The Brooklyn pivine's Banday Sermon, Subject: “The Vacant Chair» ————— Texr: “Thow shall be missed, because thy seat will be empty.” —1 Bamuel zx. 18 Set on the table the cutlery and the chased silverware of the palace, for King Baul will #ve a state dinner to-day, A distinguished place is kept at the table for his son-in-law a celdbrated warrior, David by name. The guests, jewsied and plumed, come in and take their places. When people are invited to a king's banquet they are very apt to go, But before the covers are lifted from the feast Seul looks around and finds a vacant ent at the table He says within himself, perhaps audibly, * What does ikis mean? ‘here is my son-in-law? Whers is David, the t war rior? Iinvited him, I expected him. What} & vacant chair at the king's banquet!” The fact was that David, the warrior, had been seated for the last time at his father. in-law’s table. The day before Jonathan bad coaxed David to go and occupy that place at the table, saying to David in the words of my text, “Thou shalt be missed because thy seat will be empty.” The pro- diction was fulfilled. David was missed, His seat was empty, That one vacant chair spoke louder than all the occupied chairs at the banquet, in almost every house the articles of fur Diture take a living personality. That preture—a stranger would not see anythin remarkable either in its design or executd but itis more to you than all the Louvre and the Luxembo member who bought it and it And Lymn Ler who out of it, And cradle urexember who rocked it. that ee WOU Ke ver who re quit of at, J 1 that bed—you remem ber w sept init, And tl roo whod in it 3 ere rg. Youre who admired book--you ramen wad -—you remember notiving i and so mighty voiocsd I suppose that befo from this banguet wine pitchers, vaed out by the } vacant © is Nn all and his gu WaS & gr but ail that racke yolos that came the table, Millions bave gazed and wept at Jolin Quincy Adams's vacant chair in the honss of representatives, and at Wilson's vacant chair fn the vice-presidency, and at Henry Ciey's vacant chair in the American senate sad at Prince Albert's vacant chair in Wind. sor castle, and at Thiers’ vacant chair in the councils of the French nation. But all these chairs are unimportant to you as compared with the vacant chairs in your own housshold. Have these chairs any lesson for us to learn? Are we any better men amd women than when they first addressed us? First I point out to you the father's va. tant chair. Old men always like to sit in the same place and in the same chair. They somehow feel more at home, and svme. tines when you are in their piace and they toe into the roc you jump up sud- y and say, ‘‘Here. father, here's your The prol ity is it is an arm- I as he onces His de i he so strong was, and he 1 Sar is a pressed, uch dentistry little upholdiag Fr, big gums a little days there was not hd hair and ald | & i may have sug i ) im neat, father foes not war (at neve re 3 MEG ROT I sat at the table ws f na for WR Grand. or naw sb ut the ie tip of he slinpers, ave of the past years t of that chair, . ttle impa- and same story but old chair how many sed men ies hover! 1 hope you did aot crowd that old chair, and that it did not get very much in the way, Sometimes the old man's chal: gels very much in the way, especially if he has been so anwise as to makes over ail his property to his children, with the understanding that they areto take care of him, I have seen in such cases children crowd the old man's chair to the door, and then crowd it clear into the street, and then crowd it into the poor house, and keep on crowding it until She old man fell out of it into his grave, But your father’s chair wasa sacrad place, The children used to climb up oun the rungs of it for a good night kiss, and tha longer he staved the better you liked But that chair has been vacant now time, The furniture dealer al piacidity his life broke 08 som ont, wd the <Wice; bles for some 1 woul 3 ur affection ive smnbroided | that old chair in purple and g F." Have all the prayers of hair answered? Have all air besn praciiced!? i armchair, 4 an oid man whose ¢ heen counsels of that old ¢ Bpeak out! ¢ History tells us of fons ware victors in the Oly w