The Iola register., 1891-07-31


nothing that so much impressed me as
the spectacle of just one face-the face
Of an invalid who was wheeled in on her
chair. said to her afterwards: Mad
am, how long have you been prostra-
ted?" for she was lying fat in the chair.
'Q.' she replied, Il have been this
way fifteen years" | said: DO you
suffer very much?'' 20. yes" she
said, Il suffer very much: | suffer all
the time: part of the time | was blind.
| always suffer-" Well" ! said, ''can
you keep YOUR courage up?" 20, yes"
she said, Il am happy, very happy in
deed" Her face showed it. She looked
the happiest of anyone on the ground,
O! what means of grace to the world.
these invalid chairs. On that field of
human suffering the grace Of God gets
| its victory.
But when one OF these invalids' chairs
become vacant, how suggestive it is!
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 bandage, and the cataplasm,
and prescription. That invalid : chair
NAV be- fOlded up, or taken apart, or
set away, but 1t will never lose its
quceniy power: it will always preach of
trust in God and cheerful submission.
Suffering all ended now. With -espect
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
char. II Is a high chair. 1t is the
cnild's chair. II that chair be occupied,
| think IL Is the most potent chair in all
the household. All the chairs wait on
1t: all the chairs are turned toward it.
1t means more than David's chair at
SauLs banquet. At any rate. it makes
more rachet. That is a strange house
that can 3e dull with child in it.
How that child breaks I'D the hard
worldlIness of the place. and keeps YOU
young 10 90, 20 and 80 years of are, IL
you have no child OF your own aiopt
one. it Will open heaven to your soul.
1t will pay its way. Its s'crowing in the
mornlng will give the day cheerful
starting, anu its glee at night will give
the day cheerful close. You do not
like children? Then you had better
stay out OF heaven. for there are so
many there they would fairly make YOU
cray. Only about five hundred millions
OF them. The old crusty Pharisees told
the mothers to keep their children
away rom Christ. You bother Him."
they said: you trouble the Master"
Trouble Him, He has flied heaven
with that kind OF trouble.
y pioneer in California saws that for
the first year or two after his residence
In Sierra Nevada county. there was not
a 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 O"atiOl, and poem, aud a bolster
ous brass band: and while the band was
playing, an infants voice was heard
crying. and all the miners were startled
and the swdrthy men began to think OF
tnclr homes on the eastern coast. and
o. their wives aud 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, aud the
brass pand played louder and louder,
trying to drown out the iufantile inter-
ruptlon, 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 chance"
| Oh, there was pathoS in it as well as
! good cheer in it. There Is nothing to
aroLse and melt and subdue the soul
.iN2 achild's voice. But when It goes
| away from you the high chair becomes
a higher chair and there i dcs0lation
all about you.
., 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
seadwill be empty"
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
| chars of your homes and OF your social
! circle. and | Did them cry out this
morning: Time is short Eternity is
| near. Take my Saviour. Be at peace
! with God. Come up where | am. We
| lived together on earth. come let us
| live together in heaven. We answer
! that Invitation. We come. Keep a
seat for us, as Saul kept seat for Da
| vid, 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 out
| side world shall be vacant, may we be
worshipping God in that place from
which we shall go out no more forever.
| | thank God there will be no vacant
chairs in heaven. There we
shall meet again and talk over
our earthly heartbreaks. How
much have you been through since you
saw them last. 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 the little shoe only
half worn out never to be worn again,
lust the shape of the foot that once
pressed it. And dreams when you
thought the departed had come back
arain, 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 mid d-night-aiOue. Talk
ing it over. and then, hand in hand,
walking up and down in the light No
sorrow. no tears. no death. O, heaven,
beautiful heaven. Heaven where your
friends are: heaven where we expect to
| De.
In tho 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 aud the; birds, flying out, sing
And | would to-day bring cage of
Christian consultations 20 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