The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-08-05

nv heart to God" Aud he kept his prom
iss. Another victory for the vacant CHAIR:
With reference to your mother the words OF
NV text were fulfilled, sThou shalt bs
missed, because thy seat will be empty"
I 20 on q little further, and l come to the
invalid's chair. What! How long have you
been sick? ''Oh! I have been sick ten, twenty,
thirty years" Is it possibles What story
of endurance. There are In many OF tne
chairs The occupants Of them think they
are doing no good in the world. but that In
ualid,s chair is the mighty pulpit
from which they have been preacn-
ING. all these years, trust in God. Inc nrsS
time I preached here at Lakeside, ONO, emu
the thrones present, there was notaln2 snat
ca much impressed me as the spectacle OF
inst one face-the face Of an !nVano %no
was wheeled in on her chair. saio W nes
afterward: Madam, how long nave you
been prostratedw for she was lying nas IN
the Chair. .'Ohw she replied; I nave
been this way fifteen years ..ot SaSa sasI;
che said II suffer very much; suffer all
the time: part of the time l was nhnu. L
always suffer" "Well," I said, can you
ss eesn yonr courage upg' ooh, yes" she said,
AG1p s.I am Ina banny very happy indeed" Her facs
showed il She looked the happiest Oh any
Oh what means Of grace to the worio'
these invalid chairs. On that field OF hui
man suffering the grace Of God gets its
victory; Edward PaysSon' ;sHs,ia 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
a 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 rheumatlc ex-
crucation 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 b.
comes 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 the prescription.
That invalid chair may be folded uo or
taken apart, or set away, but 1t will
never lose its queenly power, it will always
preach Of trust in God and cheerful submis-
sion. Suffering all ended now. With re-
spect to that invalid the words Of my text
have been fulfilled, "Thou shalt bs missed,
because thy seat will be empty.
pass on aud find one mora vacant chair.
It is a high chair. 1t is the child's CHAIR
II that chair be occupied think it is the
most potent chair in all the household. All
the chairs wait on it; all the chairs ara
turned toward it. 1t means more than
David's chair at SauPs banquet. At any
rate il makes more racket. That is a strange
house that can 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
age. # 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 y,7 q cheerful chez 1S
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
Ave hundred millions Of them. The old
crusty PharisesS told the mothers to keep the
children away from Christ. You bother
Him." they said; ''you trouble the Master"
Trouble Him! He has filed heaven with
that kind of trouble.
A pioneer in California says 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 a hundred
the miners were gathered together and
they were celebrating the Fourth with ora
tion and poem and boisterous brass band,
and while the band was playing an infants
voice was heard crying, 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 hone-
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 infantils 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
chance" Oh, there was pathos in 1t, as
well as good cheer in it. There is nothing
to arouse and melt and subdue the soul
like a childs voice. But when 1t goes
away from you the high chair becomes
higher chair and there is desolation all about
you.
In three-fourths Of the homes Of this con-
erezation 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 and heaven.
Oh what is the uss Of that high chair? It is
to call you higher. What q drawing up
ward it is to have children In heaven! And
then it is such a preventive against sin. II
q father is going away into sin he leaves
his living children with their mother; but
If father is going away into sin what Is
he going to do with his dead children float
ing about him and lowering over his every
wayward step. Oh, speak out vacant high
chair, and say: Father, come back from
sin: mother, come back from worldliness. l
am watching you. am waiting Tor you"
With respect to your Child the words OF my
text have been fulfilled, Thou shalt be
missed, because thy seat will be empty"
NV hearers, have gathered up the voices
Of your depa1 ted friends and tried to lntone
them into one invitation upward. 1 set in ar.
ray all the vacant chairs Of your homes and
of your social circle, and bid them cry out
this morning: Time is short. Eternity IS
near. Take my Saviour. Be at ,peacs
with my 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 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.
ana 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 so out no more forever.
thank God there will be no vacant chairs
in heaven. There we shall meet again and
talk over our earthly heart-breaks. How
much you have been through since you saw
them last. On the shining shore you will
talk it all over. The heart.aches The lone.
illness. The sleepless nights. The weeping
until you had no more power to weep. be-
CAUSE tho heart was withered and
dried up. Story Of empy cradle
and little shoe only half worn out
never to be worn again, just the shape of
the foot that once pressed it.. Aud dreams
with their faces, and you started up to
praat than and in the effort the drnar,