Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-06

GUS encore of the place of wicked amuse-
ment, a voice saying: "Ny son, what DO
you here?" And when you went into the
house of sin a voice saying: "What
would your mother do If she knew you
were hereW
And you were provoked with yourself,
and you charged yourself with supersti-
tiou and fanaticism, and your head got
hot with your own thoughts, and you
went home and you went to bed, and no
sooner had you touched the bed than
voice said: "What prayerless pillow
Man, what is the matterp' This: You
are too near your mothers rocking chair.
sob, pshaw ~ you say. "There's nothing
in that. Pm 500 miles off from where l
was born. Pm 1900 miles off from the
church whose bell was the first music L
ever heard" l cannot help that; you are
too near your mothers rocking chair.
''Oh," you say, ''there can't be anything
in that: that chair has been vacant
great while" | cannot help that; it is
all the mightier for that; it Is omnipotent,
that vacant mothers chair. 1t whispers;
it speaks; it weeps; 1t carols; 1t
mourns; it prays; 1t warns; 1t
thunders. A young man went of and
broke his mothers heart, and while he
was away from home his mother died,
and the telegraph brought the son, and
he came into the room where she lay and
looked upon her face, and be cried out:
son, mother, mother! what your life
could not do your death shall effect. This
moment l give my heart to God" And
he kept his promise. Another victory for
the vacant chair. With reference to your
mother the words of my text were full
filled: "Thou shalt be missed, because
thy seat will be empty"
Some one said TO a Grecian general:
"What was the proudest moment of your
lifep' He thought moment and said:
"The proudest moment In my life was
when / sent word home to my parents
that | had gained the victory" And the
prOudest and most brilliant moment in
your life will be the moment when you
can send word to your parents that you
have conquered your evil habits by the
grace Of God, aud become eternal victor.
Oh. despise not parental anxiety! The
time Will come when you will have
neither father nor mother, and you will
go around the place where they used to
watch you, and lind them gone from the
house, and gone from the field, and gone
from the neighborhood. Cry as loud for
forgiveness as you may over the mound
in the church yard, they will not ans
wer. Dead dead! And then you will
take out the white lock of hair that was
cut from your mothers brow just before
they buried her. and you will take the
cane with which your father used to
walk, and you Will think and think and
wish that you had done just as they
wanted you to, and would give the world
il you had never thrust pang through
their dear old hearts. God pity the young
man who has brought disgrace on his
fathers namel God pity the young man
who has broken his mothers heart! Bet
ter if he had never been born; better if
In no of Of ha-
ing laid against the warm bosom of ma
ternal tenderness, he mad been coffined
and sepulchred. There is no balm power
full enough to heal the heart of one who
has brought parents to sOrrOwtul grave,
and who wanders about through the dis
NAL cemetery, rendng the hair and wiring
ing the hands and CRYING: "Motherl
MOtherp' Oh, that to-day by all the
memories of the past and by all the hopes
of the future, you would yield your
heart to God! May your fathers God
and your mothers God be your God for
ever.
III. go on little further: come to
the invalid's chair. What? How long
have you been sickP son, l have been
sick ten, twenty, thirty years." Is it
possible? What a story OF endurance!
There are in many families OF my congre-
CATION these invalid chairs. The occu-
pants OF them think they are doing no
good in the world; but that invalid's
chair is the mighty pulpit from which
they have been preaching. all these years,
trust in God. One day on an island just
off from Sandusky, o., l preached, and
there was great thrOng of people there;
but the thrOng did not impress
me SO much as the specta-
Gle of just one face - the tace
Of an invalid who was wheeled in on hei
chair. l said to her afterw ards: MADAM,
how long have you been prostrated?" tor
she was lying nat in the chair. "Oh,"
she replied, Il have been this way fifteen
years." l said: "Do you suffer very
much?" "Oh, yes" she said: IL suffer
very much; suffer all the time. Part OF
the time | was blind. 1 always suffer-"
"Well," said, lean you keep your cour-
age up?' son. yes," she said, Il am
happy indeed" Her face showed it. She
looked the happiest OF any one on the
ground. On, what means OF grace to
the world, these invalid chairs!
On that field OF human suffering the
grace OF God gets it's victory. Edward
Payson, the invalid, and Richard Baxter,
the invalid, and Robert Hall, the invalid,
and the ten thousand of whom the world
has never heard, but OF whom all heaven
is cognizant. The most conspicuous
thing ON earth for Gods eye ana the eve
Of angels to rest on, is not throne OF
earthly power, but 1t is the invalid &
chair. Oh, these men and women who
are always suffering but never complain
ing-tnese victims of spinal disease, aud
neuralgia torture, and rheumatic eX.
cruciation, Will answer to the roll call OF
the martyrs, and rise to the martyrs
throne, and will wave the martyrs palm
| But when one of these inYalids
| chairs becomes vacant, how sug.
gestive it isl No more bolsteriap
up OF the weary head. No more
| changing from side to side to get an easy
position. No more use Of the bandage and
the cataplasm and the prescription. That
invalid's chair may be folded up or taken
apart or set away, but it will never lose
It's queenly power; it will always preach
| OF trust in God and cheerful submission
| Suffering all ended now. With respect Ia
| that invalid the words OF my text nave
| been fulfilled: "rhou shalt be missed, be.
cause thy seat will be empty"
". pass on and find one more vacant
chair. 1t is high chair. IL is the child's
chair. II that chair be occupied think
II is the most potent chair in all the
household. All the chairs wait on il: all
| the chairs are turned toward 1t. 1t means
more than Davld's chair at SauPs ban.
! quet. AT any rate, 1t makes more racket.
! That is a strange house that can be dull
with a child IN il. How that child breaks
up the hard worldllness of the place, and
! keeps you young TO SIXTY, seventy and
eighty years OF age. If you have no child
! of your own adopt one; IL will opon