The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-07-22

banquet At any rate, IL makes uaohr
racket. That is a strange house thatcan
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 agel Il you
have no child of your own. adopt one;i II
will open heaven TO your soul. 1t viii
pay its way. Its growing in the morn
ing will give the day cheerful start
ing, and its glee at night will give the
day a cheerful close. Youdo not like
children? Then you had better stay out
Of heaven, for there are so many there
they would fairly make youcrazyl Only
about five hundred millions Of theml
The old crusty Pharisees told the moth
ers to keep the children away from
Christ. "You bother Him. they said;
"you trouble the Master. Trouble Himl
He has filled heaven with that kind OF
troubled
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 q hundred
miles. But the Fourth of July came,
and the miners were gathered together,
and they were celebrating the Fourth
with Grafton and poem and q boisterous
brass band; and while the band was
playing an infants voice was heard cry
ing, 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 thrilled with home
sickness 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
to drown out the infantile interruption,
when 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" o, there was pathos
in it, as well as good cheer in it, There
is snothing to arouse, and melt, and sub
due the soul like child'svoice. But when
itgoes away from you, the high chair be-
comes higher chair, and there is desc
lation all about you. In three-fourths
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 aud Heay-
en- o, what is the use Of that high
chair? 1t is to call you higher. What
drawing upward it is to have children
! in heaven And then ii is such pre-
I ventive against sin. II father Is going
away into sin, he leaves his living chill
dren with their mother; but II father
is going away into sin, what is he going
TO do with his dead children floating
about him and lowering over his every
wayward step. o, 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, be-
cause thy seat win be empty"
My hearers, ] have gathered up the
voices Of your departed friends and tried
TO intone them into one invitation up
ward / set in array all the vacant
chairs Of your homes and Of your social
circles, and bid them cry out this
morning: Thine is short Eternity is
near. Take my Saviour. BE at peace
with my God. Come up whore am.
We lived together on earth, come, let
us live together in Heaven" We an
swer that invitation We come. Keep
seat for us, as Saul kept seat for
David. But that seat shall not be
empty. And OIL 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 thall go out no more for.
ever. ! thank God there will be no va.
cant chairs in Heaven. There we shall
meet again and talk over our earthly
heartbrealSs. How much You have been
through since you saw them last On
the shining shore you will talk Il
all over. The heartaches The loneli-
ness. The sleepless nights. The weep
ing until you had no more power "a
weep, because the heart was withere6
and dried up. Story Of an empty cradle
and little shoes only. half worn Out
never to be worn again, Just the
shape Of the foot that once pressed
IL And dreams when you thought
the departed had come back again
and the room seemed bright with theii
faces, and you start up TO greet them
and in the effort the dream broke and
you found yourself standing amid.
room in the midnight-nlone. Talking
IL all over, and then, hand In hand
walking up and down in the light Nc
sorrow, no tears, no death. o, Heav
enl beautiful Heavenl Heaven wher,
our friends are. Heaven where we ex
pect to be. In the east they take Gag,
OF birds and bring Il to the tomb OF th,
dead, and then they open the door o.
the cage, and the birls, flying out, sing
And would to-day bring a cage o.
Christian consultations TO the grave o.
your loved ones, and would open The
door and let them fli all the air with
the music of their voices
0, how they bound n these spirits be
fore the throne! Some shout with
gladness. Some break forth into un
controllable weeping for Joy. Some
stand speechless in their shock Of de
light. They sing. They quiyer with
excessive gladness Thcy gaze on the
TEMPLES on the palaces on the winters
on each other. They weave their jol
into gdrlands. they spring II into trium
phal arches. they strike Il on timbrels