IV.
ISHMAEL THE OUTCAST.

“ And God was with the lad.” —Genesis xx2., 20.

“And the angel of the Lord said behold thou shalt bear a Son, and shalt call his
name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction, And he will be a wid
man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he
shall dwell in the presence of his brethren.” —Gestests ¥vi., 12, 72.

There is much that may be done
While the glittering lifesands run;
If ye be but earnest minded,
If ye go not weakly blinded

eG » By a momentary pleasure,
Or a love of ease and leisure;
Lured not by flitting beauty
From the narrow path of duty,
Much there is that may be done
By an earnest minded one.

—Anonynious.

The story of Ishmael, the first-born son of Abraham
the Friend of God, and of Hagar the bond-woman, is very
brief, and very romantic. It hardly occupies a page in the
sacred Scriptures, but that page is full in every line, and
betwen the lines, with deep and lasting interest.

There is a good deal in the early part of the story that
we need not stay to inquire into; matters that can have but
little interest for boys, further than to make them thankful
that they did not live in those early days, when slavery
wrought much of its saddest work, in the most favored
homes of men. It was really because of the curse of slavery

» .
thaf Ishmael became an outcast. His mother, Hagar, was a

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