find in this Oriental scene til
n fact that every mother leads forth tire
:. mendous destinies. You says "Tha
T isn't an unusual scene, a mother leadin
,. her child by the hand" Who is it tina
T she is leading? Ishmael, you say. VIII
n is Ishmael? A great nation is to b
d founded; a nation so strong that it Is
s stand for thousands of years against q
: the armies of the world. Egypt and As
= syria thundered against it; but in vail
n Gaulus brings up his army; and h
n army is smitten. Alexander decide
d upon a campaign, brings up his host
l. and dies. For a long while that natio
l. monopolizes the learning Of the world.
to is the nation of the Arabs. Who founde
r it7 Ishmael, the lad that Hagar led in
d the wilderness. She had no idea that sh
to was leading forth such destinies. Neith'
I'd does any mother. You pass along Il
Of street and see boys and girls who wi
at vet make the earth quake vii
y their influence. Who is that boy
4 Sutton Pool. Plymouth, England, bar
d, / footed, wading down into slush al
D. slime, until his bare foot comes upon
piece Of glass and he lifts IL, bleediI
IN I and pain struck? That wound in the 70
I'D decides that he be sedentary in his liz
il decides that he be a student. That wouI
s; by the glass in the food decides that
n shall be John Kitto, who shall provi
a the best religious encyclopedia the wor
re-. has ever had provided, and, with 4
re other writings as well, throwing lig