Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-03-31

| work, not hall slept out Win the SUM
bers of last night, tragedies of suffer.
ing written all over her face, her lns.
terless eyes looking far ahead. as
though for the coming of some othe,
trouble? Her parents called her Mary
or Bertha, or Angnes, on the day when
they held her up to the font and the
| Christian minister sprinkled on the in
| fants face the washings of holy hap
tism. Her name is changed now.
hear it in the shuttle of the worn out
shoes. ] see it in the figure of the
faded calico. | find it in the Inca
ments of the woe-begone countenance.
| Not Mary, nor Bertha, nor Agnes, but
Hagar in the wilderness. May God
have mercy upon woman in her tolls,
=, her struggles, her hardships, her desc.
lation, and may the great heart of Di-
vine sympathy inclose her forever!
Again, find in this oriental scene
the fact that every mother leads forth
| tremendous destinies.
You say: THAT isn't an unusual
scene, II mother leading her child by
| the hand" Who is that she is leading?
Ishmael, you say. Who is lshmael? A
great nation is to be founded-a nation
so strong that it is to stand for thou
sands of years against all the armies of
the world. Egypt and Assyria thunder
against 1t, but in vain. Gaulus brings
up his army, and his army is smitten.
Alexander decides upon campaign,
brings up his host, and dies. For a
long while that nation monopolizes
the learning of the world 1t is the
nation of the Arabs. Who founded it,
Ishmael, the lad that Hagar led into
the wilderness. She had no idea she
was leading forth such destinies
Neither does any mother. You pass
along the street and see and pass boys
and girls who will yet make the earth
quake with their influence.
Who is that boy at Sutton pool, Plym-
outh, England. barefooted, wading
down into the slush and slime until his
bare foot comes upon piece of glass,
and he lifts it, bleeding and pain
struck? That wound in the foot de-
cides that he be sedentary in his life,
decides that he be student. That
wound by the glass in the foot decides
provide the best religious encyclopae-
dia the world has ever had provided,
and, with his other writings as well,
throwing u light upon the word of
God such as has come from no 9TH
er man in this century. o mother,
mother, that little hand that wanderS
over your face may yet be lifted to
hurl thunderbolts of war or drop bene-
dictions! That little voice may bias
pheme God in the groggery or cry
"Forward!'' to the Lords hosts as they
go out for their last victory. My mind
this morning leaps 30 years ahead, an d
l see merchant prince of New York.
One stroke of his pen brings ship out
of Canton. Another stroke of his pen
brings a ship into Madras. He is
mighty in all the money markets
Of the world. Who is he =?
He sits on Sabbath beside you in
church. My mind leaps thirty years
forward from this time and | find my
self in a relief association. A great
multitude of Christian women have
met together for generous purpose.
There Is one woman in that crowd
who seems to have the confidence OF all
the others, and they all look up to her
for her counsel and her prayers
Who is sheP This afternoon you
will find her in the sabbath school,
while the teacher tells her OF
that Christ who clothed the naked and
fed the hungry, and healed the sick.
My mind leaps forward 80 years from
now, and l find myself in an African
Jungle; and there is missionary of the
cross addressing the natives, and their
dusliy countenanccs are irradiated
with the glad tidngs of great joy and
salvation. Who is he? Did you not
hear his voice to-day in the openi ng
song of your church service?
Look up, where Hagar looked. She
never would have found the fountain
Mt all, but when she heard the voice of
the angel she looked up, and she saw
the finger pointing to the supply. And,
o soul, if to-day with one earnest, in
tense prayer you would only look up
to Christ, lie would point you down to
the supply in the wilderness: Look
unto me, all We ends Of the earth. and
be We saved, for | am God, aud there is
none elsel' Look! Look MS Hagar
/ looked!
Yes, there is well for every desert
of bereavement. Looking over my au-
dienec | notice signs of mourning and
Woe Have you found consolation?
Oh, man bereft, oh. woman bereft,
have YOU found consolation? Hearse
after hearse. We step from ona
grave hillocli To another grave hillock.
We follow corpses, ourselves soon to be
like them. The world is in mourning
for its dead. Every heart has become
the sepulcher Of some buried Joy. But
sing ye to God; every wilderness has a
well in it; and come to that well to-
day, and begin to draw water for you
from that we'll.
Have you seen the NyctanthesP II
il u beautiful flower, but it gives very
little fragrance until after sunset
Then it pours its richness on the air
! And this grace of the Gospel that