Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-10-02

the mightier Tor that; IL Is cnnipotent, that
Facant mothers chair. It whispers; it
peaks; 1t weeps; It carols; It mourns; it
nrays; it warns; it thunders. A young man
went OF and broke his mothers heart. and
while he was away from home his mother
lied, and the telegraph brought the son, and
be came into the room where she Law and
looked upon her face, and he cried out: sOh,
mother, mother, what your life could not do
your death shall effect This moment 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 fulfilled: Thou shalt be missed.
because thy seat viii be empty"
Some one said to a Grecian General:
Whist was the proudest moment in your
TIE. he thought moment and said: THE
J 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 mo
nSent when you can send word to your parents
that you have conquered your evil habits BY
the grace of God, and become eternal victor
oh, cespise 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 from the field,
and gone from the neighborhood. Cry as
loud for forgiveness as you may over the
mound in the churchyard, thee will no,
answer. Deail Dead And then you will
take out the white lock of hair that
before they buried her, and YOU VIII
lake the cane with which your father
used to walk, and you will think and
think and wish that you had done Just as
they wantei you TO- and would give the
world If you had never thrust q pang
through their dear old hearts God pity the
young man who has brought disgrace on his
anN1. - Al
who has broken his mothers heartl Better
If he had never been born; better if in the
hrSt hour of his life. instead of being laid
against the warm bosom of maternal tender
ness. he had been colfined and sepulchred
There IS no balm powerful enough to heal
'he heart of one who has brought parents tc
Sorrowful grave. and who wanderS about
through the dismal cemetery. rending the
hair and wringing the hands and crying
~Motherl Motherl' Oh, that to-day by al
the memories of the past and by all the hopes
of the future, you would yield your heart tc
God, May your fathers God ard youI
mothers God be Yolr God foreveri
III. Igo on little further: come to the
invalidS chair. What. How long have you
bean sicks ''Oh, | have been sick ten.
twenty. thirty years" Is it possible. What
q story of endurance There are in many
families of my congregation these invalid
chairs The occupants of them think they
valid chair is the mighty pulpit from which
they have been preaching, all these years.
trust IN God One day, on an island Just of
from Sandusky, Ohio, 1 preached and there
was great throng of people there; but the
throng did not impress me so much as the
spectacle of Just enc face-the face of an in
valid who was wheeled in on her chair. |
said to her afterwards: Madam, how long
have You been prostratedy' for she was living
fat in the chair. oh" she replied,
Il have been this way fifteen years.
i said: DO you suffer very muchgn "Oh,
yes. she said; 81 suffer very much. suffer
all the time; part of the time was blind.
always suffer-" ''Well,n l said, ''can you
keep your courage up:n Oh, yes" she said
I am happy, very happy indeed" Her face
showed it She looked the happiest of any
one on the ground Oh, what means of
grace to the world these invalid chairsl
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, aad 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
eve and the eve of angels to rest on is
not throne of earthly power, but it is
the invalid's chair. Oh, these men
and women who are always suffering but
never complaining these victims of spinal
disease. and nelralgic torture, and rheu-
matte excruriation, will answer to the roll
call Of the martyrs, and rise to the martyrs
throne, and will wave the martyrs paint
But when one of these invalid chairs be-
come vacant, how suggestive it is. No more
hoisterins up of the weary heal. 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
invSlid's chair may be folded up or taken
apart, OF set away, but it VIII never lose its
srrraan1r, oil
in God and cheerful submission. Suffering
all ended now. With respect to that invalid
the words of my text have been fulfilled:
Thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will
be empty
". pass on and find one more vacant
chair. 1t is high chair. Ii is the cbild's
chair. If that chair be occupied, / think it
Is the most potent chair in all the household
All the chairs wait on it; all the chairs are
turned toward it. ltmeans more than David's
chair at Saul's banquet. At any rate, it makes
more racket That is strange house that
can be dull with a 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, If you have no child of
your own, adopt one; it will open heaven to
your soul 1t will ray its way Its Growing
in the morning will give the day a cheerful
starting. and its glee at night will give the
day acheerful close You do not like childrens
Then you had better stay out of heaven, for
there are so many there they would fairly
make you cTaZyl Only about five hundred
million 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 has
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 a
single child in all the reach of a hundred
miles. But the 9Th of July came, and the
miners were gathered together and they
were celebrating the 4th with GRAFTON and
poem, and a boisterous brass band 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,
end their lHarts were filed with homesick
ness as 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 10 drown out the in
fantile interruption, when o swartby miner,
the tears rolling down his face, got Up and
shook his fist, and said: tStop that noisy
hand and giva thu hahv a chanca y m
there was pathos as well as good cheer
in it, There is nothing to arouse, and melt,
and Subdne the soul like n childs voice.
But when il goes away from you the high
chair becomes higher chair. and there is
desolation all about you. In three-fourths
Of the no mes Of my congregation there is