The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-07-28

youngest. and the chair had rocked the
whole family. 1t made creaking noise
Las 1t moved; but there was music In the
fsound. twas just high enough to low
4 us Children to put our heads into her
Flap. Thatwas the bank where we de-
posted all our hurts sand worries. All!
what chair that was.. 1t was different
| from the fathers chair; IT was entirely
fdilfereat. You ask me howp I cannot
tell; buy we all felt II was different. Per-
haps there was about that chair more
gentleness, more tenderness, more grief
when I'VE had done wrong. When we
| were @ayward, father scolded, but moth.
er cried. 1t was a very wakefulEchair.
In the sick days ofehildren, other chairs
could not keep awake; that chair always
kept awake-kept easily awake. That
chair knew all the old lullabies and all
those wordless songs which mothers
sing to their sick children--songs in
which all p ty, and compassion and sym
pathetic influences are combined. That
old chair has stopped rocking for a good
many years. 1t may be set up in the
loft or the garret, but it holds a queenly
power yet. When at midnight you went
into that grog- shop to get the intoxicat-
ing draught, did you not hear vol g
that said: ''My son, why 60 IN therep"
And louder than the bolsterous encore
OF the place of sinful amusement, a voice
saying, "MY son, what do you here?"
And when you went into the house of
abandonment, voice saying, .tWhat
would your mother do If she knew you
were here?" Aud you were provoked
with yourself, and you charged yourself
with superstition and fanaticism and
your head got hot with your thoughts,
and you went home and you went to
bed, and no sooner had you touched the
bed than Il voice said: ''What? a pray
erless pillow? Msn! what is the mat.
ter2" This: You are too near Your
mothers rocking chair.
.Oh, pshaw!" YOU say, There's
nothing in that; Pm 500 miles off from
where was born; Pm 5000 miles of
from the church whose bell was the first
music / ever heard" L cannot help
that; you are two near your mothers
rocking chair. "Oh," you say, there
can't he anything in that; that chair has
been vacant a great WHILE" L cannot
help that; it is a the mightier for that; !;
1t is omnipOtent, that vacant mothers
chair. 1t whispers; it speaks; it weeps;
it carols; it mourns; it prays; it warns;
1t thunders. A young man went of and
broke his mothers heart, aud 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 effect.
This moment give my heart to God"
And he kept his promise. Another VIC
tory for the vacant chair. With refer
ence to your mother, the words of my
text were fulfilled, "Thou shalt be
missed, because thy seat will be emp
ty."
go'on little further, and come to
the invalid's chair. What! How long
have you been sick? so! have been
sick ten, twenty, thirty years" Is it
possible? What asstory of endurance.
There are in many ofthe families of my
congregation these invalid's chairs. The
occupants of them think they are doing
no good in the world. bit that invalld's
chair is the mighty pulpit from which
they have been preaching all these years.
trust in God. The: st time preached
here at Lakeside, Ohio, amid the throngs
present there was nothing that so much
impressed me asthe. spectacle of just
one face-the face of an invalid who
was wheeled in on her chair. L said to
her afterwards: "Madam, how long have
you been prostrated2'' for she was lying
flat in the chair. sop she replied: ''I
have been this way fifteen years." 1
said: "Do you suffer very much?" 20,
yes,"1she said: II suffer very much; I
suffer ali the time; part of the time I was
blind. l always suffer-" ''Well," L
said: "can you keep your courage up?"
20 yes," she said; II am happy, very
happy indeed" Her face showed it.
She looked the happiest Of any one on
the ground.
U! what means OF grace to the world,
these invalid chairs. On that field Of
human suffering the grace of God gets its
victory. Edward Payson the invalid,
and Richard Baxter the invalid, and Rob-
ert Hall tho invalid, and ten thousand of
whom the world has never heard, but of
whom all heaven is cognlzant. The
most conspicuous thing on earth for
Gods eye and The eye of angels to rest
on, is not a throne of earthly power, but
it is the invalid's char. o! these men
and women who are always suffering
but never com plaining--these victims of
spinal disease, and neu,algic torture,
and r"eumatic eXcrllciat will answer
TO the roll-call OF the martyrs, and rise
to the martyrs throne, and will wave
the martyrs paloi. But when one OF
these invalids' chairs becomes vacant,
how suggestive u is! No more bolster
ing up Of the weary head. No more
changing from side to side to get an easy
position. No more use of the bandage
and tue cataplasm, and the prescription.
That invalid's chair may be folded up,
or taken apart, or set away, but 1t will
never lose its queenly power; it will all
ways preach OF trust id God, and cheer
ful 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. 1t is the
child's char. If that char be occupied,
think 1t is the most potent chair In all
The household. All the chairs wait on
1t; all the chairs are turned toward it..
1t meaus more than Dayid's chair ut
Saul,s banquet. AT any rate, IL makes
more racket. That is strange house
that can be dull with child in 1t. How
that child breaks up the hard worldliness
OF the place, anu keeps you young to 60,
10, and so years of ageI Ifyou have no
| child of yOllr O,y N adont one. N will oman