Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-07-30


where we deposited all our hurts and wor-
ries. Ahl what chair that was II was
different from the fathers chair; it was en
tirely different You ask me howi | can
not tell but we all felt 1t was differ.
ent Perhaps there was about this chair
more gentleness, more tenderness, more
grief when we had done wrong When we
were wayward father Scolded, but mother
cried. 1t was a very wakeful chair. In
the sick days Of children other chairs
could not keep awake; that chair always
kept awake-kept easily awake. The chair
knew all the old lullabies and all those
wordless songs which mothers sing to their
sick children-songs in which all pity and
compassion and sympathetic influences are
combined
That old chair has stopped rocking for
good many years. 1t may be set up in the
loft or the garret, but it holds queenly
power yet. When at midnight you went
into that grog shop to get the intoxicating
draught, did you not hear voice that said
my son, why go in therei" And louder
than the boisterous encore Of the place Of
sinful amusement, voice saying, my
son, what do you do hereT And when
you went into the house of abandonment,
a voice saying, "What would your mother
do II she knew you were herei" And you
were provoked with yourself, and you
charged yourself with superstition and IA
naticism and your head got hot with your
own thoughts, and you went home and
you went to bed, and no sooner had you
touched the bed than voice said: "Whati
prayerless pillowi Mani what is the
matter" This, You are too near your
mothers rocking chair.
"Oh, pshawp you say. There's moth
ing in that. Pm five hundred miles off
from where was born. Pm three thou.
sand miles of from the church whose bell
was the first music ever heard" | can.
not help that. You are too near your
mothers rocking chair "Oh," you say,
there can't be anything in that. That
| chair has been vacant a great while" |
cannot help that. 1t is all the mightier for
that. 1t is omnipotent, that vacant moth
er's chair. 1t whispers, it speaks, it weeps, it
carols, 1t mourns, it prays, it warns, it
thunders. A young man went off and
broke his mothers heart, and while he was
away from home his mother died, and the
telegraph brought the son, and he came
into the room where she lay and looked
upon her face, and he cried out: "Oh,
mother, mother, what your life could not
do your death shall effectl 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 will be
empty"
THE INvALID's CHAIR.
Igo on little further, and come to the
tnvalid's chair. What How long have
you been sickI "Ohl have been sick ten,
twenty, thirty years" Is it possiblel
What a story of endurance. There are in
many Of the families of my congregation
these invalids' chairs. The occupants of
them think they are doing no good in the
world, but that invalid chair is the mighty
pulpit from which they have been preach
ing, all these years, trust in God. The first
time l preached here at Lakeside, Ohio,
amid the throngs present, there was moth
ing that SO much impressed me as the spec
tacle of just one face-the face of an in
valid who was wheeled in on her chair. |
said to her afterward, MADAM, how long
have you been prostrated?" for she was
lying fiat in the chair. "Ohp' she replied,
II have been this way fifteen years" Isaid,
''Do you suffer very much~ "Oh, yes,"
she said, II suffer very much; suffer all
the time; part of the time was blind. l
always suffer- "Well."I said, "can you
keep your courage up" "Oh, yes," she
said, 81 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 chairs. On that field of hui
man suffering the grace of God gets its
victory Edward Payson, the invalid,
and Richard Baxter, the invalid, and
Robert Hall, the invalid, and the ten thou
sand 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
throne of earthly power, but it is the in
valid's chair Oh, these men and women
who are always suffering but never COM
plaining-these victims Of spinal disease,
and neuralgia torture and rheumatic ex-
cruciation 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 invalids' chairs
becomes vacant how suggestive it isl No
more bolstering up of the weary head. No
more changing from side to side to get an
easy position. No more use of the band
age and the cataplasm and the prescrip-
tion. That invalid's chair may be folded
up or taken apart or set away, but it will
never lose its queenly power; it will al
ways preach of trust 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.
THAT EMPTY HIGH CHAIR
pass on and | find one more vacant
chair 1t is high chair. It is the chld's
chair II that chair be occupied think it
is the most potent chair in all the house
hold. All the chairs wait on it; all the
chairs are turned toward it. 1t means more
than David's chair at Sauls banquet At
any rate it makes more racket That is
strange house that can be dull with 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 pay its way. Its Growing in
the morning will give the day a cheerful
starting, and it's glee at night will give the
day cheerful close. You do not like chill
dren? Then you had better stay out of
heaven, for there are SO many there they
would fairly make you crazy. Only about
five hundred millions of them. The old
crusty Pharisees told the mothers to keep
the children away from Christ "You
bother him." they said; "you trouble the
Master" Trouble himl He has filled
has |, lx.. e