The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-03-23
HAGAR AND ISHMAEL.
DR.. Talmage Draws Some Useful
Lessons from Their Story.
When the Future Looks Dark an Angel Of
Light Can Be Seen by the Eye OF
Faith-Comfort for the
DespOndent.

In thc following sermon the popular
Washington divine urges his hearers
to first find the sphere that God in
tended them for and then stay in it.
His text is Genesis 81: 10: "And God
opened her eyes, and she saw we'll of
water; and she went and filed the bot
tle with water and gave the lad drink" +"
Morning breaks upon Beersheba
There is an early stir in the house of
old Abraham. There has been trouble
among the domestics. Hagar, an as
Bistant in the household, and her son,
a brisk lad of 16 years, have become
impudent and insolent, 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, know
ing that the journey before his servant
and her son will be very long 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 pro-
vides, but l warrant you there would
have been enough of it had they not
lost their way. "God be with your
said old Abraham as he gave the lunch
to Hagar and good many charges as
to how she should conduct the journey.
Ishmael, the boy, l suppose, bounded
away in the morning light. Boys
always like change. Poor Ishmael!
He has no idea of the disasters that
are ahead of him. Hagar gives one
long, lingering look on the familiar
place where she has passed so many
happy days, each scene associated 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
Ishmael, the boy, begins to complain
and lies down, but Hagar rouses him
up, saying nothing about her own
WEAKNESS or the sweltering heat, for
mothers can endure anything. Trudge,
trudge, trudge. Crossing the dead level
of the desert, how wearily and slowly
the miles slip! A tamarind that seemed
hours ago to stand only just a little
ahead, inviting the travellers to come
under it's shadow, now is as far off as
ever, or seemingly so. Night drops
upon the desert, and the travellers are
pillowless Ishmael, very weary, l
suppose instantly fails 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 fcvered brow of the boy. Hagar
sleeps ftfully, and in her dreams
travels over the weary day, and half
awakes her son by crying out in her
sleep, "Ishmael! IshmaelP
And so they go on day after day and
night after night, for they have lost
their way. No path in the shifting
sands; no sign in the burning sky. The
sack empty of the -four; the water gone
from the bottle. What shall she do?
As she puts her fainting Ishmael under
a stunted shrub of the arid plain, she
sees the blood-shot eye, and feels the
hot hand, and watches the blood burst
ing from the cracked tongue, and there
is shrek in the desert of Beersheba
"We shall die! We shall diew Now, no
mother was ever made strong enough
to hear her son cry in vain for drink.
Heretofore she had cheered her boy by
promising a speedy end of the journey,
and even smiled upon him when she felt
desperately enough. Now there is moth
ing to do but place him under shrub
and let him die. She had thought that
til the spirit of her boy would go away
forever, and then she would breathe
out her own life on his silent heart; but
as the boy begins to claw his tongue in
agony for thirst and struggle in distor-
tion, and begs his mother to slay him,
she cannot endure the spectacle. She
puts him under shrub and goes off a
bow-shot, and begins to weep until all
the desert seems sobbing, and her cry
strikes clear through the heavens; and
an angel of God comes out on cloud,
and looks down upon the appalling
grief and cries: "Hagar, what aileth
thee" She looks up and she sees the
angel pointing to well of water.
where she fills the bottle for the lad.
Thank God! Thank God
Ioa,,, f,,or, 4l;s ou.o-koI :.
the first place, what sad thing it is
when people do not know their place.
and get too proud for their business!
Hagar was an assistant in that house
hold, but she wanted to rule there.
She ridiculed and jeered until her son,
Ishmael, got the same tricks. She
dashed out her own happiness, and
threw Sarah into great fret; and if
she had stayed much longer in that
household she would have upset calm
Abraham's equilibrium. My friends,
one-half of the trouble in the world to-
day comes from the fact that people do
not know their place, or, finding their
place, will not stay in it. When we
come into the world there is always a
place ready for us. A place for Abra-
ham. A place for Sarah. A place for
Hagar, A place for Ishmael. A place
for you and place for me.
Our first duty is to find our sphere;
our second is to keep it. We may be
born in sphere far off from the one
for which God finally intends us. Sixtus
~. was born on the low ground, and was
a swineherd; God called him up to
wave scepter. Ferguson spent his