Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-05-19

ornHclo, the INeN. Ut. dilllhKo brought III u
novel and practical conjunction that Is sug-
gested by text perhaps never before
chosen The opening hymn, led by organ
and cornet, ana joined IN by thousands OF
voices, was:
Before Jehovahs awful throne
Ye nations, bow with sacred Joy.
The subject announced was: Harp and
Javelin,' the text being l Samuel: 18th
chapter, 10th and llth verses: "And David
played with his hand as at other times, and
there was Javelin in Sauls hand. And
Saul cast the Javeiin for he said, will
smite David even to the wall with It. And
David avoided out of his presence twice. }"
What "A spectacle for all ages Saul,
giant and David, "a dwarf. An UNI
fortunate war ballad had been COM
posed and sung culogisin~ David above
saul. That song threw Saul into "a
paroxysm of rage, which brought on
one OF his old spells of insanity, to
which he had been subject if one is
disposed to some physical ailment, and
he gets real mad, 1t is very apt to
bring on one of his old attacks. Saul
is a raving maniac and he goes to imi-
tating thu false prophets or sibyls,
who kicked and gesticulated wildly
when they pretended to be foretelling
events. Whatever the physicians of
the royal staff may have prescribed for
the disordered King, | know not, but
| David prescribed music. Having keyed
up the harp, his fingers began 10 pull
| the rhythm from the vibrated strings.
Thrum! Thrum! Thrum! No use.
| The King will not listen to the eXquis-
tie cadences. lie lets fly javelin, eX-
pecting To pin the minstrel to the wall,
but David lodged the weapon and
kept on, for he was confident that he
could, as before, subdue Saul's bad
spirit by music. Again the javelin S
flung aud David lodges it and der arts.
| What contrast! Roseate David with
a harp and enraged saul with n jave-
| lin. Who would not rather play the
one than fling the other? But that
was not the only time in the worlds
history that harp and javclin met
| " here their birthplace was | cannot
declare. 1t is said that the Tyre was
first suggested 10y the tight drawing OF
the sinews of tortoise across its
shell, and that the flute was first sug-
gested by the blowing of the wind
across "A bed of reeds, and that the
ratio of musical intervals was first sug-
| gested to Pythagoras by the different
| hammers on the anvil of the smithy,
but the harp seems to me to have
dropped out of the sky and the jave in
to have been thrown up from the pit.
The oldest string instrument of the
world is the harp Jubal sounded his
harp in the book of Genesis. David
| played many of his psalms on
the harp while he sang them.
The captives in Babylon hung
their harps on the willows Josephus
celebrated the invention of the ten
stringed harp. Timotheus, the Mi
| lesian, was imprisoned for adding the
twelfth string to the harp, because
too much luxury of sound might en-
ervate the people. Egyptian harps,
Scottish harps, Welsh harps, Irish
harps, have been celebrated. What
an inspired triangle! Everlasting
honors to Sebastian Erard, who, by
| pedals invented, called the foot as
we'll as the hand to the harp. When
the harpsichord maker for whom he
worked discharged him for his genius,
the EN- Dloyer not wanting 10 be
1clipsed by his subordinate, Erard
sutfe. ed from the same jealousy that
thew saul of my text into the lit dur
ing which he flung a javelin at the
harpist. he harp is almost human,
as you find when you put your finger
on its pulse. Other instruments have
louder voice, and may be better for n
battle charge, but what exquisite
sweetness slumDers between the harp
strings, waking at the first touch of
the tips of the fingers. 1t can weep.
it can plead. 1t can soothe. 1t can
pray. The flute is more mellow, the
trumpet IS more startling, the organ is
more majestic, the cymbals are more
festive, the drum is more resembling,
but the harp has richness of its own,
and will continue its mission through
all times and then take part in the
celestial symphonies, for ST. John saws
he heard in heaven the harps of God.
But the javelin of my text is just as
old. 1t is about five feet and half
long with wooden handle and steel
point, keen and sharp. But it belongs
to the great family of deathdealsrs,
and is brother to sword and spear and
bayonet, and first cousin to all the inn
plements that wound and Stay. 1t has
cut its way through the ages. 1t was
old when Saul, in the scene of my
text, tried to harpoon David. 1t has
gashed the earth with grave trenches.
It's keen tip is Redeemed with the
blood of American wars, English
wars, German wars, Russian wars,
French wars, Crusader wars, and wars
of all nations and of all ages. The
structure of the ;avelin shows what it
is made for. The plowshare is sharp,
but aimed to cut the earth in prepare
ton for harvests. The lightning rod
is sharp, but aimed to disarm the
lightnings and secure safety. The axe
is sharp but aimed TO fell forests and
clear the way for human habitation.
The knife is sharp, but aimed to cut
the bread for sustenance. But the
javelin is sharp only to open human
arteries and extinguish human eye
sight and take human life and fill the
earth with the cries of orphanage and
widowhood and childlessness. Oh, i
am so glad that my text brings them
80 close together that we can see the
contrast between the harp and the
tavelin. The one to soothe, the other
to hurt; the one to save, the other to
destroy; the one divine; the other dia-
bolic; the one to play, the other to
hurl; the one in David's skillful hand,
the other in Sauls wrathful clutch.
May God speed the harp, may God
grind into dullness the sharp edge OF
the javelin!
Now what does all this make you
think Of? IL suggests to me music as
O medicine for physical and mental