Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-09-24
Tho Organ Dedication.

last SUNDAY ana lue SERVICE was
veritabe musical festival. DR..
Talmage'S sermon, which was ap-
propriate to the occasion, was on the
text, Genesis iv, 81, ''His brothers name
was Jubal he was the father of all such
as handle the harp and organ"
Lamech had two boys, the one a
hcrdsman and the other musician. Jul
bal, 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 improve
ment has been made under the hands
of organ builders such as Bernhard, Sc
baStian Bach and George Hogarth and
Joseph Booth and Thomas Robjohn,
clear down to George and Edward Jar
dine of our own day. | do not wonder
chat when the first full organ that we
read of as given in 757 by an emperor
of The East to king of France sounded
forth its full grandeur, a woman fell
into deirium from which her reason
was never restored.
The majesty of a great organ sbillfully
played is almost too much for human
endurance, but how much the nstru-
ment has done in the reinforcement of
divine service it will take all time and
all eternity to celebrate. Last April,
when we dedicated this church to the
service of Almighty God, our organ was
not more than half done. 1t has now
come so near completion that this morn
5ng | preach a sermon dediCatOry OF this
mighty throne of sacred sound. 1t greets
the eye as we'll as the ear, Behold this
mountain of anthems, This forest of
hOSannahS! Its history is peculiar.
The late Mr. George JardinG recently
snade tour Of the organs Of Europe.
die gathered up in his portfolio an ac-
count Of all the eXcelcnces of the re-
noWnod instruments of music on the
other side of the Atlantic and all the
new improvements, and brought back
that portfolio TO America declaring that
brooklyn Tabernacle should have the
full advantage 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 grandeurs, and
while you hear this organ you hear all
that is notable in the organs of Lucerne
and Fribourg and Haarlem and ST.
Paul and Westminster Abbey and other
great organs that have enrapUured the
world.
In it are banked up more harmonies
shan | can describe, and all for God and
the lighting of the soul toward Him. It's
-four banks of keys, its 10 stops and ap-
plianCes, its 4,51O pipes, its chime of
thirty-Seycn bells, its cathedral diapason
and pedal double diapaSOn, it's song
trumpet and night horn and voX humana,
all, all, we dedicate to God and the soul.
1t will, | believe, under the divine bless
ing, lead amounted thousands into the
dtmgdom Its wedding marches, its
thanksgiving anthems, it's rcQuiems will
sound after all the voices that follow it
to-day shall have sung their last song.
10 God the Father. to God the Son and
God the Holy Ghost we dedicate it!
There has been much discussion as to
where music was born. l think that at
the beginning, when the morning stars
sang together, 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. Inanimate nature is
full of Gods stringed and wind nstru-
monts. Silence itself--perfect silence
is only musical rest III Gods great an
them of worship. Wind among tho
teaves, insects humming in the summer
air, the rush of billow upon the beach, the
ocean far out sounding it's everlasting
psalm, the bobolink on the edge of the
Forest the quail whistling up from the
grass are music.
'G}hG day of judgment, which will be a
day Of uprOar and tumult, | suppose will
bring no diSSonance to the ears Of those
who can calmly listen: although it be as
whcn some great performer is executing
IL baiSt~OuS piece of music, he sometimes
hr.tSYlS down the instrument on which he
$fNays; so it may be that on the last day
Mat the grand march of God, played by
the fingers of thunder and earthquake
and c00hagration, may break down the
world upon which the music is executed.
, MANY of YOU are illustrations OF what
sacred song can do. Through it you were
brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ
You stood out against the argument and
the warning of the pulpit, but when, IN
the sweet words of Isaac Watts or Charles
Wesley or John Newton or Toplady the
love of Jesus was sung to your soul,
chen YOU surrendered as armed castle
shat could not be taken by host lifts its
window to listen to a harp'S trlll There
was Scotch soldier dying in New
Orleans and 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 sing
a familiar hymn OF Scotland that was
composed by David DickenSon, begin
ming with the words:
oh. mother, dear Jerusalem,
When shall l come to theeF
He sang it to the tune of Dundee, :"
and everybody in Scotland knows that;
and as he began to sing the dying soldier
turned over on his pillow and said to the
minister, "Where did you learn that?'
"Why," replied the minister, my mother
Eaught me that" 80 did mine," said
the dying Scotch soldier; and the very
foundation of his heart was upturned,
and then and there lie yielded himself to
Christ, Oh, it has an irresistible power.
Luther's sermons have been forgotten,
but his Judgment Hymn" sings on