when they came back thesa their garlands, put them on the father's br ree any th ro y 10 games '¥ 30Ns. w tories of his three children that he fell des! in their arms. And are yoo, oh man, going to bring a wreath of joy and Christian usefulnes and put it on your father's brow, oron the vacant chair. or on the memary of the one departed? Speak out, old armehair! With reierence to your father, the words of mv text have been fulfilled, “Thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.” I go a Httle further on in your house and I find the mother's chair, It {s very apt to te a rocking chair, Shes had so many cares and troubles to soothe that it must have 1ociars. I remember it wall; it was an old chair, and the rockers were almost worn out, for I was the youngest, and the ckalr had rocked the whole family, It made a cremkie noise as it moved: but thers was music in the sound, It was juss bigh enough to allow us children to put our heads into her lap. That was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and wor. rier, Ah! what a chair that was. It was different from the father's chair: it was on. tirely different. You ask me how? I can. not tell; but we all felt it was different Perhaps there was about this chair mors geatienass, more teaderne more grief when we bad done wrong, “When wa wero wayward father scolded, bat mother ered, It was a very wakeful chair. In ths sick days of” children other chairs could not awake; that chair always kept awake—-kept easily awake, The chair knew all the old Jullgbies and all thous wordless songs which mothers sing to thei wiok children—songs in which all pity ani Somtpiaiion and sympathetic influence are combined, That old chair has stopped rocking tor a good many years. It may be set up in the left ar the but it holds a queen! pows yet, bem at roldoight you ne 4 into that Ks shop to ged the intoxicating draught, you not hear a vi that said, “My son, why go in there?” And louder than the boisterous encore of the place of sinful amusement, a voles saying, “My son, what do you do here? And when you went into the house of ant, % vajes saviog, “What would your mother & And you A if sho knw Yip Th hate! a a ih, Joutut, aud naticlsm aad your head got hot with your own thoughts, snd vou went home and you went to bed, and no sooner had you touched the bed than a voice said: “What! a praverieam pillow? Man! what is the matter” This You are wo near your mother's rocking -chnir, . “Oh, pshaw I” you say, “There's nothing inthat, Pm five hundred miles off from where i was born, I'm three hundred miles off from the church whose bell was the first musie I ever heard.” I cannot help that, You are too near vour mother» rocking chair, "Oh" you say. ‘there can't ba anything in that. That chair has been vacant a great while” | cannot help that, It isall the mightier for that, Itis emnipotent, that vacant mothars er's ahair, It whispers, it speaks, it weeps, it carols, it mourns, it prays, it warns it thusdura A young man went off and oroke his mother’s heart, and while he was away from home his mother died, and the telegraph brought the son, and he cams into the room wheres she lay and looked upon her faca, and he cried out: "Ob, mother, mother, what your life could not do your death shall effect! Thismoment 1 give my heart to God.” And he kept his prom. iss. Another victory for the vacant chair, With reference to your mother the words of my text were fulfilled, **Tuon shalt be missed, becauss thy seat will ba empey.” I go on a little further, and 1 come to the favallds chair, What! How long have been sick? “Oh! 1 have beep sick t thirty years.” Is it po } Thera hls %i 00 are in {my congragatio i The occupants of aod 10 te -~ chairs, chair which time [ pt the thr ni ust one juss or vaiid's chair, WHO Ar'e RiwWavs plaining—th spina and peur and rheamat cruciati will answ 0 the roll eall s martyrs throne 1 i IF ee ” : © far suiiaring, but never there many there TALY Only abot undred mi ns of them The ol i the mothe y Roep the Christ : i Le Lid i fairly make five h crusty Pharisees children away from bother Him.” they said: “you trouble aster.” Trouble Him! He bas filled beaven with that kind of tr i A pioneer in first year or two Sierra Nevada