News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-07-23
But the music went on, and the child

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 infantile interruption,
when a swarthy miner, the tears rolling
down his face, got up and shook his
fist and said, stop that noisy band
and give the baby a chance" Oh,
there was pathos in it, as well as good
| cheer in it, There is nothing to arouse
and melt and subdue the soul like a
child's voice. But when it goes away
from you the high chair becomes Il
higher chair, and there is desolation all
about you.
In three-fourths of the homes of this
congregation there is a vacant high
chair. Somehow you never get over 1t.
There is no one to put to bed at night;
no one to ask strange questions about
God and heaven Oh, what is the use
of that high chairl 1t is to call you
higher. What drawing upward it is
to have children in heavenl And then
it is such a preventive against sin. If
a father is going away into sin he leaves
his living children with their mother;
but if a father is going away into sin
what is he going to do with his dead
children floating about him and hover
ing over his every hayward step! oh,
speak out, vacant high chair, and say;
Father, come back from sin; mother,
come back from worldliness. | am
watching you. am waiting for you"
With respect to your child, the words of
my text have been fulfilled, ''Thou
shalt be missed, because thy seat will
be empty"
DEPARTED VOICES.
My hearers, 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 So
cial circle, and bid them cry out this
morning: Time is short Eternity is
near Take my Saviour. Be at peace
with my God. Come mp where l
am We lived together on earth, come
let US live together in heaven" We
answer that invitation. We come.
Keep q seat for us, as Saul kept a seat
for David, but that seat shall not be
empty And oh, when we are all
through with this world and we have
shaken hands all around for the last
time, and all our chairs in the home
circle and in the outside world shall be
vacant, may we be worshiping God in
that place from which we shall 90 ont
e.,
will be no vacant chairs in heaven.
There we shall meet again, and talk
over our earthly heartbreaks. How
much you have been through since you
saw them lastl On the shining shore
you will talk it all over. The heart
aches. The loneliness. The sleepless
nights. The weeping until you had no
more power to weep, because the 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 once pressed
it. And dreams when you thought the
departed had come back again, and
the room seemed bright with their
faces, and you started up to greet
them, and in the effort the dream
broke and you found yourself standing
amid room in the midnight-alone.
Talking it all over, and then, hand
in hand, walking up and down in the
light. No sorrow, no tears, no death.
Oh, heaven, beautiful heaven! Heaven
where our friends are. Heaven where
we expect to be. In the east they take
a cage of birds and bring it to the tomb
of the dead, and then they open the
door of the cage, and the birds, flying
out, sing And l would today bring a
cage of Christian consultations to the
grave of your loved ones, and would
open the door and let them fill all the
air with the music of their voices
Oh, how they bound in these spirits
before the throne Some shout with
gladness. Some break forth into I'M
comfortable weeping for joy. Some
stand speechless in their shock of de-
light. They sing. They culver with ex
cessive gladness. They gaze on the tenn
piles, on the palaces, on the waters, on
each other. They weave their Joy into
garlands, they spring it into triumphal
arches, they strike in on timbrels, and
then all the loved ones gather in a
great circle around the throne of God
fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters,
sons and daughters, lovers and friends,
hand to hand around about the throne
of God-the circle ever widening
hand to hand, JOY to JOY, jubilee to
jubilee, victory to victory, until the
day break and the shadows flee away.
Turn thou, my beloved, and be like
roe or a young hart upon the mountains
of Bether."