The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-05-20
DR.. HALMAGE'S SERMON.
REPORTED FOR THE PRESs.


Text: "Tt came even to pass, as the truif,-
peters and singers were as one, to make ona
sound to be heard in praising and thanking
the Lord, III. Chron v. l3.
The Temple was done. 1t was the very
chorus of all magnifcence and pomp. Splen-
dor crowded against splendor. 1t was the
diamond necklace of the earth. From tho
huge pillars crowned with leaves of flowers
and rows of pomegranate wrought out in
FURNISHED metal, down even to the tongs and
snufers made out of pure gold, evefythin
was as complete as the God-directed
architect could make it. 1t seemed
as if vision from heaven had
alighted on the mountains, The day for
dedication came, Tradition says that there
were in and round about the temple on that
day 100000 silver trumpe's, 10000 harps,
10000 timhrels and 200, ,QoG singcrs so that all
modern demonstrations at Dusseldorf Or
Boston seem nothing compared with that.
As this great sound surged up amid
tho precious stones Of the Temple, it must
have seemol like the river of life dashing
against the amethyst of the wall of Heaven.
The sound arose and God, as if to show that
He was well peased with the music which
His children make in all ages, dropped into
the midst of the Temple cloud of glory 50
overpowcring that the officiating priests were
obliged to stop in the midst of the Services.
There has leen much discussion as to where
music was born. ] think that at the begin
ming, when the morning stars sang together
and all the suns of God shouted for joy, that
the Garth heard the erho. The cloud on
which the ANGEL stood to celebrate the crsa-
rlon was the birthplace of song. The stars
that glitter at night are only so many keys
of celestial pearl on which Gods fingers play
the music OF the spheres. lnanimate nature
Is full of Gods stringed and wind Instruments.
Silence itself-perfcct silCnce-is only musi-
cal rest in Gods great anthem of worship.
Wind among the leaves, insect humniing in
the summer air, the rush of billow upon
beach, tie ocean far olt sounding its ever
lasting psalm, the bobolnk on the edge of the
forest, tie quail whistlng up from the grass,
are music. While visiting Blackwelfs Island
] heard coming from the window of the
lunatic asylum, a very SWEET song 1t was
sung by one who had lost her rea on; and |
have come to believe that even the deranged
md disordefed elements of nature would
make music to ours car, If We only had
GcuteneSS enough to listen. | suppose that
even the sounds in nature that are discordant
and rcpu!sive make harmony in Gods ear.
You know that you may come SO near to an
orchestra that the sounds are painful instead of
plca5urable and think that we stand SO near
devastating storm and frightful whirlwind
we cannot hear that which makos to Gods
ear AMI the ear OF the spirits above us a
mu SIC as complete as it is tremendous.
The Day of Judgment, which will be day
of uprcar and tumult, | suppose will bring
no dssonanee to the ears of Ahose who car
calmly listen; although it will be as when
some great performer is executing boisters
Gus piece of music he sometimes breaks
down the instrument on which he plays; so it
may be on that last day that the grand march
of God, played by the fingers of thunder and
earthquake and conflagration may break
down the world upon which the music is
executed. Not only is inanimate nature full
of music but God has wonderfully organized
the human voice, 50 that in the plaiuest
throat and lungs there are fourteen
direct muscles which can make over sixteen
tnOu and different sounds! Now, there are
thirty i'll lirect muscles which can make, it
has been estimated, more than one hundred
nnd seventy three mil 'ons of sounds. Now,
| say, when God has SO constructed the human
voice and when he has filled the whole earth
with harmony, and whenhe recognized it in
the ancient Temple, have right to come to
the conclusion that God loves music.
Ipropose this morning to speak about sacred
pllsic, first showing you its Importance and
then stating some Ct the obstacles to its ad-
Vancement
draw the first argument for the impor-
tance of sacred music from the fact that God
commanded it. Through Paul He tells us to
admonish one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs: through David He cries
out: "Sing ye to God all we kingdoms Of the
earth" And there are hundreds of other pas
sages l might name, proving that it is as
much a mans duty to sing az it is his duty to
pray. Indeed til nk there are more com
n,ands in the Bib'e to sing than there are to
pray. God not only asks for the huu:an voice
butfor the instruments of music. He asks for
the cymbal and tie harp and the trumpet
And Suppose that, III the last days of the
church, the harp the Lutte the trumpet, and
al the Instruments of music that have given
their chief aid to the theatre and bacchanal,
will lie brought by their masters and laid
down at the feet Of Christ, and then sounded
in the church's triumph on her way from
suffering into glory. praise ye the Lordr'
Praise Him with your voices. Praise Him
with stringed instruments and with organs.
draw another argument for the import
ancC of this exercise from the impressivcnass
of the exercise. You know something OF
what secular music has achieved. You know
it has made its impression upon governments,
uron laws, upon literature, upon whole gene
rations One inspriting national air is worth
thirty thousand men rs standing army.
There comes a time i'll the battle when one
bug q is worth a thousand muskets. In the
: earlier part of our civil war government pro-
posed to economic in bands of music and many
of them were sent homc but the generals
in the army sent word to Washington: "Yo,l
,, are making very great mistake, We are
falling back and falling back. We have not
enough nlusic.n Then the government
| changed its mind; more bands of music
were sent TO the field and the day Of Shame
full defeat terminated | have TO tell you
that no nation or church can afford to
severely economic in music
Why should we rob the programmes OF
worldly gayety when we have so many ap
propriate songs and tunes composed in our
own day, as well as that magnificent inheri
tance OF church psalmody which has come
down fragrant with the deyotions Of other
generations = tune; no mere worn out than
when our great grandfathers climbed
up on them from the church
pew to glory. Dear old souls, how
| they used to sing! When they were cheerful
our grandiathcrs and grandmothcrs usel ia
| sing 'sCol hester" When they were very
meditative, then the meeting house rang with
| "South Street aud "St. Ednlonds." Were
| they struck through with great tenderness,
| they sang Woodstock u Were they wrapped
| in visions of the glory of the church, they
sang "Zionn Were they overborne with the
/ love aud glory of Christ, they sang Ariel.
| And in those days there were certain tunes
married to certain hymns, and they have
{ uNtu III BthtSa Hit'b "hiitf thSoS wv ciu
/ people, and we have no right to divorce
| them. "What God hath joined together LEI
! no man put asundern Born as we have beer
| amid this great wealth of church music, aug
! mented by the compositions of artists in our
| dav, we ought not to bo tempted out of thu
| sphere of Christian harmony and try to seek
unconsecrated sounds. 1t is absurd for O
millionaire to steal.
Many of you are illustrations of wha
| sacred song can do. Through it you were
brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ
You stood out against the warning and th
| argument of the pulpit, but when in the swee
words of Charles Wesley or John Newton ol
/ Toplady the lo.e of Jesus was sung to you
soul, then you SURRENDERED, as armed castl
that could not be taken by host, lifts it
window to listen TO harps tril.
There was Scotch soldier dying in New
Orleans aud Scotch minister came in u
give him the consultations of the Gospel. Ih
man turned over ON his pillow and said
"Don't talk TO me about religion" Then th
Scotch minister began to sing a famiiia
hymn of Scotland that was composed b,
David Dickinson, beginning with the words
"Oh mother, dear Jerusalem,
When shall | come to thea|
He sung it to the tune of Dundee, an
everybody in Scotland knows that, and as