county woul the % that for the resi fornia say after his lence there reach ¢ ourth of July and ¢ the baby a Was i = In it as cheer In it, . i= nothing subdues the soul when I goes becomes a an all abo Rd sl X “ ay band, thivte melt and a child Ver away from you the high chair higher clair and thers is desolati you, In three-fourths of the homes of this cone gregation there is a vacant high chair, Somehow you never get over it, There is noone 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 a drawing up- ward it is to have children in heaven! And then itissuch a preventive against sin. If a father is going away into sin he leaves his Hv children with their mother: but if a father is going away into sin what is he going to do with his dead children float. ing about him and hovering over his every wayward step. Oh, speak out, vacant high chair, and say: “Father, come back from sin; mother, come DRCK trom Woridiiness, i am watching you. 1am waiting for you” With respect to your child the words of my text have been fulfilled, “Thou shalt missed, because thy seat will be empty * My hearers, I have gatherad up the voices of your departed friends and tried to futons them into one invitation upward. I set in are ray all the vacant chairs of your homes and of your social circle, and 1 bid them ery out this mornmg. “Time is short, Eternity is near. Take my Saviour, He at peace with my God, Come up where 1 am, We lived together on earth; come let us live together in heaven” Wo answer that invitation, We come, Keep a weat for us as Baul kept a seat {or David, but that seat shall not be enipty. 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 and ike a Hut wy ® iv be worshiping God in that places from which we shall go out no mote forever, 1 thane God there will be no vacant chalrs In heaven, There we shall meet 5 and talk over our sarthly heartbr How much you bave been through since you saw them last, On the shining shore ‘you will talk it all over. The heartaches. The lone linows, ® nights, The wesping until you had no mors power to weep, the withered i | when you taougnt thas departed had come k again, snd the room seemed bright with thelr faces, and you started up to Test them and in the effort the dream roke and you ‘ound yoursell standing amid reoan in the miduight-—alone, Taliing it ail ovar, and then, hand in hand, walking un and down in the lizht No sorrow, no tears, no death, Oh, hea ves! beautiful heaven! Heaven where our friends are, Heaven where wa expeotto be. In the cast they take a cage of birds and bring it to the tome of the dead, and then they the door of the cage aud the birds, fiying out, sing. And I would to-day bring a cage of Christlan conselations to the grave your joved onss, and I would opsn the with the Gren o ‘oor masse Oh, how they beund in these spirits be. Bome shout with gladness, in their qa ver Nome stand speschiess They sing, They They guzs on the on the waters, oa They weave their jov into gar- spring it into trinmphal sirike in on timbreis, and lovel ons gatas the throne of 80 they they all the great cirele around Stars, sons 1d 1 ti thers, mothers, brothers wers and friend the throoe to yi, joy around abou! * widening in Hr unul RWWA fen , my beloved, andl be like a 1 mountains imdows pang bard upon the ol _— CHILDREN IN JAPAN. GYeyY any ot charm { to them No doul 18 COnLeck d with the wari ki ies, and ¢ and 18 sire first—that each « a miniature adu exception of ulders, ita dress i of a grown person delightfully httle men and women, smaller chubbier fl V-ARWAY ssl fact he 3 the k And it is quaint to see these anda the fun. But there i creatures butter yment immed pir little Japanese boys and girls | children; an they IW snr aug htine childlike of al | prisiongly good 3 almost unknown i spent { hours watching them in the mn school, at work, or at play, and very Some are! aH have streets, expects of tumor is with them a | stronger passion than puagnacity, and i the threatening thunder-clouds burst in a rain of laughter. By what golden spell do the Japan. parents control their children? what magic do they command the r bbedience which is a noticeable characteristic in these little people? Certainly not by coercion nor by punish. ments, 