Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-10-01

tue SICK Gays OF CnllQre0 OClef C0alr6 COulQ |
not keep awake; that chair always kept
awake, kept easily awake. That chair
knew all the old lullabies, and all those
sick children-songs in which all pity and
compassion and sympathetic influences are
combined. That old chair has stopped
rocking for good many years. 1t may be
set up in the loft or the garnet, but it holds
queenly power yet. When at midnight
you went into that grogshop to get the in
toxicating draught, did you not hear a voice
that said: my son, why go in there?"
And louder than the boisterous encore of
the place of wicked amusement, voice
saying: "My son, what do you here?"
And when you went into the house of sin
voice saying: "What would your mother
do if she knew you were here?"
And you were provoked with yourself,
and charged yourself with superstition and
fanaticism, and your head got hot with
your own thoughts, and you went home
and you went to bed, and no sooner had
"What a prayerless pillow! Man, what is
the matter?" This: You are too near your
mothers rocking chair. ooh, pshaw!" you
say; there's nothingin that. I'm five hun
dred miles off from where was born; I'm
three thousand miles off from the church
whose bell was the first music ! ever
heard" 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, it carols, it mourns, it prays, it
warns, it thunders: A young man went off
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 he cried out: 30!
mother, mother! What your life could not
do your death shall effect. This moment I
give my heart TO Cod" And he kept his
promise. Another victory for the vacant
chair. With reference to Your mother the
words of my text were fulfilled "Thou
shalt be missed, because thy seat will be
empty"
Some one said 10 Grecian general:
What was the proudest moment in your
life?" 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 proud
est and most brilliant moment in your life
will be the moment when you can send
word to your parents that you have con-
quered your evil habits by the grace of
God, and become eternal victor. Oh, de-
spise 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
find them gone from the house, and gone
borhood. Cry as loud for forgiveness as
YOU may over the mound in the church.
yard, they will not answer. 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
if you had never thrust a pang through
their dear old hearts. God pity the young
man who has brought disgrace on his
fathers name! God pity the young man
who has broken his mothers heart! Better
if he had never been born; better if in the
first hour of his life, instead of being laid
against the warm bosom of maternal tender
ness, he had been cotined and sepulchered.
| There is no balm powerful enough to heal
the heart Of one who has brought parents
to sorrowful grave, and who wanders
about through the dismal cemetery rending
the hair and wringing the hands and cry
ing: "Mother! Mother!" 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!
3. go on little further; come to the
invalids chair. What? How long have
you been sick? ooh, have been sick ten,
twenty, thirty years." Is it possible? What
a story of endurance! There are in many
families of my congregation these invalid
chairs. The occupants of them think
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, Ohio,
preached, and there was great throng Of
people there, but the throng did not i'm
press me so much as the spectacle of just
one face-the face of an invalid, vino was
wheeled in on her chair. said to he1
afterward: madam, how long have you
been prostrated?" for she was lying fat in
the chair. "Oh," she replied, Il have been
this way fifteen years." I said: do you
suffer very much?" ooh, yes," she said
II suffer very much; l suffer all the time.
Part of the time I was blind; I always
suffer" "Well," l said, "can you keep
Your courage up?" "Oh, yes," she said
az am happy, very happy, indeed" Hel
face showed it. She looked the happies
of any one on the ground. Oh. what {
means Of grace to the world, these invalid
chairs
On that field of human suffering the
grace OF God gets its victory. Edward
Payson, the invalid, and Richard Baxter
the invalid. and Robert Hall. the invalid
aud the ten thousand of whom the worlt
has never heard, but Of whom all heaven il
cognizant. The most conspicuous thing
on earth for Gods eye and the eye of angel
to rest on is not throne of earthly power
but it is the invalid's chair. Oh, these mel
and women who are always suffering bu
never complaining-these victims of spina
disease, and neuralgia torture, and rheu
matte excruciation, will answer to thu
roll-call of the martyrs, and rise to tn
martyrs throne, and will wave the martyr
palm! But when one OF these invalids
chairs become vacant, how suggestive it is
No more bolstering up Of the weary head
No more changing from side to side to ge
an easy position. No more use of tn
bandage, and the cataplasm, and the pre-
scription. That inyalid's chair may b
folded up or taken apart, OF set away, bu
it will never lose its queenly power; it vii
always preach Of trust in God and cheerful
submission. Suffering all ended now
| 4 no Of