The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-07-31
THE VACANT CHAIR
Rev. T..'DeWftt Talmage Discourses
at Lakeside. Q.
The Vacant Chairs Inn the Household.
which Speak Louder than others
Their Tender Associations and
the Lessons They Teach.

oy Rev. II. Dewitt Talmage during a
visit 70 Lakeside, o., before a vast null
titude OF people. His text was:
Thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will
be empty--Samrel III. lG-
Set on the table the cutlery and the
chased silverware Of the palace, for
King Saul viii give a state dinner to-
day. A distinguished place IL kept at
the table for his ~son-in-law, q celebrat-
ed warrior, David by name. The guests,
jeweled and plumed, come i'm and take
their places When people are invited
10 a kings banquet, they were very apt
TO go. But before the covers are lifted
from the feast, Saul looks and finds a
vacant seat at the table. He says with
in himself, perhaps audibly: "What
hoes this mean2 Where is my son-in-
law? Where is David. the great
warrior. / invited him. / expected
him What a vacant chair at the kings
banuuetr' The fact was hat David, tie
warrior. had been seated for the last
time mt his father-in-law's table. The
day before Jonathan had coaxe David
to go and occupy that place at the table,
saying to David, i'm the words of my
text: Thou shalt be missed, because
my ECAG WAL NC GAABNg~ AAG PAIeA~
ton was fulfilled. David was missed.
chair spoke louder than all the occupied
chairs at the banquet
In almost every house the articles of
furniture take a living personality.
That ~picture-a stranger would not see
anything remarkable either I'm its de-
sign or execution. but it is more to you
than all the pictures of the Louvre and
the Luxembourg. You remember who
bought 1t 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 of
Ct. And that bed-Ayou remember who
slept in it. And that room-you re-
member who died in it. But there is
nothing in all your house so eloquent
and so mighty-voiced as the vacant
chair. / suppose that before Saul and his
guests got up from this banquet there
was a great clatter Of wine pitchers,
but all that racket was drowned out
by the voice that came up from the va
cant chair at the table. Millions have
gazed and wept at John Quincy Adams
vacant chair in the house of represent
atives, and at Henry Wilson's vacant
chair in the vice-presidency, and at
Henry Clay's vacant chair in the Amer
lean senate, and at Prince Albert's va
cant chair in Windsor castle, and at
Theirs vacant chair in the councils of
the French nation; but all these chairs
are unimportant to you rs compared
with the vacant chairs in your own
household. Have these chairs any les.
son for us 70 learn? Are we any bet
ter men and women than when they
first addressed us?
First, / point out to you the fathers
vacant char. 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 proba-
bility is il is an armchair, for he is not
so strong as he once was, and he needs
g little upholding. His hair is a little
frosty, his gums a little depressed, for
in his early days there was not much
dentistry. Perhaps a zane chair and
old-fashioned apparel, for though
you may have suggested some improve
ulCuI LAAC AOCC hO1 WaAb any vi OAA
nonsense. Grandfather never had much
admiration for new-fangled notions. i
sat at the table of one of my parishion-
ers in n former congregation; an aged
man was at the table. and the son was
presiding. and the father somewhat
abruptly addressed the son and said:
'My son. don't now try to show off be-
cause the minister is herel' Your
father never liked any new customs or
manners; he preferred the old way
of doing things, and he never looked
so happy as when, with his eyes
closed, he sat in h armchair in the
coFaer. From the wrinkled brow to
the tip of the slippers, what placidity!
The wave of the past years of his life
broke at the foot of that chair. Per-
haps, sometimes he was a little im-
patient, and sometimes he told the same
story twice; but over that old chair how
many blessed memories hover! i 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
all 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 then crowd it clear into
the street, and then crowd it into the
poor house, and keep on crowding it
until the old man fell out of it into his
grave
But your fathers chair was a sacred
place. The children used to climb up
on the rungs of it for a goodnight kiss,
and the longer he stayed the better you
liked it. But that chair has been va
ant now for some time. The furniture
dealer would not give you fifty cents
for it. but il is a throne of influence in
In your domestic circle. l saw in the
French palace, and in the throne room,
the chair that Napoleon usedto occupy.
It was a 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 ia
theirs old chair sits in the throne room
of your heart, and you affections have
embroidered into the back 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
outl old armchair. History tells us Of
an old man whose three sons were
Victors in the Olympic games, and when
thew came hack 4haGA 4hrma anna twSth