The Penn's Grove record., 1891-07-31

hat. Iii omuipotent. that vacant mother
T's chair. 1t whispers, it speaks, it weeps, it
.arols, 1t mourns, it prays, it warns, ~
hunders. A young man went of and
broke his mothers heart, and while he was
rway 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: "onf,
mother, mother, what your life could not do
your death shall eifecti This moment l give
nv heart to God" And be kept his prom
Sc. Another victory for the vacant chair:
With reference TO your mother the words OF
nv text were fulfilled, ssrhou shalt DO
missed, because thy seat will be empty"
1 go on a little further, and ! come to the
nvalidps chair. Whati How long have you
been sickf .'Ohl I have been sick ten, twenty,
thirty years." Is it p~ossibief What a story
Of endurance. There are in many OF the
families of my congregation these invands'
chairs. The occupants of them think they
are doing no good in the world. but that In.
yalid's chair is the mighty pulpit
ing, all these years trust in God. Tit first
time l preached here at Lakeside, Ohio, amid
the throngs present, there was nothing tnas
10 much impressed me as the spectacle OF
lust one face-the face Of an invalid who
was wheeled in on her chair. said to her
bean prostratedr' for she was lying Hat in
the chair. 'Ohf' she replied. - have
oeen this way fifteen years" sac,
s'Do you suffer very muchY, oh. yes.
| she said, II suffer very much; l suffer all
the time; part Of the tine l wa was a Ssna; Won
keep your courage upg'' sob, yes" she said,
II am happy very happy indeed" Her lace
showed it. She looked the happiest OF any
on. what a means of grace to the world,
thep brvalid -aairs. On that field Of hg-
man suffering the grace of God getad1u
victory. Edward Payson, the invalid,
Robert ball, the invalid, and the ten thou
sand of whom the world has never heard,
but Of whom all heaven Ia 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 rheumatic ex-
cruciation will answer to the roll sall of
the martyrs and rise to the martyrs throne,
and will wave the martyrs palm.
But when one of these invalids chairs be-
comes 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 bandage
and the ~cataplasm and the prescription.
taken apart, or set away, but it will
never lose its queenly power, it will always
preach of trust in God and cheerful submi4
sion. Suffering all ended now. With re-
spect to that invalid the words Of my text
nave been fulfilled, 'Thou shalt be missed,
because thy seat will be empty.
pass on and find one more vacant chair.
1t Is a high chair. It is the child's chair.
If that chair be occupied I think it is the
most potent chair in all the household. All
tine chairs tsw, wSis - on Il i; m all the % Sssirs ,s are
David's chair at sauPs banquet. At any
rate ir makes more racket. That is a strange
house that can be dull with a child
In it. How that ohild breaks up the hard
worldliness of the place and keeps you
young to sixty, seventy and eighty years Of
adopt one; y will open heaven to your
the morning viii give the day a cheerful
starting, and its glee at night will give the
day a cheerful close. You do not like chill
drens Then you had better stay out Of
would fairly make, you crazy. Only about
I've hundred millions Of them. The old
,rusty Pharisees told the mothers to keep the
children away from Christ. you bother
Him" they said; you trouble the Master"
Trouble Himi He has filed cav 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 q
| single child in all the reach of a hundred
miles. But the Fourth of July came, and
The miners were gathered together and
they were celebrating the Fourth with ora
ton and poem and a boisterous brass band,
and while the a was playing an infants
voice was heard crying, and all the miners
were startled, and the swarthy men began
10 think Of their homes on the eastern coast,
and of their wives and 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, and the brass band
played louder and louder, trying to drown
,ut the infantile interruption, 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 a
chance" Oh, there was pathos in it, as
we'll as good cheer in it. There is nothing
10 arouse and melt and subdue the soul
like a child's voice. But when it goes
away from you the high chair becomes a
higher chair and there is desolation all about
you.
In th~ree-fourths of the homes of this con-
| ~gregation there is a vacant high chair.
Somehow you never get over it. There is
| no one to put to bed at night; no one to ask
TRANCE questions about God and heaven.
Oh, Whist is the use Of that high chairf 1t is
to call you higher. What q drawing up
ward it is to nave children in heaveni And
then it is such a preventive against sin, IL
a father is going away into sin he leaves
his living children with their mother; but
IL a father is going away into sin what Is
he going to do with his dead children noat-
ing about him and lowering over his every
hayward step. oh, speak out, vacant high
| chair and saw Father, come back from
| On: mother, come pacS from wsridinesS I
am watching you. / am waiting for you"
| With respect to your child the words of my
text nave been fulAlled, Thou shalt be
| missed, because thy seat will be empty"
Nv hearers, I have gathered up the voices
| of your departed friends and tried to intone
them into one invitation upward. i set in ar
| raw all the vacant chairs Of your homes N
| Of your social circle, and l bid them cry out
| this morning. thine is short. Eternity IL
near Take my Saviour. be at peace
with my God Come up where l 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 a seat for David, but that zeal
All through with this world, and we hsvS
shaken hands all around for the last time.
ana all our chairs in the home circle ana IN
the outside world shall be vacant, may we
be worshiping God in that place from whico
we shall go out no more forever
Ithanls 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
iness. The sleepless nights. The weeping
antil you had no more power 70 weep be-
cause the heart was withered and
Tried up. Story OF empy cradle
and a 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 Neutrality-suspicious..
Talking it all over, and then, hand In
hand, walking up and down In the light
No sorrow, no tears M death. oh, heaveni
beautiful heavenl Heaven where our friends
are. Heaven where we expectt to be. In the
east they take a cage of birds and bring 1t to
the tomb of the dead, and then they open
the door Of the cage. and the birds, flying
out, sing. And would to-day bring a cage
OF Christian consultations TO the grave Of