Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-09-26
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: 1.-THE Importance of musieas

TEXT: TITS brothers name feds Jubal
| he lods the father Of all such as handle
| the harp and orgdn."-Genesis w., 81.
| Lamech had two boys, the one herdsnan
| and the other a musician JubaI, the
| younger son, was the first organ builder
| He started the first sound that rolled from
| the wondrous instrument which has had so
| much to do with the worship of the ages.
| But what improvement has beer made I'M
/ der the hands of organ builders such as
/ Bernhard, Sebastian Bach and George
Hogarth and Joseph Booth and Thomas
| Robjohn, clear on down TO George and Ed
ward Jardine of our own day l do not
| wonder that when the first organ, that we
| read of as given in 1871 by an emperor of the
east to king of France, sounded forth its
| full grandeur woman fell into delirium
| from which her reason was never restored.
The majesty of great organ skillfully
/ played is almost too much for human endur-
| ance, but how much the instrument has done
| in the reinforcement of divine serviceit
/ viii take all time and all eternity to ceIe-
| brate. Last April when we dedicated this
church to the service of Almighty Gol our
organ was not more than half done. 1t has
now come so near completion that this morn
! ing | preach sermon dedicatory of this
| mighty throne OF sacred sound. 1t greets
/ the eye as well as the ear Behold this noun
| tain OF antbemsl This forest of hosannahs
| It's history is peculiar.
| The late Mr.. George Jarline recently mads
tour OF the organs of Europe. He gath
cred up in his portfolio an account of all the
| excellences OF the renowned instru nents of
music on the other side of the Atlantic an
all the new improvements, and brought back
| that portfolio to America, declaring that
| Brooklyn Tabernacle should have the fun a +
| vantage of all he had obtained and although
he did not live to carry out his idea, his son,
| Mr., Edward Jardine, has introduced into this
/ great organ all those improvements and
{ wi
! you hear all that is notable in the organs of
| Lucerne and Fribourg and HARLEM and st.
! Paul and Westminster Abbey, aud other
| great organs that have enraptured the world.
In it are banked up more harmonies
than can describe, and all for God
and the lighting of the soul toward
Him. Its four banks of keys itg
one hundred and ten stops aud appliances
| its four Thousand five hun lred and ten pipes.
its chime Of thirty-seven bells, its cathedral
! dapson and eial double diapson, its song
/ trumpet and night horn and vox humaua
| all, all. we dedicate to God and the soul 1t
/ Will, believe, under lhediyine blessing lead
uncounted thousands into the kingdom. Its
| wedding marches, its thanksgiving anthems.
! its requiems will sound after all the voices
that follow it to-day shall have sung their
| last song. To God the Father, God the Son
| and God the Holy Ghost we dedicate It'll
There has been much discussion as to
where music was born. | think that at the
! beginning, when the morning stars sang to-
1 gether, and all the suns of God shouted for
| JOY, that the earth heard the echo. The
cloud on which the angels stood to celebrate
the creation was the birthplace of song
lnanimate nature Is full of Gods stringed
| and wind instruments. Silence itself-per-
feet silence-is only a musical rest in Gods
! great anthem of worship. Wind among tho
| leaves, insects humming in the summer air,
/ the rush of billow upon beach, the ocean far
/ re fi,,or ,It,, hob
! olink on the edge of the forest, the quail
i wh1stling up from the grass are music.
