The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-08-05

have been fulAlled: 'sThou sAals b
miassd, because thy ssatwill b empty"
Ipass on. and / and ono moro vacant
chair. II IL . high chair. II
Is the child's chair. II that
chair be occupied, think It Is the most
potent chair in all the household. All
the chairs wait ON Il; all the chairs are
turned toward it II means more than
David's chair at Saul's banquet At
any rate, It makes more racket
That Is . strange house that can b
dull with child in It. How that child
breaks up the hard worldliness Of the
place, and keeps you young to sixty.
seventy and 30 years Of agel If you
have no child Of your own, adopt ono,
1t will open Heaven to your soul II
will pay its way. Its growing in tho
morning will give tho day cheerful
starting, and its glee at night
win give the day cheerful
close. You do not like children! Then
you had better stay out Of Heaven. for
there are 20 many there they would
fairly make you crazy! Only shout
500. 600, 600 Of them! The old crusty
Pharisees told the mothers to keep tho
children away from Christ. "You
bother Him." they said; you trouble
the Master" Trouble Himl 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 Sierre Nevada county there was not
. single child in all the reach of 100
miles But the Fourth Of July came,
and the miners were gathered together.
and they were celebrating the Fourth
with Grafton, and poem, and bolster.
Gus 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 chill
-dren far away, and their hearts
were thrilled with home sickness
as they heard the babe cry. But
the music went on, and tho child
cried louder and louder, and the brass
band played louder and louder, trying
TO drown out the infantile interruption,
when q swarthy miner, the tears roll
ing down his face, got up and shook his
fist and said: stop that noisy band
and give the baby chance" Oh! there
was pathos in it, as we'll % good cheer
in it There is nothing to arouse, and
melt, and subdue the soul like child's
voice. But when itgoes away from You,
the high chair becomes higher chair,
and there is desolation all about you
In three-fourtks of the homes Of this
congregation there is . vacant high
chair. Somehow you never get over It
There is no one to put to bed at night; no
one to ask strange questions about God
ana Heaven. Oh, what is the use Of
that high chair? 1t is to call you higher
What a drawing upward it is to have
children in Heaven.
And then it is such . preventive against
sin. If q father il going away into sin
he leaves his living children with their
mother; but II . father is going away
into sin, what is he going to do with hia
dead children floating about him. and
hevering over his every maynard step7
Oh, speak out vacant high chair, and
-; "Father. come back from sin;
No, como baelk from wosld linesA
O watching ycu- I am waiting fo1
you" With respect to your child, the
works Of my text have been fulfilled;
'sThou shalt be missed, because thy
seat will be empty"
My hearers, l have gathered up the
voices of your departed friends and
tried to intone them into one invitation
upward. set in array all the vacant
chairs Of your homes and Of your social
circle, and l bid them cry out this morn
ing, thine is short Eternity h now.
Take my Saviour. BE at peace with
my God. Come up where I am. We
lived together on earth, come let us live
in Heavc.. We answer that invita-
ton. We come. Keep seat for US, al
Saul kept seat for David, but that
seat shall not be empty. And oh! wher
we are all through with this world, and
we have shaken hands all around fol
the last time, and all our chairs in the
home circle and In the outside worlt
shall be vacant may we be worshipine
God in that place from which we shall
60 out no more forever.
thank God there will be no vacant
chairs in Heaven. There we shall meet
again and talk over Our earthly heart
breaks. How much you have beer
through since yon saw them last! Or
the shining shore you will talk It oil
over. The heartaches; the ionliness
the sleepless nights; the weeping unit
you had no power to weep, because tn,
heart was withered and dried up Story
of empty cradle and little shoe only
half worn out never to be worn again
just the shape of the foot that ono,
pressed 1t And dreams, when 20,
thought the departed had come bacl
again, and the room seemed bright
with their faces, and you started up K
greet them, and in the effort the dream
broke you found yourself standing
amid-room in the midnight-alone.
Talking 1t all over, and then, hand II
hand, walking up and down in thu
light. No sorrows, no tears, no death
Oh, Heaven! beautiful Heaven! HEAVIER
where our friends are Heaven where
we expect to be. In the east they TAX,