Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-07-24

coast, and Of their wives and children
far away, and there hearts were thrilled
with inconsistencies as they heard the
baby 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 infantile 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 a chance" Oh, there was pa
thos in it, as we'll as good cheer in it.
There is nothing to arouse and melt and
subdue the soul like childs voice. But
when it goes away from you the high
chair becomes a higher chair, and there
is desolation all about you.
In three-fourths of the homes of this
congregation 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 use of
that high chair? It is to call you higher.
What a drawing upward it is to have
children in Heaven! And then it is snch
q 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 60
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: 'sFather, 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, s'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 up
ward. set in array all the vacant.
chairs of your homes and of your social
circle, and bid them cry out this morn
ing: ''Time is short. Eternity is near.
Take my Saviour. Be at peace with my
God. Come up where I am. We lived
together on earth, come let us Live to-
gether in Heayen." We answer that in
vitation. We come. Keep 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 be
vacant may we be worshiping God in
that place from which we shall go out no
more for ever. I thank God there will
be no vacant chairs in Heaven.
There we shall meet again, and talk
over our earthly hcartbreaks. 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 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 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 tho
/ 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
nighs-alone.
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.
1aHAt "oulo Go-udy UIluS IL Cage VI
Christian consultations to the grave of
} your loved ones, and 1 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 un-
comfortable weeping for JOY. Some
stand speeches. in their shock of de-
light. They sing. They culver with
excessive gladness. They gaze on the
temples, 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 in u
great circle around the throne of God
fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters,
sons and daughters, lovers and friends,
hand to hand around about the throne of
God-the circle ever widcning-hand to
hand, JOY to joy, jubilee to jubilee, vic
tory to victory, ''until the day break
and the shadows flee away. Turn thou.
my beloved, and be like roe or a young
hart upon the mountains of Bether.''