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LASTLY, in this first miracle we have the first prophecy of the upward trend of Jesus' touch. There have been men who have degraded all they touched. There have been men who never entered the circle of a home, or of a church, or of another's heart, but they have left it a little lower than they found it. But there are other men whose faces shine although they wist it not, and it is easier to be brave while they are with us, and we shall walk till the evening with a firmer tread because we met with them in life's golden morning. Now, magnified ten-thousandfold, that was and is the way with Jesus Christ. There is an upward trend in all His influence: He touches nothing that is not adorned. The lilies of the field speak loud of God; the mustard-seed is the likeness of the kingdom. Shifty Simon becomes stable Peter, and John the passionate grows into John who loves. The water becomes wine; the wine shall yet be the symbol of His blood. Have we all shared in this upward trend of Jesus' touch?

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T last the promise was fulfilled, and a child was born to Sarah and to Abraham. God had delayed for years to make good His word, but even a thousand years with Him are as one day. The name which Abraham gave to his child was Isaac, and the word Isaac means literally he shall laugh-no doubt the little stranger in the tent was an adept in the art which his name hinted at. But the name had a deeper significance than that; it would ever recall to Abraham Sarah's laughter; it would ever remind him of the smiling incredulity with which the promise of God had been received; and so, amid all the happiness that Isaac brought, and the brightness and joy with which he filled the tent, the name would suggest many a humbling thought on the mysteries of the providence of God. Shakespeare has taught us to say, 'What's in a name?' but there is a great deal, sometimes, in a name. When Simon was christened Peter by the Lord, it was a day of happiest augury for him. So, too, the new names which in heaven we shall receive, and which shall be a secret to all save their possessor, shall probably (like Isaac) so summarise the past, that the bearers alone shall feel their exquisite fitness.

ISAAC was born, then, and in due time was weaned, and on the day of his weaning a great feast was made. The child might be about two years old then, for such was the custom of these early days. Now Ishmael was about sixteen at the time, and it was all intensely ridiculous to Ishmael-it seemed so absurd, to a lad of sixteen years, that all this fuss should be made about a baby. Probably he was at little pains to hide his feelings -at sixteen we have not learned that art-and Sarah, whose heart had been growing very sore at Ishmael, determined to be rid of this vexatious boy. It was a season of much bitterness for Abraham. He betwixt two, and knew not how to act; till God in His mercy cleared up his way for him, and authorised him to send Ishmael forth. So, early in the morning, Hagar and Ishmael went, taking the road that might lead to Hagar's home; but soon the lad is exhausted with fatigue, and Hagar, in agony, lays him down to die. Then follows the opening of Hagar's eyes, the saving of Ishmael, and his life in the desert; and so, with the sunshine of God upon the cloud, this beautiful and familiar lesson closes.

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NOTE first, then, how the fulfilment of God's promise may bring trouble. An heir has been promised to Abraham long ago; he had lived and fought and suffered in the hope of it; he must have dreamed that his cup of joy would be full, in the hour when God gave fulfilment to His word. Now Abraham's hopes were crowned, for Isaac was there; all he had prayed and wished for had been granted; yet every glimpse we get into his tent shows us how Abraham's troubles had increased. The presence of Hagar was intolerable now; the strapping Ishmael was a perpetual irritation; life had been bearable till Isaac came, now it was clear that something must be done; so into the tent of Abraham came great grief (v. 11), and it came because God's promise was

fulfilled. There is a sense in which that is always truedoes not Paul tell us these things are an allegory? (Gal. iv. 24). It is when God's promise in Jesus is fulfilled that the sinful past arises to distress us. Habits that once we tolerated now become intolerable; actions that neither worried us nor vexed us are now performed with a protesting conscience; nor is there any peace for a man's heart, that has been touched by the promise-keeping God, till such habits and actions are ruthlessly expelled, as were Hagar and Ishmael from the tent of Abraham.

NEXT note how there may be hidden blessing in hardship. It seems at first sight a very cruel thing that Ishmael should have been so suddenly ejected. For sixteen years he had lived among many comforts; henceforward he was to be an outcast. How Hagar's heart must have rankled in her breast as she quitted the tent with the boy she loved so dearly! How many a dream-fabric must have fallen, when she was told she was to be expelled! Yet the expulsion was the making of Ishmael, and through the hardship he was coming to his own. Ishmael would never have thriven in Abraham's tent; he was made for a freer, a wilder, a more reckless life. There was something in the desert, with its vast expanses, that was very congenial to Ishmael's spirit. So in the hour when fate seemed sorest to him, he was being led to the sphere that suited him; there was a hidden blessing in his hardship. Let us remember that, when the worst comes to the worst. We may be driven out, to find the ways of God. It was hard for Joseph to be carried down to Egypt; it was hard for Ishmael to be sent away; but the will of a directing God was in it, and under the harsh experience, was love.

LASTLY, note how much we may miss till God opens

our eyes. When Ishmael was like to die out in the wilderness, Hagar was powerless, for the water-skin was

empty. A cupful of water would have saved the lad, yet she could spy no water in that parched and weary ground. Then God, hearing the cry of Ishmael (v. 17), opened her eyes, and lo! within a stonecast of her was a well. All that she craved for was at her very hand, but till God unlocked her eyes she saw it not. Is not that also (as Paul would say) an allegory? Is not that true of others besides Hagar? Are there none who may read this little article, who are craving for spiritual peace and power and victory? Remember that such blessings are not far away; like Hagar's well, they are within our reach; when our eyes are open we find that all we longed for is nearer to us than we had ever dreamed.

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NINTH SUNDAY

Evening

THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA

Passage to be read: John iv. 1-30.

T is remarkable how many of the choicest scenes of Scripture should be associated with wells. It was by a well that Abraham's servant met with the destined bride of Isaac, in that loveliest story of the Book of Genesis. It was by the well that Jacob first cast his eyes on Rachel. It was at a well that one of the crises in the life of Moses came, when he stood up and rescued the daughters of Reuel from the shepherds. And all the memories and meetings of these Oriental wells are crowned by this story of the woman of Samaria. It was the hour of sultry noon, and the whole land was weary, and in the weariness of noonday Jesus shared. And then a woman of Samaria came to draw, thinking, remembering, dreaming as she came, and all so busy with her woman's heart

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