Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1891-10-01
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROoKLN DsvTNias sUNDAs
SERMON.
Subject; "The1mportance,of Sacred
Music"

re gas me Tdther OF all suek as handle
me hafp and orgda."-Geness iv., 81.
Lsmech had two boys, the one herdsnan
ana Che other a musician, Jubal tins
younger son, was the first organ builder,
ne started the first sound that rolled from
tne Wondrous instrument which has had SO
nuch TO do with the worship of the AGES
but what Improvement has beer made I'm
I yer tne hands of organ builders such as
bernhard, Sebastian Bach and Georye
nogafth and Joseph Booth and Thorn as
non,onn, clear on down to George and L
ward Jardine OF our own day. | do not
wonder that when the first organ, that we
read OF as given in 55T by an emperor Of the
east to king of France, sounded forth its
full grandeur a woman fell into deliriunI
from which her reason was never restored
me majesty OF great organ skillfully
prayed Is almost too much for human endur-
ance but how much the instrument has done
IN the reinforcement of divine service it
VIII take all time and all eternity TO cele.
pirate, Last April when we dedicated this
church to the service of Almighty God our
organ was not more than half done, 1t has
new come SO near completion that this mora.
| 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 anthems This forest of bosannahs
It's history is peculiar,
NC 'nee MI, ueofg y afdlne recently made
| a tour OF the organs OF Europe He gath
cred up in his portfolio an account of ali the
exeeiletaces of the renowned instru nents 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 ad-
vantage OF all he had obtained, and although
ne diq mes i've to carry out his idea his son,
Mr., Edward Jardine, has introduced into this
great all tboao 4
gfandeurs, and while you hear this organ
you near all that is notable IN the organs OF
Lacerne and Fribourg and HARLEM and ST
Paul and Westminster Abbey, and other
great organs that have enrsptursd the world
In It are banked up more harmonies
thah l can describe, and ell for God
and the lighting of the soul toward
Him. Its four banks of KEYS, its
one hundred and ten stops and appliances
It's TOUR thousand five hundred and ten pipes,
ITS chime OF thirty-seven bells, its cathedral
dlapson and pedal double diapson, its song
trumpet and night horn and vox humane,
all, all we dedicate to God aud the soul. Ii
VIII, believe under rhedivine blessing lead
! uncounted thousands into the kingdom Its
wedding marches, its thanksgiving anthems
itsrequlems will sound after all the voices
that follow it to-day shall have sung their
last song. 10 God the Father, Col thu Son
and God the Holy Ghost we dedicate it
There has been much discussion as to
where music was born. ] think that at the
beginning, when the morning stars sang to-
gether, aud all the suns of Goi 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 stringei
and wind instruments. Silence itself-per-
fect silence--!s only musical rest in Gods
great anthem of worship. Wind among the
leaves, insects humming in the summer air,
the rush OF blllow upon beach, the ocean far
out sounding its everlasting psalm, the bob
ollnk on the edge of the forest the quail
whlstllng up from the grass are music.
On Blackwells Island | heard coming
from window in the lunatic asylum a very
sweet song. 1t was sung by Que who had
lost her reason, and l have come to believe
that even the deranged and disorded 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 repulSiya
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 whirlwirid 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 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 conhagration, 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
muscles which can make over sixteen thou
sand different sounds, and there are thirty
indirect muscles which can make, it ha,
been estimared, more than one hundred and
seventy three millions OF sellnds
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 use, 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
lis to admonish oneanother III psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, and through
David He cries out, Sing ye to God. all ye
kingdoms of the earth d" And there are
hundreds of other passages | might name
proving that it is as much mans duty to
sing as it is his duty to pray. Indeed, l
think there are more commands in the Bible
10 sing than there are TO pray.
God not only asks for the human voice out
for Instruments of music. He asks for the
cymhal, and the harp and the trumpet, as
well as the organ And | suppose that in
the last days of the church, the harp, the
lutte, the trumpet and all the instruments OF
music, whether they have benin the service
of righteousness on sin will be- brought by
their masters and laid down at the feet OF
Christ, and then sounded in the church's
triumph, on hen way from suffering into
glory. Praise We the Lordr Praise Hin
with your voices. Praise Him with stringed
Instruments and with organs.
| draw another argument for the import
auce of this exercise from the impressiv enes-
Of this exercise You know something OF
what secular music has achieved. You
know it has made its impression on govern
lnents, upon laws, upon literature, upon
whole generations. One inspiring national
Dir is worth thirty thousand men as a
standing army. There comes u time in the
| battle when one bugle is worth thousand
| muskets. ! have to tell yoa that no nation
| or church can afford to severely economics
| In music.
| Many of you are illustrations OF what
sacred song can do. Through 1t you Were
4 VII.