1 have been for over avear in all parts of Japan, and never once have | seen a child slapped or shaken, and I have been told by European teachers jin native schools that punishments are very rare aud discipline very easy to maintain. The accompanying sketches show some characteristic types of | Young Japan in their national oos- {tumes, These present a striking con trast to the hideous foreign fashions | now frequently seen in the streets of i Tokio and Kioto. Oh, the pity of it! sCnte | driving away the classic kimono. Im- i ported boots are crampime the little padded cords of sandal or clog. { worse than all, the little round heads, | which for thousands of years have re- | quired only an oiled paper parasol to protect them from sunshine and | shower, are now thrust into every | variety of European eap and bat, from the Lard felt “bowler” to the unadorned straw shape. There are no people so fond of toys {an the Japanese. About one day out of | three is a holiday in their country, and | even their pilgrimages to temples of | worship are performed in gala costume, | with dancing and sports by the way- iside. Flay is from their pointof view | the object of existence, work being the | means to the end, because it is neces. | sary to earn pleasure in order to find {it enjoyable. Americans, of course, | know better than this, having ascer- { tained that the purpose of life is labor { and that fun in any shape is waste of | time, The Japanese have the most perfect kindergarten system in the world. . In i fact, they originated this method of instructing by entertaioment instoad of | punishment inflicted. Their play ap- atus for such purposes is elaborate, mt all of it is adap to the infant mind, which it is od at once to amuse and to inform. The little ones i : | ; of wood with a lathe. They make out ’ lines of solid figures out of straws, ith green peas dried to hold the joints to- gother, and for the instruction of the blind flat blocks are provided, with the Japanese characters raised upon them. Even the toys of Japan give instrue- tion to those who play with them. One sort of playing cards bas printed upon them 100 scraps of classic poetry, by which the rudiments of the art of versi- fication are expected to be ineunleated, | Avother set embodies & collection of old Japanese parables, by whieh the | syliabary of the leuguage and moral | maxims at the same time are to taught. tory cards to give instrioetion in the names and forms of animals, and sill another set, especially intended for. have been celebrated for their and noble qualities, All these things can be seen in museum of the Burean of Education, at Eighth and G. s reets, of the exist. In the eollection there, the Hw 1 ao educational nutries of Japan m are types ot play- f Of mil ing fissem! lage HE any of th ied western the I. but no long stick by a still another 18 a # al 'hDj being sttached y base, At t more ox tween t the axle w v wWheals, tha bh OV 1 iekisha i» WATS) a foreign cov by Further devices er Deing be ag native kaleidoscopes, ecapboar profligate men, Who beholders 1 are re becomes of them 3 the § no m seen. s what oy hide their flight is finished, languish Marshalsea, and the dragonflies of I do not ' when Mostly, heads xy n ved, they the are the butterflies They sa she wrrsh oF, DOS suppose that 1s Yet no one knew 1t—no one such =» Archer's, wonld suspect Lord Aldeb rgh bad brought up conld possibly suspect the truth. it might crowded during the trials of the four men charged with high longing to an obscure for being concerned in which led to nothing. Some one may have remembered the face i former and King's evidence; but eon- gider, his new dress had so altered the man that nobody conld possibly reCoE- Nothing of the grab was wp le ndid aragon fly. Nay, e thought him elf quit very. St Ka'harine's is a most obsoure place. The world of fashion finds not ite way there; one trembes to think what wonld become of a Bean, Jessamy, Maccaroni, Smart, or Dandy (the creature changes his little a petty nize him left in this i suppose that 1 safe from disc and unprotecied among the tarpaulins and mudiarks at the head of St. Kathe. rine's Stairs. And if the world of fash. even Vauxhall jut a man can never