The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-07-15
DAVID, THE
a DISCOURSE
Delivered at the FSrt street Caarch, HensiniH,
JaIy 9Th, 1871.


.samUA p. P1nL The sweet p-a@-s Of
All men are not poes- The deep spiritual in
sight, the quick interpreting eye, the subtle
sense Of fine hsrmonies, the apocalgptIc KEY Of
universal nature and universal truth, and a
tongue to sing what the soul thus ses and
knows, are the inheritance Of q favored few
But every man has that in him 70 which poetry
speaks. and Of which she - the rTu6st and
clearest revelation. In the rudest life there are
capacities Of feeling, dreams Of beauty, far
phantoms of brighter and better things than the
coarse hands handle-dim voiccless IongIDgs Of a
soul which l. still a child Of the diEine-hIding
all Of them in the slumberous twilight Of a half
cOnscIOusness, and waiting some magic hand Ike
the hand Of the bard to touch and quicken. and
dEape, and lead them forth into the light. When
he scars On the wings Of some great awakening,
We find that We are all Of kin TO him and can
follow his hight-tbe excursion i mistily familiar
% Us, as though we had already dreamed II, or
in some pre-existent state actually made il. His
sweetest numbers are but echoes Of rhythmic
tbrObbIngs within our own bosom. He gives
name and form TO what We have obscurely
thought and felt, but never before recognized by
sight and sound He strikes chords in our souls
on which perhaps no finger had been laid hither-
10. but whose vibrations under that touch send
their thrills through all our being. and report a
sensitiveness which we might have been the Fret
to doubt or deny. And while poetry is thus an
interpreter Of our inaTticulate conceptions and
emotions. it furnishes also a vehicle for the souls
Hottest flights. In the strength Of It's InspIra-
tons, borne up On its broad nervous pinions- a
man goes higher than were else possible to bin.
Thus wrought upon he finds himself breathing a
purer air, treading sublImer submits, capable OF
a more noble indignation against wrOng-a more
heroic championship Of rIght-a grander fortI-
tude, a sweeter charity, a more complete self
remuneration, and altogether achieving a higher
strain Of passion and action than under any
other purely natural Indictment.
Most men are strongest in the strength OF ex-
cited feeling. Feed a. you will with nOurishing
truth, clarity the intellect, furnish it with just
thought, and establish It's beliefs 50 that no argu-
ments can shake them, you have not yet the man
in the best of his power, you know not how Tar
he can surpass his ordinary maximum Of force,
till you arouse his enthusiasm, kindle his pas
sion, and see his soul lifted On the great storm
swell Of feeling. You find this true in the love
Of kindred-in devotion to the state-in the cause
Of reform, in every pinch aud strees Of human
ties and human duty-when you can strike fire
and set the soul on fame, IL will dare and do all
that Is mortal. And when such an effect Is
needed, let logic alone, cease the importantly Of
persuasion, put the rbetoricians by, bring near
the masters Of the Tyre, and let the strains,
which are most vital with humanity's intensest
life, breathe upon the soul and your end is
gained. You may preach in the streets of Paris
for hours, and only excite laughter, out-sound
one strain Of the : MaraIllere.' - and all France
will be in arms.
We want this superlative force, this matchless
instrument in the Christian life. where, more
than in any other sphere of human working, the
possibilities Of comfort, peace, JOY, progress and
victory hinge upon the full ardors of the soul.
1t is a need for every man, high and low, rich
and poor. in sOrrOw and IN joy, in prosperity
and in adversely, in every condition, in all moods
and in all varieties Of experience. Who now
shall go sing that every man shall feel that the
song Is for him-that he can take it upon his
own lips and sing It over again, making it the
channel OF bis SOULS fitness? Can any one
voice, can any one harp, breathe forth a strain
for the king on his throne, and the exile in his
lOneliness-lor one whose cup runneth over and
for one who lacketh bread-for "A heart full Of
gladness and for one whoec meat, day and night,
is tears-for a soul illumined with the Joy of the
Lord, and for one daTkeDed with the burden of
guilt and the anguish of penitcnce-for times of
trial and times Of peace-for days Of storm and
days Of calm-for youth and for age-for the
mother over her babe, the prisoner In bis cell,
the Judge pronouncing sentence, the sick in his
night OF pain. the martyr at the stake, and each
weary pilgrim going down into the valley,-a
strain which shall suit every land and every
cline, which every language can render, which
loses nothing OF sweetness and nearness as the
centuries pass, which every form of worship can
employ, and every instrument of music voice
forth, a chant for the homes of philosophy, the
~ $500 ~Nob Nh0 "a NbO d1C ~
oil pagan isles and barbarOus tribes-earth's
choral song gathering fulness down the great
years and over all her continents and from all
her families, to her Redeemer and Lord? Must
there not rather be as many harps as these vary
ing needs, as many hands as these countless seUa-
rate chords to be struck? Can the same fountain
pour forth oil and wine, and milk and crystal
water? Can one tree yield on its bending boughs
the fruit of every garden, and every orchard and
every zone rightly favored for every human taste?
What a wondrous harper then must he have been
who could stand up two thousand years ago on
the hills of Judea and sing for the whole of
earth and time! What a full man he must have
been, how many-sided, how richly gifted, how
variously trained, gathering within his nature
and his experience the round total of the human
life and the human lot
Other men have been well fitted by some single
process OF nurture for some one surprising func-
ton. John by his rough desert life to beard the
lion in his den, adulterous HerOd in the court of
his power, Paul by the dialectics Of Gamaliel's
school to hold victorious debate with the philoso-
piers of Greece and the sophists of every land,
Moses by all the wisdom Of the east to be the
l~aw-giver of the chosen people, Melancthon by his
refined scholarship, and Luther by his sturdy
battles with powers visible and invisible, to be,
one the thunderbolt, and the other the silver
trumpet of the reformation.
But David's was no single calling. His was a
universal service. he needed a corresponding
outfit, a galaxy of natural endowments, a school
of education as rich and varied as the manifold
Providence of God. And through both these
channels God poured in upon his soul and his
life, such a fulness and breadth of accomplish
ment for his great office work as never man be-
fore him or after him possessed.
We have wondered perhaps at the complexity
of his LIES story, the strange drama shifting its
scenes so rapidly and with such wide contrasts
that it almost seemed as though no one actor
could have kept his identity through them all.
But we cannot wonder when we know the object.
This marvellous diversity was the multiform
tuition of a soul that was to pour itself out for
the enriching of every other soul, through ali the
ranges of human life. So he was shepherd, SOL
der, leader, statesman, fugitive, prophet, priest,
king, poet, harper, patriot, exile, conqueror,
faithful friend, generous foe, tender hearted
father, a man of many sorrows, a man of triumph
ing hope and faith. How richly this diversity of
nature and of experience qualified him to be the