Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-07-23
'THE VACANT CHAIR"
DR.. TAIMAGE breaches IN
LAKESIDE, OHIO.
Multltudes Gather TO Hear HIS
Thrilling Sermon Taken from the
Text-Thou Shalt BE Missed Be
cause Thy Seat Will be Empty.

LAKESIDE, o., July 19th.-For many
years people have gathered in multi
tudes at this season of the year for
great outdoor Assembly. The grounds
are short sail from Sandusky. The
place is beautiful beyond description
DIR. Talmagc preached this morning in
this delightful place to a vast multitude.
His subject was the Vacant Chair"
and his text, Samuel 20, IS: "Thou
shalt be mi ssed, because thy seat will
be empty"
Set on the table the cutlery and the
chased silver-ware of the palace, for
King Saul will give state dinner to-
day. A distinguished place is kept at
the table for his son-in-law, a cele-
brated warrior, David by name. The
guests, jeweled and plumed, come in
and take their places. When people
are invited to a kings banquet, they
IRE very apt to go. But before the.
covers are lifted from the feast, Saul
looks around and finds vacant seat at
haps audibly, "What does this meanp
Where is my son-in-law? Where is
David, the great warrior / invited
him. / expected him. What! vacant
Chair at the Kings banquet" The
fact was that David, the warrior,
had been seated for the last
time ut his father In laws
table. The day before Jonathan had
coaxed David TO 90 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 prediction was fulfilled.
David was missed. HIS seat was empty.
That one vacant chair spoke louder
than all the occupied chairs at the ban
quet.
But your fathers chair was n sacred
place. The children used to climb up
on the rungs of it for good night
kiss, and 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 n throne of influence in
your domestic circle. | saw in the
French palace, and in The throne room,
| the chair that Napoleon used to oc-
cupy. 1t was beautiful chair, but
the most significant part of it was
the letter IN 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 back of that chair in purple and
| gold the letter "F.' Have all the pray
ers of that old chair been answered?
! Have all the counsels of that old chair
been practi cl? Speak out old arm
chair. History tells us of an old man
whose three sons were victors
in the Olympic games, and when
they came back, these three
sons, with their garlands, put
| them On the fathers brow, and the old
MN was SO reioi,ed at the victories of
his three children that he fell dead in
their arms. And are you, oh man,
going to bring n wreath of JOY and
| Christian usefulness and put it on your
fathers brow. or the vacant chair, or
on the memory of the one departed?
SsealI out. old armchair. With refer
ence to your father, the words of my
text have been fulfilled: Thou shalt
be missed because thy seat will be
empty"
go little further on in your house,
and find the mothers chair. 1t is
very apt to be rocking chair. She
had so many cares and troubles to
soothe that it must have rockers. |
remember it well. 1t was an old chair,
and the rockers were almost worn out,
for | was the youngest, and the chair
had rocked the whole family. 1t made
creaking noise as it moved;
but there was music in the sound.
That old chair has stopped rocking for
a good many years. 1t may be set up
in tire loft or the garnet, but it holds Il
queenly power yet. When at midnight
you went into that grog-shop to get the
Intoxicating draught, did you not hear
l..
there?" And louder than the boisto'~
GUS encore of the place of sinful amuse.
ment, voice laying, "My son, what
do you do here?" And when y q
went into the house of aban-
donment, voice saying, what would
your mother do if she knew you were
here?" And you We're provoked with
yourself, and you charged yourself
with superstition and fanaticism and
your head got hot with your own
thoughts, and you went home and you
went to bed. and no sooner had you
touched the bed than voice said:
"What a prayerless pillow? Man
what is the matter? This: You are
to- near your mothers rocking-chair.
"Oh, pshaw" you say. There 5
nothing in that; I'm five hundred miles
off from where | was born: ! IN three
thousand miles off from the churcn
whose bell was the first music ever
heard" | cannot help that; you are
too near your mother rocking-chair.
"Oh," you say, there can't be any
thing in that; that chair has been va
cant great while" | cannot help
that: it is all the mightier for that; it is
omnipotent, that vacant mot ier's
chair. 1t whispers; it speaks
1t weeps; it carols: it prays; il
thunders. A young man went off, and
broke his mothers heart, and while he
was away from home his mother died
and the telegraph brought the son, and
he came into the room where sh" lay
and looked upon her face, and he cried
out: "Oh, mother! mother! what your
life could not do your death shall
, effect. This moment give my heart
to God" And he kept his promise,
Another victory for vacant chair,
With reference to Your mother, the
words of nv text were fulfilled: Thou
shalt be missed, because they seat will
be empty
go on little further, and / come
to the invslid's chair. What! How
long have you been sick? 80! | have
been sick ten, twenty, thirty years" i,
it possible? What a story of endur
ance. There are in many of the fami
lies of my congregation these invalid
chairs. The occupants of them thinl
I they are doing no good in the world
but that invalid's chair is the mighty
pulpit from which they have
been preaching all these
years, trust in God. The
first time preached here at Lakeside
Ohio, amid the throngs present, thers
was nothing that so much impressed
me as the spectacle of just one face
the face of an invalid who was wheeled
in on her chair. | said to her after.
wards: Madam, how long have you
been prostrated?" for she was lying
! fiat in the chair. "O!' she replied: II
r have been this way fl teen years"
said: "Do you suffer very much?' 80,
, yes" she said: Il suffer very
much; suffer all the time; part of the
2 time / was blind. | always suffer. '
"Well," l said: lean you keep your
courage up?" 80 yes" she said: II am
/ T. &.