escape his past, From his birth and the station to which he is ordained and called into being, unto his death, the whole of his history is always ready to be unfolded and dis- closed. He can count upon hiding nothing, principally because there are few things which a man does absolate- ly alone and wvmnoticed. His past clings to him; it follows him; it is like a lengthening shadow; it is like a chain which he drags after him; it takes sha To some it becomes an angel of light to lead him vpward; it outs out a way for him through the wood and lays low the thorns; it strengthens and supports him. To others it lies as a not about his feet to trip him up and lay him low; it may become a devil with a scourge; it may take shape of an executioner with a torture-ohamber and a gibbet. Physician and philos- opher have held that every moment of a man's life is remembered; and may be recalled by a trick of memory or some sudden association of ideas, Thus may we understand how a man may be judged by his own memory, by his own mind, and out of his own mouth, Walter Besant in “St Katherine's by the Tower.” Lightning destroyed an Iowa lce- house, Hungary's railway cars have electric ta, The Tichborne claimant is a still walter, | A London of earrings 18 $5,000. an SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON, EURNDAY, AUGUST 8 1801. Christ at Jacob's Well, LESSON TEXT, ohn 4 : 5.28, Memory vorses: 18-14) LESSON PLAN. Toro oF TRE (JUARTER: Son of God, Jesus the rou THE QUARTER that ye might be- the Christ, the Son believing ye might his name. —John Goroex Texr 1 hese are written, licve that Je BILE of fod; and that have life through 20 : 31. in Lesson Toric: The Son and the Sinner, 1. Approaching the Bin ner, va 54 2 Interesting the Binner, { | Lessox OurrLine itening the Sin ORG EVEY of life freely being wearied, v Here Then I said am I: send me (Isa. 6:8 What then must we I ask with what me (Acts 10 : 28), am ready to preach the gospel to Hom, 1 0 ao” Luke 3 : 4 } 1 ints rati annt intent you sent for You also improving Opportunity: "her 3 1 $0 drav yi rad Bil We rome i As we i Iii. Jews have tans Surmount Samnari- Preach the gospel creas tion (Mark . I he ut forth, and preached where (Mark 16 : 20), I perecive that God is no respocter of persons {Acts 10 34), We are more than conquerors through him (Bom. 8 : 87 1. “Jesus therefore, being wearied, #at thus by the weil.” 1} Wearied; (2) Willing; (3) Watch- ing; (4; Waiting. “Lhere cometh a woman of Sama- ria to draw water.” The woman's errand (1) From the human stand. point; From the divine stand- point.—(1) A trivial purpose; (2) A momentous result, 3. “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me?” (1) Human barriers; (2) Divine triumphs — (1) Alienated in society; (2) One in Christ. vy went for ever ¥ « 574 3a 9 ~ 3 ~ il. INTERESTING THE BINXER, Presented: I. >od's Girt 1{ thon knewest the gift of God (10. i I will give yon rest (Matt. 11 : 28), Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Act i The free mit (Rom. 6 : Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift (2 Cor. 9 : 15), ! 11. Man's Blessedness Described: | Whosoever drinketh....shall never thirst (14) | Blessed are all they that put their trust in him (Psa. 2 : 12), | Let your soul delight itself in fatness | (Isa 55: 2). | He that lelieveth on me shall thirst (John 6 : 856). {| They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more (Rev, 7 : 16), Il, Human Desire Aroused: Sir, give me this water, that I not (15). Wash me, and I sha'l be whiter than snow (Pea. 51 : 7). O satisfy us in the morning with thy mercy (Pea. 90 : 14), lord, evermore give us this bread (John 6 : 34). Sirs, what must I do to besaved? (Acts 16: 80). 1. “If thou knewest:. ...thon would. est have asked....and he would have given.” (1) A peerless gift; (2) A waiting giver; (3) A fatal ig- norance.—{1) Knowledge; (2) De- sire; (3) Blessodness, 2. “The water that I shall give him.” Water (1) Quenching. spiritasl thirst; (2) Meeting oll wants; (9) Satisfying for eternity; (4) Earich- ing without price. 