The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-03-09
SONGS m THE NIGHT.
REV. 7. De WITT TALMAeE's SER.
MON AT THE TABERNACLE.

BROOKLYN, March 4.-Exercises at the
Tabernacle this morning were jubllant One
hundred and twenty new members were
given the right hand Of fellowship, making
the COMMUNICATE membership four thousand
one hundred and fifty. Thousands Of stran-
gers were present. The ten great silver
tankards and the long line of chalices made
the sacramental table very impressive
Before the sermon the congregation, led by
cornet and organ, sang:
When earth shall pass away,
In the great Judgment day,
Jesus Is mine!
The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, d. D., took
as the subject Of his discourse: "a Song
Concerning NY Beloved His text was
Isaiah v, 1: snow viii sing to my well be-
loved a song Of my beloved DR.. Talmage
said
The most fascinating theme for a heart
properly attuned Is the Saviour. There is
something in the morning light to suggest
him, and something in the evening shadow
to speak his praise. The flower breathes
him, the star shines him, the cascade
proclaims him, all the voices of ma
ture chant him. Whatever is grand,
bright and beautiful, IL you only listen
come in the summer time and pluck flower,
! think of him who is ''the Rose of Sharon
and the Lily of the Valley" When see in
the fields a lamb, 1 say, "BehoId the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the
world" When, in very hot weather, come
under projecting cliff, say:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in theei
Over the old-fashioned pulpits there was q
sounding board. The voice of the minister
rose to the sounding board and then was
struck back again upon the ears of the people.
And SO the ten thousand voices of earth ris-
ing up find the heavens a sounding board,
which strikes back to the ear of all the ma
tions the praises of Christ. The heavens tell
his glory and the earth shows his handiwork.
The Bible thrills with one great story Of re-
demption. Upon blasted and faded para
| disc it poured the light of glorious restora-
ton. It looked upon Abraham from the
ram caught in the thicket. It spoke in the
bleating of the herds driven down to Jerusa-
lem for sacrifice. It put infinite pathos into
the speech of uncouth fishermen. It lifted
Paul into the seventh heaven, and 1t broke
upon the ear Of st. John with the brazen
trumpets and the doxology Of the elders and
the rushing wings Of the seraphim.
Instead of waiting until you get sick and
worn out before you speak the praise Of
Christ, while your heart is happiest, and your
step is lightest, and your fortunes smile, and
your pathway blossoms, and the overarching
heavens drop upon you their benediction,
speak the praises of Jesus.
The old Greek orators, when they saw their
audiences inattentive and slumbering, had
one word with which they would rouse them
| ur to the greatest enthusiasm. In the midst
of their orations they would stop and cry out,
"Marathonp and the peoples enthusiasm
would be unbounded. My hearers, though
you may have been borne down with sin, and
though trouble, and trials, and temptation
may have come upon You, and you feel hardly
| like looking up, methinks there Is one grand,
royal, imperial word that ought to rouse your
soul TO. iunIIIts Rejoicing, and that word Il
| tJesusI"
Taking the suggestion of the text, shall
speak to you of Christ, our soug. / remark,
in the first place, that Christ ought to be the
cradle song. What our mothers sang to us
when they put us to sleep is singing yet. We
may have forgotten the words; but they
went into the fiber of our soul, and will for
ever be part Of it. It is not so much what
you formally teach your children as what
you sing to them. A hymn has wings and
can fly everywhither. One hundred and
fifty years after you are dead, and "Old
Mortality" has worn out his chisel in re-
cutting your name on the tombstone, your
great grandchildren will be singing the song
which this afternoon you sing to your little
ones gathered about your knee. There is q
place in Switzerland where, if you distinctly
utter your voice, there come back ten or if
teen distinct echoes, and every Christian
song sung by mother in the ear of her child
shall have ten thousand echoes coming back
from all the gates of heaven. Oh, If mothers
only knew the power of this sacred spell, how
much oftener the little ones would be
gathered, and all our homes would chime
with the songs of JesusI
| We want some counteracting influence
upon our children. The very moment your
child steps into the street, he steps into the
path of temptation. There are foul mouthed
children who would like to besoil your little
ones 1t will not do to keep your boys and
girls in the house and make them house
plants; they must have fresh air and recrea-
ton. God save your children from the
scathing, blasting, damning influence Of the
streets know Of no counteracting infiu-
ence but the power of Christian culture and
example. Hold before your little ones the
pure life of Jesus; let that name be the word
that shall exercise evil from their hearts.
Give to your instruction all the fascination
of music, morning, noon and night; let it be
Jesus, the cradle song. This is important If
your children grow up, but perhaps they
may not. Their pathway may be short.
Jesus may be wanting that child. Then
there will be soundless step in the dwelling,
and the youthful pulse will begin
to flutter, and little hands will be
lifted for help. You can not help.
And a great agony will pinch 1T
your heart, and the cradle will be empty, and
the nursery will be empty, and the world
will be empty, and your soul will be empty.
No little feet standing ON the stairs No toys
scattered on the carpet. No quick following
from room to room. No strange and wonder
ing questions. No upturned face, with laugh
ing blue eyes, come for a kiss; but only a
grave, and wreath of white blossoms on the
top of it; and bitter desolation, and signing
| at nightfall with no one to put to bed, and a
wet pillow, and q grave, and a wreath Of white
blossoms on the top Of it. The heavenly
Shepherd win take that lamb safely anyhow,
whether you have been faithful or unfaith-
| full; but would it not have been pleasanter If
you could have heard from those lips the
praises of Christi never read anything
more beautiful than this about child's de-
parture. The account said "She folded her
hands, kissed her mother good-by, sang her
HYMN, turned her face to the wall said her
little prayer, and then died.
Oh, If / could gather up in one paragraph
the last words of the little ones who have
gone out from all these Christian circles, and
could picture the calm looks, and the folded
hands, and sweet departure, methinks it
would be grand and beautiful as one of heav-
ems great doxologiesl
next speak Of Christ as the old mans
song. Quick music loses its charm for the
| aged ear. The school girl asks for q schot-
tisch or a glee; but her grandmother asks
| for "Balerma" or the Portuguese Hymn.
Fifty years of trouble have tanned the spirit,
| and the keys Of the music board must have
q solemn tread. Though the voice may be
tremulous, so that grandfather win not trust
| It In church, still he has the psalmgbook open
before him, and he sings with his soul. He
huns his grandchild asleep with the same
tune he sang forty years ago In the old coun-
/ try meeting house Some day the choir sings
tune SO old that the young people do not
| know it; but it starts the tears down the
cheek of the aged man, for it reminds him Of
| the revival scene In which he participated,
| and of the radiant faces that long since went
to dust, and Of the gray haired minister lean
| ing over the pulpit, and sounding the good
tidings of great Joy.
| was one Thanksgiving day in my pulpit,
In Syracuse, N. Y, and Rev Daniel Waldo,
at pS years Of age, stood beside ma The
choir sang tune. said; ~ am sorry they
sang that new tune; nobody seems to know
it.n .'Bless you, my son, !" said the old man,
'"I heard that seventy years agoI"