Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-07-23

coast, and of their wives and childron
far away, and there hearts were thrilled
with inconsistencies as they heard tho
,, baby cry. 'Ao
DuC the music went on, and the child
Illeu louder and louder, and the brass
oahd played louder and louder, trying to
uIo"h out the infantile interruption
When swarthy miner, the tears rolling
uoWn ms face, got up and shook his fist
+, ana sald stop that noisy band and olvo
the oaoY chance" Oh, there was ma
thos IN 1T, as we'll as good cheer in II
Ihere is nothing to arouse and melt and
suodue the soul like child's voice. Rut
When IL 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
congregation there is a vacant hiyb
chair Somehow you never get over il
There is no one to put to bed at nirht.
no one to ask strange questions abont
God and Heaven. Oh, what is the use of
that high chair? 1t is to call you higher
What Il drawing upward it is to have
children in Heaven! And then it is snch
preventive against sin. If father is
going away into sin he leaves his living
children with their mother; but if ia.
Their is going away into sin what is he 90.
ing to do with his dead children floating
about him and lowering over his every
hayward step? Oh, speak out, vacant
high chair, and say: Gather, come
back from sin: mother, come back from
worldliness. l am watching you. am
waiting for you" With respect to your
al, hn Of
fulfilled, "Thou shalt be missed, because
thy seat will be empty"
My hearers, l have gathered up the
voices of your departed friends and tried
to intone them into one invitation I'D.
ward | set in array all the vacant
chairs Of your homes and of your social
circle, and | bid them cry out this morn.
ing: thine is short. Eternity is near.
Take my Saviour. Be at peace with my
God. Come up where | am. We lived
together on earth, come let us live to-
gether in Heaven" We answer that in
vitation. We come. Keep a seat for us,
as Saul kept a 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, and all our chairs in the home
circle and in the outside world shall DO
vacant, may we be worshiping God in
that place from which we shall go out no
more for ever 1 thank God there will
be no vacant chairs in Heaven.
There we shall meet again, and talk
over our earthly heartbreaks. 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 loneliness. The sleepeSS
nights. The weeping until you had no
more power to weep, because the heart
was withered and dried up. Story of
empty cradle, and little shoe only half
worn out never to be worn again, Just
the shape of the foot that once pressed
it. And dreams when you thought the
departed had come back again, 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 the mid
Talking it all over, and then, hand in
hand, walking up and down in the light
No sorrow, no tears, no death. Oh
Heaven, beautiful Heaven! Heaven
where our friends are. Heaven where
we expect to be. In the 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, and the birds, flying out, sing.
And l would to-day bring a cage Of
Christian consultations to 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
before the throne. Some shout with
gladness. Some break forth into IN.
comfortable weeping for joy. Some
stand speechless in their shock Of de-
light. They sing. They culver with
excessive gladness. They gaze on the
on the palaces, on the waters
on each other. They weave their joy
into garlands, they spring it into trium
phal arches, they strike it on timbrelS
and then all the loved ones gather ina
great circle around the throne of God
fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters
sons and daughters, lovers and friends
hand to hand around about the throneG
God-the circle ever widening-hand to
hand, joy to joy, jubilee to jubilee, vie
tory to victory, ''until the day break
and the shadows flee away. Turn thou
my beloved. and be like a roe or young
hart upon the mountains of Bether."