8. “Give me this water.” A petition (1) Sincerely uttered; (2) Imper- fectly comprehendedy (8) Gener: ously answered, HL ENLIGHTENING THE SINNER I. As to Sinfuinass: He whom thou now bast is not thy husband (18). He... will conviet the world in respect of sin (John 16 : 8,, When they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts (Acts 2 : 37), Through the law cometh the knowledge of sin (Rom. : 20). , Soup through 5 Sn of God is eternal life } 3 never thirst 1 bad not known the law (Kom. er 15. As to Worship: They that worship him must wo: ship in spirit 251 truth (24), Thou s«hait worship the Lord thy God (Mutt. 4: 10). In vain do they worship me (Mats, b: 9. If any man be a worshipper of God, and do his will (John 9 : 31. Who worship by the Spirit of God (Phil. 3 ; 3. it I that speak unio thee am he (2 Behold, the Lamb of God (John 1 This is the Bou of Go i (John 1: We have found the 41 | We bave found him of whom Moses did write (John 1 : 45), 1. ““Jesns saith unto her, Thon saidst welk” (1) The sinners hidden Ite; (2) The Baviour's thorough knowledge. ir, 1 perceive that thon art a prophet.” 1) The Lord's commu- nications; The womun’s cone vietionus.—(1} Conduct; (2) Conviee ticn: (3) Confes 3. “1 that Epeak nnto ve Messinh 1 expe : As to the Saviour: “ i 3 : 20) 345, Mossiah (John 1 RE dvs 0 ¥ am he (1 ted; (2) Messiah ABD 8 €X- i d's pyowal 2 ns , as revealed, pectation; by ) have OC , but did J site of in consequence {ween purify- be work renews his testi- is own sub- record g, nor of disciples 4 edit ohn ose be ihe Baptist cknowle ges hn 3 7 is no rn MCDIn Grr or Galilee, Same. ' { hie i ut name sibly another well 18 not Jerusalem LO ferred to i is Uierizuan, i IeESIDE. { Shechem (les In vail between i Ceri and Ebal. 5 the mer, the | Bamaritan BACT | fices the paw ery year. I Tom time is in | verse . This points saths before the year is A. U. O, interview probe after noon . Lilie, €¢ ” a] 41 of 5 I'i ie 30 of ti r early harvest. 780,—A. D. 27. The ably ocourred at and { “about the sixth hour”); although it has been thought by some that John uses the Homan mode of reckoning time, which wonld make the “sixth hour” six o'clock, in the evening or in the morning. Prnsoxs. Our Lord and a Samari. tan woman; the disciples (how many is not stated) who had “‘gone away into the city to buy food.” Incipexrs—The arrival st Jacob's well, on the journey through Samaria to Galilee; our Lord rests at the well; a Samsritan we comes to draw water, and is asked by Jesus for a draught of water, the disciples being absent in the city. The woman ex- presses surprise at the unusual request, “for Jows have no dealings with Sam- aritans.” Our Lord intimates that be can give her living water. She replies tint he cannot draw water out of the { well, how then ean he obtain living water; but further implies that he thus puts a slight upon Jacob. Jesus tells of the unfailing supply of water he can give, The woman finds in this a promise of relief from her toil. Bidden she to call her husband, says she has none; and Jesus reveals his knowledge of her past life, Acknowledging him as a prophet, she diverts the conversa tion from herself to the question of worship, about whieh Jews and Sam- aritans differed. Our Lord explains the spiritual ebaracter of true worship, while claiming that salvation is from the Jows The woman responds by saying that Messiah will surely come, and that he wiii make known all the truth. Jesus answers, “I that speak unto thee am he.” There is no parallel passage, “iy OAD A New Chapter of Proverbs, As a pink pearl in a senllion's ear, so j= a fair woman without a good dress. maker. ; Whoso telleth the trath concerning to heavy damages, Better is a chop with a peer than a sever-and-sixpenny dinner with a per- son of vo position. What is sweeter to a soured woman than the failines of her dearest friend? My son, when thou writest a play, know that thy pathos wili be nuder- stood by the pit, thy wisdom by the dress circle, and thy inuovendo by them that sit among the stalis Mussns, Pannor me Cin, of Paria, ere reprodacisg in ebhromo-lithog abont sixty of the finest specimens of We 's artistic pottery now to be found in English eollections. The lates will bencoompaniod b an Eng ish text, written by Mr. Rathbone, wao is well kn wn as an suthorite upon the subject.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers