Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-11-05
VACANT PLACES.
A Few Thoughts Suggested by the Passing
Away of a Useful and Faithful Man.

A Few Thoughts Suggested by the Passin.
Away of IA Useful and Faithful Man.
A good man has Just left us who will
be greatly missed. We are thinking es-
pecially of one place from which his
familiar form and face have gone, and
in which he has been wont to be seen,
year after year. for a long time. It's
place in the sanctuary of God. A de-
feet in hearing made it necessary for
him to have his seat as near to the min
lister as possible; so his chair has stood
upon the platform Immediately below
the pulpit, and in sight of the entire
congregation. From this seat he was
rarely absent; perhaps never unless alb
sent also from home, or confined at
home with illness. Who shall say what
testimony that constant presence, that
rapt attention to every word of the
preacher, that devOut manner from
beginning TO end of the service, have
been in the great assembly, from Sab
bath to Sabbath, in which were repre-
sented so many ages and conditions of
life, SO many varieties of human char
acter, so many needs of right religious
influence? In the commercial world his
name had been for more than genera
ton the synonym of mercantile honor:
through various crisis of business affairs
he had passed. having his full share of
ordeal and sometimes of loss; more than
one great enterprise, religious, educa-
tional, reformatory, had found him
ready to serve with counsel, with labor
and with generous gifts. In the church
his official service was punctual, and as
it might seem Indispensable. In all
these spheres he is missed. But as we
think OF his now vacant place, it is
above all that chair by the pulpit,
where we shall never again see Deacon
James F. Tyler sitting while his pastor
breaches, with inspiration for him in the
intent face and the riyeted eye.
Some such place is somewhere made
vacant with every day that passes.
There are those who note them with
peculiar feeling. They are such as
know that there will soon be vacant
chairs where they themselves are now
sitting, and work and testimony ended
VIII ch engages them more and more as
that time draws nearer. Scarcely
week goes by but with painful surprise
they learn of another and another of
those they have known. perhaps have
honored and loved rs associates in ser
vice. and of whom they had not thought
as likely to soon hear this summons
away, Yet who have joined the company
in the Silent Land silent for us, not for
them. Each such incident is remind
er. and each leaves the world and life
with new shadow upon such bright
ness as they still have. while each seems
to whisper: 1.-The night cometh: -
thank God, the night. and also the day,
But what of these vacant places? No
one of them will ever be filled. Each
of us has his own place. and when he
goes out of il, no one ever will or can
come into it. Those who come have
their own places; they will never stand
in ours. Neither can We hand our work
to other hands, with any expectation
that what we leave undone they will
do. Even though what they should
take up should be the same work: it is
theirs, hot ours. What we have I'M
done is undone forever; every life fail
ure is an absolute failure, so far as this
world is concerned. Whether in some
on to that of the present life, and so
.'our works follow us" in the sense of
opportunity to in some way redeem the
faults and failures of the present, we
do not know. That which we do know
is that what is to be done by us in these
places which we now fill must be done
while we are N them. Work while it
is day." said Jesus. What an admOni-
ton for those of us who see the even
ing shadows already creeping on What
an admonition for such as, although the
dav is so far spent, have not even be-
gun the work of the day! What night
indeed, must the night be Ct those by
whom the day has all been misspent
aud lost!
1t is pleasant thought, nevertheless.
that though the places we leave vacant
are to remain so. and we are. in the
strict sense. 10 have no successors, still
those who come after. in their own
places. carry on the same work. even
though il has ceased to be ours 1t is
the work, not the worker. thar is really
important. 1t is the work the world in
diSpensably needs. not the worker. 1t
is the sanctuary. not the place of this
or that one in it. that is the center of
saving influence for souls. When we are
no longer needed here, there will, per
haps, be need of us elsewhere; and
when the hands now busy are still,
there will be other hands to keep the
wheels running. and fill the air with
the hum of Christian industry God
be thanked for the memory OF those
whose places are vacant God bless
those who are coming forward to take