Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-05-20

etsgational singing Of hi time, which could
s. heard two miles on Whom my dear
friend Dfo Lewis (gone to rest al too soon)
conducted campaign against drunkenness
ct the West, and maTshaled Thousands Of thu
noblest women Of the land In that magnih-
cent campaign, end whole noighborhoods and
villages and cities shut up their grog shops,
Nssrs. ~ oe1: y Tasss
Nearer - Thsa
They sang Il It tho door Of hundreds OF
liquor saloons which had bean open for
years, and either ct the arst charge Of the
campaign or the second the saloon shut up.
AT the first verse Of ''Nearer, Ny God, to
Thee" the liquor dealers laughed, at the
second verse they looked solemn, at the third
verso they began to cry, and at the fourth
verse they got down on their knees. fou
say they opened their saloons again. Yea.
some Of them did. Bur Il Is great thing to
have hell shut up II only for . week. Give
full swing to good gospel hymn, aad it
would take the whole world for God
But when in my text see Saul declining
this medicine Of rhythm and cadence and &c
tually hurting javelin at the heart OF David,
the harpist, bethink myself Of the fact that
sin would like to kill sacred music. We are
not told what tune David was playing on tbs
harp that day, but from the character Of the
man we know it was not crazy madrigal, Of
b senseless ditty, or q sweep Of strings sug
gestiye Of the melodrama, but elevated music,
God given music, inspired music, religious
music, q whole heaven OF It encamped under
a harpstring. No wonder that wicked Saul
hated it and could not abide the sound and
with all his might hurled an instrument OF
death at 1t.
know there are styles OF music that sin
admires, and you hear it as you pass ths
casino or the dance hall, and the devil has
stolen most of the fiddles though am glad
the Ole Bulls have snatched up the charmed
strings from their Dissertation, but 1t Is fact
that sin has a javelin for sacred sounds. In
many churches the javelin Of criticism has
killed the music, javelin flung from organ loft
or from adjoining pew Of the supersensitive.
Eaul's javelin aimed at David's harp. Thou
sands Of people SO afraid they may not sing
scientifically, they will not sing at all, or sing
with such low tone that no one hears them.
In many a church the javelin of criticism
has crippled the harp of worship II satan
could silence all the Sunday-school songs
and the hymns Of Christian worship, be
would gain his greatest achievement. When
the millennial song shall rise-and 1t Is be-
ing made ready-there will be such q roll OF
voices, such a concentrated power of stringed
and wind instruments, such majesty, such
uaanimity, such continental and hemisphere
and planetary exclamation, that 1t viii be i'm
pO18lDl6 10 kuUW WuolS cdIbu StOpS h0u
heaven begins. Roll on, roll in, roll up, thou
millennial harmony!
See also in my subject rejected oppor-
tunity of revenge. Why did not David pick
up Saul's javelin and hurl it back again?
David had a skiilful arm. He demonstrated
on another occasion he could WELD sling,
and he could have easily picked up that
jayelin, aimed it at Saul, the would-be
assassin, and left the foaming and demented
monster as hfeless under the javelin as he
had left Goliath under sling. Oh, David,
now Is your chance. No, no. Men and
women with power Of tongue or pen or hand
to reply to an imbittered antagonist, better
initiate David and let the javelin lie at your
feet and keep the harp in your hand. Do
not strike back. Do not play the game OF
tit for tat.
Gibbon, In his history, tells Of Bajazet the
great Moslem General who was brought q
captive to the tent Of Timur. He had at
tempted the massacre of Timur and his men.
Timur said to him: 'tHad you vanquished US
am not ignorant Of the fate which you re-
served for myself and my troops, but dis
dain to retaliate. Your life and honor are
secure. and shall express my gratitude to
God by my clemency to man" Beautiful.
Revenge on Christians tongue or pen OF
hand Is inapt and more damage to the one
who employs it than the one against whom
1t is employed. What A javeiin hurled al
you a.-u lullou 81 your l6Sty anu YOU 'tOt uuIi
1t back again2 Yes. have tried tie plan.
learned it from my father AMI have prac-
tced it all my life. and it WORKS well, and by
The help Of GOD and javelins not picked up
have conquered all my foes AMI preached
funeral sermons in honor OF most Of them.
The best thing you can do with a javelin
hurled at you is 10 let it lie where it dropped
Or hang it up in your museum as curiosity.
The deepest wound made by a javalin is not
= l. - H.. l,,% of ft,aA tril nf hA
handle to him who yields it. | leave 1t to
you to say which got the best OF that fight In
the palace-Saul or David.
See also in my subject that the fact that q
man sometimes lodges Is not against his
courage. My text says that when Saul as
sailed him, David avoided out OF his pres
ence twice'-that is, when the javelin was
flung, he stepped out of its direction or bent
this way or that-in other words. be lodged.
But all those who have read the Life OF David
know that he was not lacking in proweSs.
David had faults, but cowardice was not one
of them.
When David, who was, guess, about four
and a half feet high, went out to meet the
giant, who was, Iguess, about 10 feet high,
it was big undertaking, and the inequali-
ties OF the struggle were SO great that II
struck the giants idea of the ludicrous, and
he 81 ygested to the little fellow that he would
make fine dinner FOR Z buzzard or jackai
--aCous to me, end will give thy flesh unto
the fowls OF the air and to this beasts OF the
field
When David went out to meet that giant
aid conquered him, he demonstrated, a. he
did on other occasions, his courage. But y
I'M so GLAD taat when Saul flung tina, iavel.n
David lodged it, or the = 81 WORK OF his life
would never have been c.. What lesson
this is to those who go into useless danger
and expose their lives or their regulations or
their usefulness unnecessarily. When duty
demands, go ahead, though oil earth and hell
oppose. Dodge not one inch from the right
position. But when nothing is involved step
back or step aside.
Why stand in the way of perils that you
can avoid2 Go not into Quixotic battles to
nght windmills. You will be of more use to
the world and the church as an active Chris
tian man than as target for javeliHs. There
are Christians always in fight, II they GO
into churches they fight there. II they 60
into presbyteries or conferences or consocia-
tons, they fight there. My advice to you is,
II anything Is to DO gained for God or the
truth, stand out of the way of the javelin.
Samuel xviii, IL, David avoided out OF
his presence twice"
Washington was as mighty in his retreats
as in his advances. His army would several
times have been destroyed il he had not
lodged. He lodged on Leng Island; 10
lodged on New Jersey heights. Lincoln on
his way to inauguration at Washington was
waited for by assassins, but he took another
train and lodged the desperadoes. We have
high example of the fact that sometimes man
will serve God best by disappearing from this
or that place. this OF that environment.
A mob brought Christ 10 tie top of the
rocks back of Nazarrah. They did not like
His preaching, and they proposed to hurl
Him down the precipice. But while they
were getting ready for the massacre Christ
darted into the crowd and amid the eonfu-
sion escaped to Capernaum and continued
exercising devils and cooling fevers and ALL
ing fish nets and giving healthy circulation
OF blood to paralysis and curing dementia and
turning coSpses into living men and women
and dong His chief work.
What good thing He lodged the crowd on
the rocks back Of Nazareth. Likewise at
Jerusalem one day, while He was sauntering
up and down in Solomon's porch waiting for
an opportunity to say kind words or do a
useful decd, the people proposed to pay Hin
for His self sacrifices by stoning Him to death,
but the record is. ''He escaped out OF their
hands"
See also In my subject the unreasonable
attitude of iavelin toward harp. What had
that harp in Dayid's hand done to the javelin
in Saulis hand? Had the vibrating strings Of
the one hurt the keen edge Of the other? Was
there an old grudge between the two FAM
lilies Of sweet sound and sharp cut2 Had the
triangle ever insulted the polished shaft?
Why the deadly aim of the DESTROYING