The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-09-22

49,
happy, indeed"
Her face showed IL. She looked the hap
piost of any one on the ground. Oh, what
. means Of grace to the world, these in.
valid chairs. M
On that field Of hGman suffering the
grace of God gets la 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 and the eye Of
angels to rest on Is not a throne of earthly
power, but it Is tho invalid's chair. Oh,
these men and women who are always
suffering, but never complaining these
victims of spinal disease, and neuralgia
torture, and rheumatic exruciation4 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
invalid's chairs becomes vacant how sug-
gestive it Is! No more bolstering up Of
the weary head. No more changing from
side to side to get an easy pos ton. No !,
more use of the bandage, and the cata-
plasm, and the prescription. That in
valid's chair may be folded up, or taken
apart, ror set away, but it will never
lose its queenly power; 1t will always
preach of trust In God and cheerful sub
mission. Suffering all ended now. With
respect to that invalid the words Of my
text have been fulfilled: r'-a.s- '
Thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will
be empty.
4. Ipass on and find one more vacant
chair. 1t is high chair. 1t is the child's
chair. II that chair be occupied, think 1t
Is the most potent chair in all the house,
hold. All the chairs wait on IT. and the
chairs are turned toward 1t. It meana
more than David's chair at Saul's banquet.
At any rate, itmakes more racquet. Thet
is a strange house that can be dull with q
child in it. How that child breaks up the
hard worldliness of the place, and keeps
you young to sixty, seventy and eighty
years of age! II you have no child Of
your own, adopt one; it will open
Heaven to your soul. 1t will pay
its way. Its Growing in the morning will
give the day . cheerful starting, and
its glee at, night will give the day
cheerful close. You do not like childrenf
Then you had better stay out of Heaven,
for there are so many there they would
fairly make you crazy! Only about 50O.-
600 Of them! The old crusty disciples
told the mothers to keep the children
away from Christ.
"You bother Him." they said, you
trouble the Master"
Trouble Him! He had filed Heaven
with that kind Of trouble.
A pioneer in California says that for the
first year or two after his residence in
Sierra Nevada County there was not q
single child In all the reach of hundred
miles. But the Forth Of July came,
|. and the miners were gathered to.
. gether, and they were celebrating the
/. Fourth with GRAFTON and poem and
boisterous brass brand; and while the
band was playing, an infants voice
; was heard crying, and all the miners
were startled, and the swarthy men
began to think of their homes
ON the Eastern coast and Of their
wives and children far away, and their
hearts were filled with homesickness a.
they heard the babe cry. But the music
went on, and the child cried louder and
louder, and the brass band played louder
and louder, trying to drown out the in
fantile interruption, when swarthy
i miner, the tears rolling down his face, got
up and shook his fst, and said:
"Stop that noisy band, and give the
n baby a chance"
Oh, there was pathos in it as well as
good cheer in It! There Is nothing to
8 arouse, and melt, and subdue the soul like
8 a child's voice.
But when 1t goes away from you, the
: high chair becomes higher chair, and
n there is desolation all about you. In
t three-fourths Of tho homes OF my congre-
y CATION there is vacant igh chair. Some
: how you never get over it. There is no
one to put to bed at night; no one to ask
. strange questions about God and
0 Heaven. Oh, what Is the use of that
high chair? It is to call you higher. What
}, drawing upward it is to have children
n in Heaven. And then IL Is such a pre-
: ventive against sin. II father is going
away into sin he leaves his living chill
:. dren with their mother; but II father is
|
n do with his dead children floating about
y him and lowering over his every hayward
step? Oh, speak out, vacant high chair,
and say:
u "Father, come back from sin; mother,
d come back from worldliness. am watch
# ing you. am waiting tor you"
;. With respect to your child the words Of
IL nv text have been fulfilled:
Thou shalt be missed, ecause thy seat
will be empty.
Ia My hearers, have gathered up the
e voices Of your departed friends, and tried
q to intone them into one invitation up.
q ward. Iset in array all the vacant chairs
Q in your homes, and Of your social circle,
a and hid them cry out:
lt "Time is short. Eternity is near. Take
9 my Saviour. Be at peace with my God,
,: Come up where am. We lived togeth or
v on earth; come, let US live together In
he heaven"
If We answer that invitation. We come
id Keep seat for us, as Saul kept seat fol
David; but that seat shall not be empty
!. When we are all through with this world
70 and we have shaken hands all around foI
the last time, and all our chairs In tn
home circle, and In the outside world
shall be vacant, may we be worshipinl
God in that place from which we shall e
out no more forever. thank God ther'
y will be no vacant chairs in heaven.
"a A Great Poets Inimitable Tact.