On BlackwelrS Island | heard coming
from window in the lunatic asylum a. very
| sweet song. 1t was sung by one who had
lost her reason, and have come to believe
that even the deranged and dsorded ele-
ments of nature would make music to our
ear, If we only had acuteness enough to
| listen. l suppose that even the sounds in
nature that are discordant and repulsive
| make harmony in Gods ear. You know
that you may come so near to an orchestra
that the sounds are painful instead of pleas
urable, and think we stand so near deva-
stating storm and frightful whirlwind we
cannot hear that which makes TO GODS
ear and the ear of the spirits above us
music as complete as it is tremendous
The day of judgment, which will be day
of uproar and tumult, l suppose will bring
no dissonance to the ears of those who can
calmly listen; although it be as when some
! great performer is executing a boisterous
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 conlagration, may break
! down the world upon whicl the music is ex-
ecuted. Not only is inanimate nature full
of music, but God has wonderfully organized
| the human voice. so that in the plainest
! throat and lungs there are fourteen direct
ot-a.
sand different sounds, and there are thirty
indirect muscles which can make, it has
/ been estimated, more than one hundred ami
seventy-three millions OF sounds
Now [ say, when God has so constructed
the human voice, and when he has filled the
whole earth with harmony, and when he
recognized it in the ancient temple, have
right to come TO the conclusion that God
loved music.
propose this morning, in setting apart
this organ for sacred us, to speak about sa-
cred music; first showing you its Importance
| and then stating some of the obstacles to its
| advancement.
/ draw the first argument for the i'm
portance 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, and through
David He cries out, Sing ye to God, all ye
| Kingdoms of the earth !" And there are
hundreds of other passages l might name
proving that it is as much mans duty to
| sing as it is his duty to pray. lndeel,
| think there are more commands in @ Bible
to sing than there are to pray.
! God not only asks for the human volcs but
for instruments of music He asks for the
cymhal, and the harp, and the trumpet as
well as the organ. And l suppose that in
the last days of the church, the harp, the
| lutte the trumpet and all the instruments OF
music whether they have been in the service
i of Righteousness or stu will be brought by
their masters and laid down at the feet OF
Christ, and then sounded in the church's
triumIh h, on her way from suffering into
glory. PRAISE We the Lordn Praise Hin
with your voices. Praise Him with stringed
instruments and with organs.
draw another argument for the import
ance of this exercise from the impreSsiyeness
of this exercise. You know something of
what secular music has achieved You
know it has made its impression on govern
ments, upon laws, upon literature, upon
whole generations. One inspiring national
air is worth thirty thousand men as
standing army. There comes time in the
battle when one bugle is worth a thousand
muskets. / have to tell you that no nation
or church can afford to severely economic
In music.
Many OF you are illustrations of what
sacred song can do. Through it YOU vera
brought into the kingdom Of Jesus Christ
GU stood out against the argument and the
warning of the pulpit but when. in the
sweet words of Isaac Watts or Charles Wes-
ley or John Newton or TOpady, the love of
Jesus was sung to your soul then Won sur
rendered, as armed castle that could not be
taken by host lifts its window to listen to A
harp's thrill. There was a Scotch soldier
dying in New Orleans, and a Scotch minister
came in to give him the. consultations of the
Gospel. The man turned over on his pillow
and said, Don't talk to me about religion.
Then the Scotch minister began to sim n
familiar hymn of Scotland that was CON
posed by David Dickinson, beginning with
the words:
oh. mother. dear Jerusalem.
When shall cone to thee
He sang it to the tuna of "Dun lea.r AMI
everybody in Scotlan knows that; and as
he began to sing the dying soldier turnei
over on his pillow, and said to the minister:
Where didyou learn thats' Why re-
piled the minister, my mother taught ma
that 3" SO did mine y said thedying Scotch
sold er; and the very foun Iation of his heart
was upturne1, and then and there he yielde
himself to Christ. Oh it has an Irresistible
power Luthers sermons have bean forgot
ten, but his Judgment Hymn sings on
through the ages, AMI will kesp on singing
until the blast of the archangals trumpet
shall bring about that very day which the
hymn celebrates. | would to God that those
who hear me to-day would take these songs
! of salvation as messages from heaven; for
just as certainly as the birds brought food to
Elijah by the brook Cherith, so these winged
| harmones God sent, are flying to your soul
| with the bread of life Oman vou~ mouths