The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-09-22
DR. TALhAGE'S SERMON.


Text: Thou shalt be missed, because thy
seat will be empty."-I Samuel, xx. IS.
Set on the table the cutlery, and chased
ilverware Of the palace, for King Saul will
give State dinner to-day. A distinguished
place is kept at the table Tor his son-in-law, a
celebrated warrior, David by name. The
guests, jewelei and plumed, come in and
take their places. When Isople are invited
to Kings banquet they are very apt to go.
But before the covers are lifted from the
feast, Saul looks around and finds q vacant
seat at the table. He says within himself, or
perhaps audibly: What does this mean
Where is my son-in-law! Where is David.
the great warriors invited him. ex-
pected him. What A vacant chair at a
Kings banquet !"
The fact was that David the warrior had
been seated for the last time at his father in
laws table. The day before Jonathan had
coaxed David to 60 and occupy that place at
the table, saying to David in the words of
my text: tThou shalt bs missed, because
thy seat will he empty"
The predit ton was fulfilled. David was
missed. His seat was empty. That one va
can't chair spike louder than all the occupied
chairs at the banquet. In almost every
house the articles Of furniture take living
personality. That pictures stranger would
not see anything remarkable either in its de-
all the pictures of the Louvre and the Lux
embourg. You remember who bought it and
who admired it And that hymn-book-you
remember who sang out of it. And that
cradle-you remember who rocked it. And
that Bible-you remember who read out or
it. And that bed-you remember who slept
in it. And that room-you remember VINO
died in it But there is nothing in all your
house so eloquent and so mighty-yoiced as
the vacant chair. I suppose that before Saul
and his guests got up from this banquet there
was great clatter of wine-pitcherS, but all
that racket was drowned out by the voice
that came up from the vacant chair at the
table. Many have gazed and wept at John
Quincy Adams vacant chair in the House OF
Representatives, and at Mr.. Wilson's vacant
chair in the e-Presidency, and at Henry
Clay's vacant chair in the American Senate,
and at Prince Albart's vacant chair in Wind
sor Castle, and at Thiers's 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 house
hold Have these chairs any lesson for you
to learnt Are we any letter men and women
than when they first addressed us!
l. First Il point out to you the fathers
vacant chair. Old men always like to sit in
the same place and in the same chair. They
somehow feel more at home, and sometimes
when you are in their place and they come
into the room, you jump up suddenly and
say: "Here, father, here's your chair" The
probability is it is an armchair, for he is
not so strong as he once was, and Re needs
q little upholding. His hair is little frosty,
bis gums little depressed, for In his early
days there was not much dentistry. Perhaps
a cane chair and old-fashioned apparel, for
though you may have suggested some i'm
prove1nent, father does not want any of your
nonsense. Grandfather never had much ad-
miration for new-fangled notions. l sat at
the table Of one of my pariShioners in q
former congregation; an aged man was at
the table and his son was pre- :iding, and the
father somewhat abruptly addressed the
son and said: MY son, don't now try to
show off because the minister is here!" Your
ners; he preferred the cid way Of doing
things, and he never looked so happy as when
with his eyes closed he sat in the armchair in
the corner. From wrinkled brow to the tip
Of the slippers, what placidity! The wave
Of the past years of his life broke at the foot
Ct that chair Perhaps, sometimes, he was
little impatient, and sometimes told the same
story twi Q; but over that old chair how
many blessed memories hover hope you
did not crowd that old chair, and that it did
not get very much in the way. Sometimes
the old mans chair gets very much in the
way, especially if he has been so unwiSe as to
make over al his property to his children
with the understanding that they are to take
care Of him. have seen in such cases children
crowd the old mans chair to the door, and
chen crowd it clear into the street, and then
crowd it into the poorhouse, and keep on
crowding it until the old man fell out of it
into his grave.
But your fathers chair was sacred place.
The children used to climb up on the rungs
of it for goodnight kiss. The longer he
stayed the better you liked it. But that chair
has been vacant now for some time. The
furniture dealer would not give you fifty
cents for it, but it is throne of influence in
your domestic circle. / saw in the French
palace and in the throne room the chair that
Napoleon used to o.cupy. 1t was beauti-
full chair, but the most significant part of it
was the letter an" embroidered into the
back Of the chair in purple and gold. And
your fathers old chair sits in the throne
room of your heart, and your affections have
embroidered into the lack of that chair in
purple and gold the letter "F." Have all
the prayers of that old chair been answered?
Have all the counsels of that old chair been
practiced! Speak out, old armchair! His
tory tells US Of an old man whose three sons
were victors in the Olympic games, and when
they came hack, these three sons, with their
garlands, and put them on their fathers
brow, the old man was so :eioiced at the vic
tories of his three children that he fell dead
in their arms And are you, 0 man, going
to bring wreath Of joy and Christian use
fulness and put it on to your fathers brow,
or on the vacant chair, or on the memory Of
the one departed? Speak out. old arm chair!
W lIn reference TO your fathor, the words OF
my text have been fulfilled: Thou shalt be
missed, because thy seat will be empty"
III 60 a little further on in your house
and find the mothers chair. 1t is very apt
to be q rocking-chair. She had so many
cares and troubles to soothe that it must
an Old chair, and the rockers were almost
worn out, for I was the youngest, and the
chair had rocked the whole family. 1t made
O creaking noise as it moved: but there was
music in the sound. 1t was just high enough
to allow us children to put our heads into
her lap That was the bank where We de-
posted all our hurts worries. Oh, what
chair that was! 1t Us different from the
fathers chair; it was entirely different. You
aske me how? cannot tell; but we all felt
it was different. Perhaps there was about
ness, more grief when we had done
wrong. When we were wayward father
scolded, but mother cried. 1t was
3 very wakeful chair. In the sick days Of
children other chairs could not keep awake; 4;
that chair always kept awake, kept easily
awake. That chair knew all the old lula
bies and all those wordleSs songs which
mothers sing to their sick children-songs in
which all pity and compassion and sympa-
thetic influences are combined. That old
chair has stopped rocking. for, good many
years. 1t may be set up in the loft or the
garret, but it holds a queenly power yet.
When at midnight you went into that grog-
shop to get the Intoxicating draught, did you
not hear voice that said: my son, why 60
in thereF' And lou,er than the boisterous
encore Of the pla|e of wicked amusement, a