The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-03-25

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bench held Bloomfield for little while,
but God raised him to sit in the chair
of philosopher and Christian scholar.
The soap boiler of London could not
keep his son in that business, for COD
had decided that Hawley was to be enc
of the greatest astronomers 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 con-
servatory, and feed high bred pointers,
and angle for goldfish in artificial ponds,
and be familiar with princes, yet Coo
may better have fitted us for carpen-
ter's shop, or dentists forceps, or a
weaver's shuttle, or blacksmith
forge. The great thing is to find just
the sphere for which God intended us,
and then to occupy that sphere and &C.
cupy it forever Here is man God
fashioned to make a pillow. There Is
man God fashioned to make constltu-
ton. The man who makes the pillow is
just as honorable as the nan 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 appoints the sphere,
and the needle is just as respectable III
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 it. l
really think that one-half the world
may be divided into two quarters-thos
who have not found their sphere and
those who having found it are not Will
ing to stay there How many are strug-
Cling for position little higher than
| that which God intended them! The
bondswoman wants to be mistress. Ha-
gar keeps crowding Sarah. The small
wheel of a watch which beautifully
went treading it's golden pathway wants
to be the balance wheel, and the spar
row with chagrin drops into the brook
because it cannot, like the eagle, cut
circle under the sun.
Too Many Leaders.
In the Lords army we all want to be
brigadier generals. The sloop says:
"More mast, more tonnage, more can
vas. Oh, that 1 were topsail schooner
or full rugged brig or Cunard steam
er!" 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 anything
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 scuttle
of coal up that dark alley. You distrib-
ute that Christian tract. You give $10,-
900 to the missionary cause. You for 10
years sit with chronic rheumatism, dis
playing the beauty of Christian submits
sion. Whatever God callsy you to, wheth-
er it win kissing or huzza, whether to
walk under triumphal arch or lift the
sot out of the ditch, whether it be to
preach on Pentecost or tell some wan
derer of the street of the mercy of the
Christ of Mary Magdalene, whether it
be to weave a garland for laughing
child on a spring morning and call her
a May queen or to comb out the tangled
locks of 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,
do 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 are wandering and exile and
desolation and wilderness for disoon
tented Hagar and Ishmael!
Again, find in this oriental scene a
lesson of sympathy with woman when
she goes forth trudging in the desert
What a great change it was for this
Hagar! There were the tent and all the
surroundings of Abraham S house, beau
tiful and luxurious, no doubt. Now she
is going out into the hot sands of the
desert. Oh, what 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 had everything possible to
administer to her happiness-plenty at
the table, music in the drawing room,
welcome at the door. She is led forth
into life by some one who cannot ap-
preciate her. A dissipated soul comes
and takes her out in the desert. Cruel
ties blot out all the lights of that home
circle. Harsh words wear out her spir-
its. The high hope that shone out over
the marriage 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 today, broken hearted, thinking OF
past joys and present desolation and
coming anguish. Hagar in the wilder
nessl
Here is a beautiful home. You cannot
think of anything that can be added to
it. For years there has not been the
suggestion of single trouble. Bright
and happy children fill the house with
laughter and song. Books to read. Pic
lures to look at Lounges to rest on.
Cup of domestic joy full and running
Dver Dark night drops. Pillow hot.
Pulses flutter. Eyes close. And the foot
whose we'll known steps on the doorsill
brought the whole household out at
eventide crying, Fathers coming J"
will never Sound op thp dOOrgill again,