Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-06-17
WELLS OF THE DESERT
HAGAR AND ISHNABL WANDER FROM THB
PATH,
And an Angel Saves Them-FOur Lessons Drawn
From the Old Hebrew SDry-A Well in
Every DsSert-Dr. Talmages ElO-
qusnt Sermon.
special Tsleoram to tle Re0lster.

the spacious building to overlooking AZ
ter making an exposition of Scripture, the
pastor gave out the hymn beginning;
Glory to God on high
Let heaven and earth reply,
which the great body of worshipers sang
with majestic effect The subject of Dr.
Talmage's discourse was: "PeOple who
have lost their Way" He took for his
text: And God opened her eyes, and she
saw a well of water; and she went and
filed the bottle with water and gave the
iad to drink" Gen. xxi, 49, The elo-
quent preacher said
Morning breaks upon Beer-shebs. There
is an early stir in the house of old Abra-
ham There hes been trouble among the
dOmestics. Hagsr, an assistant in the
household, and her son, brisk lad of six
teen years, have become impudent and in
sOlent, and Sarah, the mistress 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 be-
fore his servant and her son will be very
long and across desOlate places, in the
kindness of his heart sets about putting
I'D some bread and bottle with water in
it. 1t is a very plain lunch that Abrs-
ham provides, but I warrant you there
would have been enough of it had they
not los their way. God be with yOul'
ssid old Abraham as he gave the lunch to
Hsgsr, aud good many charges as to how
she should conduct the journey. Ishms-
el, the boy, 1 suppose bounded away in
the morning light. Boys always like a
change Poor Ishmaell He has no idea
of the disasters that are ahead Of him.
Hagar gives one long, lingering look on
the familiar place where she had spent 80
many happy days, each scene associated |
with the pride and JOY Of her hesrt-yOung
/ Ishmsel.
THE sCORCHING NOON
comes on. The air is sitting and moves
across the desert with insufferable suffOcs- |
tiOn. Ishmsel, the boy, begins to COM
plain, and lies down, hat Hagar rouses |
/ him up, saying nothing about her own |
\ weariness or the swelteriog heat; for |
mothers can eodure anything. Trudge, |
| trudge, trudge. Crossing tha dead level |
OF the desert, how YEARLY and slowly the |
miles slip. A tamariud that seemed hours |
ago to stand only Just a little ahead, in
viting the travellers to come under its |
shadow, now is as far of as ever, or seem
ingly so Night drops upon the desert,
and the travellers are pillOwless. Ishmael,
very weary, 1 suppose, instantly falls
asleep Hagar, as the shadows of the night |
| begin to lap over each Other-Hsgar hugs
| her weary boy to ber bosom snd |
| thinks of the fact that il ia her fault that
they are in the desert A star looks out,
and every falling tear it kisses with a spar
| kle. A wing Of wind comes over the hot
earth and lifts the locks from the fevefed |
brow of the boy. Hagar sleeps itfully,
and in her dreams travels over the weary |
day. and balf,awskes her son by crying |
out IN her sleep, "Ishmaell Ishmael"
And so they 20 on, day after day and night |
after night, for they have lost their way. |
/ 40 path in the shifting sands, no sign In |
/ the burning sky. The sack empty Of the |
| lour, the water gone from the bottle. |
What shall she do? As she puts her faint |
\ ly Ishmael under stunted shrub of the |
arid plain, she sees the blOOd-shot eye, and |
/ feels the hot hand, and watching the blood |
| bursting from the cracked tongue, and |
there is a shrek in the desert Of Beer
sheba: 1--WE shall die We shall dien'
Now. no mother was ever made strong |
enough 10 hear her son cry in vain for |
drink. Heretofore she had cheered her /
b7v bv promising a speedy end TO the |
| nsIcH him V hen hA /
| felt desperately enough Now there is /
nothing to DO but place him under q
shrub and let him die She had thought |
that she would sit there and watch until
the spirit OF her boy would 90 away for
ever, and then she would breathe out her
own life on mis- silent heart; but a. the boy
begins to claw his tongue in agony OF
thirst, and struggle in distortion, and beg
his mother to slay him, she cannot end ure
the spectacle. She puts him under
shrub and goes off bow shot and begins
to weep until all the desert seems sobblng,
and her CRY strikes clear through the
heavens; and an angle of God comes out
on cloud and looks down on the sppsll-
inc grief and cries: "Hsgar, what aileth
thee?" She looks up and she sees the
angel pointing to a well Of water, where
she fills a bottle for the lad. Thank God!
Thank God
THREE LESSONS GATHERED.
learn from this Oriental scene, in the
first place, what a sad thing 1t is wnen
people do not know their place, and get
too proud for their business. Hagsr was
an assistant in that household, but she
wanted to rule there She ridiculed and
ieered until her son, Ishmael, got the same
tricks. She dashed out her own happiness
and threw Sarah into great fret; and II
she had stayed much longer in that house
hold she would have upset calm Abra-
hams equilibrium. My friends, one-hait
of the trouble in the world 10 day comes
nom the fact that people do not know
their place; or, finding their place, will
NOT stsy iu it. When we come into the
world there is always a place ready
for us A place for Abraham. A
Mace for Sarah. A plsce for Hagar. A
plsce for Ishmael A place for yOu and a
plsce for me. Our first duty is to find onr
spbere: our second is to keep it. We may
be born in a sphere far off from the one for
which God finally intends us. Sextus V.
WAS born on the low ground, and was
sWine-herd; God called HIM up TO wave
scepter. Ferguson spent his early days IN
looking after the sheep: God called him
M to look after stars and be q shepherd
watching the fiocks of light on the hillsides
of heaven. Hogsrth began by engraving
pewter pots; God raised him to stand IN
the enchanted realm of painter.
Whatever God calls you to, whether 1t
win kissing or huzza; whether to walk
under triumphsl arch or lift the sOt out OF |
the ditch; whether it be to preach on q
Penteoost. or tell some wsnderer of the
street of the mercy of the Christ Of Mary
Magdalene; whether it be to weave gar
land for laughing child on aspiring morn |
inc and call her May queen, or to comb
ont the tangled locks of a wait Of the street
and cut up one of your old dresses to mt
her out for the sanctuary-do 1t, and DO II
riobt away. Whether it be crown or
woke. do not fdget. Everlasting honors
mon those who do their work, and do
tbsir whole work, and are cOntented IN the
snbere ia which God has put them; while
there is only wandering, and exile, ana
desolation, and wilderness, for diseentent'
ed Hagar and Ishmael.
SYMPATHY FOR HAGAR.
Again. find in this Oriental scene a
aHNNll