The Washington weekly post., 1899-05-23


thfone of earthly power. but il Is the In
vEiidE chair These men and women who
are always suffering but never complain
ing-these victims OF spinal disease. and
Heuralgic torture and rheumatic execru-
citation win answer 10 the roli-cah OF The
martyrs, and rise TO the martyrs throne,
and viii wave the martyrs palm. But
" hen one Of these invalids' chairs De-
ccmss vacant, how suggestive IL is No
more bolstsring Up OF the weary head
No more changing from SiGe 10 side 10
get an easy position. No more use OF the
hanCaEe. and the Cataplasm. and the pre-
sCrip-ion. That iuTaiId's chair may be
folded 90. or taken apart, OF set away.
but IL Will never lose its Queenly power /,
Il viii always preach OF trust in God.
and cheerful submission. suffering al
ended row With respect TO that invahd
the words of nay text have been fulfilled.
Thou shalt be missed, because thy seat
vii b. empty
Sunshine af Child Iif-.
Il pass on. and I End one more vacant
chair. Il Is = high chair II is the child's
chair. II that chair be occupied, . think
It is the most potential chair IN all the
Household. All the chairs wait on il; all
;he chairs are turned toward il. II means
more than David's chair az Salrs ban
quet- At any rate. Il makes more racket
That IS a strange house that can be duh
with child in 1t. How that child breaks
up the hard wOrldlIness of the place. and
keeps you young To sixty. seventy, and
eighty years of age! II you have no child
OF your own, edopt one; il VIII open heav-
en- to yCur soul. 1t viii pay its way. Its
growing in the morning will Give the day
cheerful starting, and its Elee at night
VII give the day a cheerful close. on
30 not ike children Then YOU had bet
ter stay out Of heaven. for there are so
many there they would fairs make you
rrazy! The old, crusty disciples told the
mothers 10 keep the children away from
Christ. You bother Him., they said; YOU
trouble the Master Trouble Him, He
has filled heaven with that kind OF
trouble.
"A pioneer in California said that for
the first year or two after his residence
IN Sierra Nevada County there was not 4
single child in all the reach of a hundred
miles. But the Fourth OF July came, and
the miners were gathered together, and
they we're celebrating the Fourth with
oration, and poem, and boisterous bras
b&nd' and while the band was playing an
infants voice was heardy crying, ard all
The miners were startled, and the sWarIhy
men began to think Of their homes on the
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. md
the brass band played louder and louder
trying 70 drown out the infantile Interrupt
tiOE, when a Swartny miner. the tears roll
ing down his face, got up and shook his
fist and said: stop that noisy band, and
give the baby a chance" OH there was
paJhOS in it. as well as good cheer in il
There is nothing TO arouse and melt. and
subdue the soul like a child's voice. But
when il goes away from you the high
chair becomes a higher chair, and there is
desolatiOn all about you.
The Little One Is Gone.
'Tn three-fourths of our homes 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 strange ques-
tions about God and heaven. Oh, what
is the use of that high chair? 1t is to
call you higher, What a drawing upward
il IS to have children in heaven! And then
it is such a preventive against sin. If a
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 the spirits of his
dead children floating about him and how
ering over his every wayward step? Oh,
speak out, vacant high chair, and say,
Father, come back from sin: mother,
come back from worldllness. ! am watch
ing you. l am waiting for you With re-
spect to your child, the words of my text
have been fulfilled: Thou shalt be missed,
because thy seat will be empty"
II have gathered up the voices of our
departed friends and tried to intone them
into one invitation upward I set
in array all the vacant chairs
of your homes and of your
social circle, and | bid them cry out:
Time is short. Eternity is near. Take
my Saviour. Be at peace with my God.
Come up where / am. We lived together
OH 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 seat shall not be
empty.
The Vacant Pulpit.
I'VE preachers are very earnest, be-
cause We realize the fact that the day
will come when the preachers chair will
be empty. From that chair how often
have we looked off into friendly faces.
We have seen a great many beautiful and
thrilling sights, but never anything to
equal what we have witnessed when in
such a chair. Seated in it, sometimes we
have greatly TejOiced at seeing multitudes
come 10 God, and then, again. we have
trembled for fear that men would reject
the Gospel. We wonder what those chairs
will testify when We have left them for
the last time. We wish they might tell
Of a useful life, of an earnest ministry.
Of a pure Gospel preached! God grant
they may! The most powerful sermon
that is ever preached is by the vacant
chair of a pastor the Sabbath after he
has been carried away from IT, And ohi
when We are all through with this world
and we have shaken hands all around
for the last time and all our chairs I'm the
home circle and in the outside world shall
be vacant, may we be worshiping God in
that place from which we shall 10 out
no more forever. / thank God there will
n rrarl ly7r hot In,