The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-04-09


don could notkeep his son in that bust
ness, for God had decided that Hawley
was to be one of the greatest astrono-
mers of England.
On the other hand we may be born
in a sphere little higher than that
for which God intends us. We may be
born in castle, and play in costly
conservatory, and feed high-bred point
ers, and angle for goldfish in artificial
ponds, and be familiar with princes;
yet God may better have fitted us for
carpenter shop, or dentists forceps, or
weavers shuttle, or blacksmith's
forge. The great thing is to find
just the sphere for which God
intended us, and then to occupy
that sphere, and occupy it for
ever. Here is a man God fash
toned to make pillow. There is man
God fashioned to make constitution.
| The man who makes the plow is just
as honorable as the man who makes
the constitution There is woman
who was made to fashion robe, and
yonder is one intended to be queen
and wear it. 1t seems to me that in
| the one case as in the other, God APP
points the sphere, and the needle is just
as respectable in His sight as the scep-
ter. / do not know brt 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 it. | really
| think that one-half of the world may
be divided into two quarters-th who
have not found their sphere and those
who, having found it, are not willing
to stay there. How many are strug-
Cling for position little higher than
that for which God intended them
The bondswoman wants to be mistress.
Hagar keeps crowding Sarah. The
small wheel of watch which beauti-
fully 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
egle put circle under the sun.
In the Lords army we all want to be
brigadier generals! The sloop says:
more mast, more tonnage, more can
vas. Oh, that were topsail schooner,
or full-rigged brig, or a Cunard
steamer" And so the world is filled
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 Ismaels. God has given
each one of us work to do. You
carry scuttle of coal up that dark
alley You distribute that Christian
tract You give 81 $1,000 to the mission
airy cause. You for Is years sit with
chronic rheumatism. displaying the
beauty of Christian submission.
Whatever God calls you to whether
lit win Kissing or huzza;
whether to walk under triumphal
arch or lift the sot out of the ditch;
whether it is to preach on Pentecost
or tell some wanderer of the street of
the mercy of the Christ of Mary Magda-
i
for a la lghing child on spring morn
ing and call her a May queen, or to
comb out the tangled locks of wait
of the street, and cut up one of your
old dresses to fit her out for the sane
tuary-do it, and do it right away.
Whether it be crown or a yoke, dc
not fdget. 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 wandering, and exile,
and desolation, and wilderness for dis
contented Hagar and Ishmael.
| Again, find in this oriental scene
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
house, beautiful and luxurious, nc
doubt. Now she is going out into the
hot sands of the desert. Oh, what g
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 hat
everything possible to administer tc
her happiness-plenty at the table,
music in the drawing-room, wei
come at the door. She is lee
forth into life by some one who can no
appreciate her. A dissipated sou
comes and takes her out in the desert
} Cruelties blot out all the lights of tina
home circle Harsh words wear GU
her spirits The high hope that shon'
out over the marriage altar while tn,
ring was being set aud the vows given
and the benediction pronounced, hav,
all faded with the orange blossoms
and there she is to-day broken hearted
thinking of past joys and present desc
lation and coming anguish. Hagar il
the wilderness!
/ Here is beautiful home. You cal
) not think of anything that can b
added to it. For years there has no
been the suggestion of a single trouble
: Bright and happy children fill tn
: house with laughter and song. Book
| to read. Pictures to look at Lounge
to rest on. Cup of domestic Joy ful
and running over Dark night drops
{ Pillow hot. Pulses futter. Eyes Close
And the foot whose w,ll-known step
1 on the door-sill brought the Who'll
household out at eventide crying
Fathers coming!" will never SCUM
, on the door-sill again. A long, dee
r grief plowed through all that bright
e ness of domestic life. Paradise lost
j. L 4 l. i