The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1891-08-21
EMPTY is THE CRADLE.
The Little Shoe Is Only Half
Worn Out.
''rhou shalt lie Missed Because Thy Seat
Will He Empty''-sermon by Rev II.
Dewitt Talmage, d.

Xxx, Is. "Thou shalt be missed, be-
cause thy seat will be empty"
Set on the table the cutlery and the
chased silverware 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, n celebrat-
ed warrior, David by name. The guests,
jeweled and plumed, come in and take
their places.
When people are invited TO kings
banquet, they are very apt to 30. But
before the covers are lifted from the
| feast, Saul looks around and finds
vacant seat at the table. He says within
himself, perhaps audibly: What does
this mean? Where is my son-in-law?
Where is David, the great WARRIOR
I invited him. expected him. What! n
vacant chair at the kings banquet"
The fact was that David, the warrior,
had been seated for the last time Mt his
! father in-law's table. The day before
! Jonathan had 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 prediction 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
furniture take a living personality.
| That picture-a stranger would not see
any thing remarkable either in its de-
sign or execution, but il is more TO you
fhon all thn foiatttraC ~ fha nd
the Luxembourg. You remem Der who
bought 1t and who admired it. And
that hymn book-you remember who
sang out of IL. And that cradle-you
remember who rocked it. And that BIZ
ble-you remember who read out of it.
And that bcd-you remember who slept
In it, And that room-you remember
who died in it. But there is nothing in
all your house so eloquent as the vacant
chair.
suppose that before Saul and his
guests got up from this banquet there
was n great clatterof wine pitchers, but
all that racket was drowned out 10y the
voice that came up from the vacant
chair at the table. Millions have gazed
and wept at John Quincy Adams va
Cuhi CllhlI III lIt llOuSt VI
tives, 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 as compared
with the vacant chairs in your own
household. Have these chairs any les
sons for us Co learn? Are we any better
men and women than when they first
addressed MS?
First, 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:
'llcre, father, here's your chair" The
probability is, it is mn armchair, for he
is not SO strong as he once was, and he
needs n little upholdiug His hair is
little frosty, his gums a little depressed,
for in his early days there was not much
dentistry. Perhaps Il cane chair an
old-fashioned apparel, for though you
may have suggested some Improvement,
father does not want any of your non
sense. Grandfather never had much
admiration for new-fapgled notions.
sat at the table of one of my parish
toner's in former congregation; an
aged man was at the table, and the son
was presiding, and. the father some
what abruptly addressed the son and
said; "My son, don't now try to show off
because 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 eyes closed. he
sat in the armchair in the corner
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. Perhaps, some
times he was little impatient, and
sometimes told the same stories twice;
but over that old chair how many
blessed memories hoverl
hope you did not crowd that old
chair. and that il did not get very much |
in the way. Sometimes the old mans |
chair gets very much in the way, es-
pecially II he has been so unwise as TO |
make over all his property TO his chill |
oren, 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 |
II into the street. and then crowd il into
the poor house, and keep ON crowding
IL until the old man fell out of il into
the grave.
d. Bat your fathers chair was a sacred