The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-03-21
WELLS OF COMFORT.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE FINDS INSPiRA-
"'.s. TON IN THE DESERT. ,ey
Our Duty IL to Find Our Life's Work and
Stick to live Are Prone to Try to Lead
When We Are Only Fitted to Follow.
Influence OF Parents on Children.

u
Stick to Tive Are Promo to Try to Lead
When We Are Only Fitted to Follow.
Influence Of Parents on Children.
copyright, 1898. by American Press Asso-
clation.l
1 WASHINGTON, March 2O.-This discourse
Of DR.. Talmage draws from an orieptal
scene come stirring lessons and points to
wells of comfort in unexpected places;
text, Genesis xxi, 10, "And God opened
her eyes, and she saw well of water, and
she went and filled the bottle with water
and gave the lad drink"
Morning breaks upon Beersheba. There
is an early stir in the house Of old Abra-
ham. There has been trouble among tho
domestics. Hagar, an assistant in the
household, and her son, brisk lad Of 10
years, have become impudent and inso-
lent, and Sarah, the mistress of the house,
hold, puts her foot down very hard and
says that they will have to leave the prem
ises. They are packing up now. Abra-
ham, knowing that the journey before his
servant and her son will be very long
across desolate places, In the kindness Of
his heart sets about putting up somo bread
and bottle with water in it, 1t is a very
plain lunch that Abraham provides, but
warrant you there would have been enough
of 1t had they not lost their way. "God
be with you," 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, suppose,
bounded away In the morning light. Boys
always like change. Poor Ishmael! He
has no idea of the disasters that arc ahead
of him. Hagnr gives one long, lingering
look on the familiar place where she had
spent 60 many happy days. each scene as
sociated 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, tho
boy, begins to complain and lies down,
but Hagar rouses him up, saying nothing
about her own weariness or the sweltering
heat; for mothers can endure anything.
Trudge, trudge, trudge Crossing the
dead level Of the desert, how woarily and
slowly the miles slipl A tamarind that
seemed hours ago to stand only just lit
tie ahead, inviting the travellers to come
under its shadow, now is as far off as ever
or seemingly So Night drops upon the
desert, and tho travellers are pillowless.
Ishmael, very weary, suppose instantly
falls asleep. I;agar, 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 1t is her fault that
they are in the desert. A star looks out,
and every falling tear 1t kisses with
sparkle. A wing of wind comes over the
hot earth and lifts the locks from the
fevered brow of the boy. Hagar sleeps fit
fully, and in her dreams travels over the
weary day and half awakes her son by ory-
ing out in her sleep: "Ishmael! Ishmaell"
We Must Find Our Sphere.
And so they go on day after day and
night after night, for they have lost their
way. No path in tho shifting sands; no
sign in the burning sky. The sack empty
of tho flour; the water gone from the bot
tle What shall she dor AS she puts her
fanting Ishmael under stunted shrub Of
the arid plain she sees the bloodshot eye
and feels the hot hand and watches the
blood bursting from the cracked tongue,
,snd there is shrek in the desert of Beer
sheba: ave shall die! We shall die!'
Now, no mother was ever made strong
enough to hear her son cry in vain for a
drink. Heretofore she had cheered her
boy by promising speedy end of tho jour-
ney, and even smiled upon him when she
felt desperately enough. Now there is
nothing to do but place him under shrub
and let him die. She had thought that
she would sit there and watch until tho
spirit of her boy would go away forever,
and then sho would breathe out her own
life on his silent heart, but as the boy be-
gins to claw his tongue In agony Of thirst
and struggle in distortion and begs his
mother to slay him she cannot endure the
spectacle She puts him under shrub
and goes off bow shot, and begins to
weep until all tho desert seems sobbing,
and her cry strikes clear through the heav
ems and an angel of God comes out on e
cloud and looks down upon the appalling
grief and cries, "Hagar, what aileth thee?p
She looks up and she sees the angel point.
ing to well Of water, where she fills the
bottle for the lad. Thank Godl Thank
God
learn from this oriental scene, in 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 household, but she want
ed to rule there. She ridculed 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 staid much longer in that household
she would have upset calm Abraham's
equilibrium. My friends, Onc-half of the
trouble in tho world today comes from the
fact that people do not know their place
or, finding their place, will not stay in it.
When we como into the world, there is al
ways place ready for us. A place for
Abraham. 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 1t. We may DO born in
a sphere far off from the one for which
God finally intends us. Sixtus V was born
on tho low ground and was swineherd.
God called him up to wave q scepter.
Ferguson spent his early days in looking
after sheep. God called him up to look
after stars and bo shepherd watching the
focks of light on the hillsides of heaven.
Hogarth began by engraving pewter pots.
God raised bim to stand In the enchanted
realm of painter. The shoemaker's bench
held Bloomfield for little while, but God
raised him to sit in the chair of philoso-
pher and Christian scholar. The soap
boiler of London could not keep his son in
that business, for God had decided that
Hawley was to be one of tho greatest as
tronomers Of England.
Labor Is Honorable.
On the other hand we may be born in
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 pointers, and angle for
goldfish in artificial ponds and be familiar
with princes, yet God may better have fit
ted us for a carpenters shop, or dentists
forcops, or weayer's shuttle, or black
smiths forge. Tho great thing Is to find
just the sphere for which God intended us
and then to occupy that sphere and occupy
1t forever. Here Is man God fashioned
to make plow. Thore is a man God fash |
ionCd to make constitution. The man
who makes the plow is just as honorable !
as the man who makes the constitution.
"A AA