News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-05-18

this forenoon in the Brooklyn Tabernacle
Rev. DR. Talmage brought in novel and
practical conjunction that is suggested
by text perhaps never before chosen.
The opening hymn, led by organ and
cornet and joined in by thousands of
voices. was:
Before Jehovah's awful throne
We nations bow with sacred joy.
Thesubject announced was: "Harp and
Javelin," the text being | Samuel, eight
zenith chapter, tenth and eleventh verses:
And David played with his hand as at
other times, and there was a javelin in
Saul's hand And Saul cast the javelin,
for he said, will smite David even to
the wall with it. And David avoided out
of his presence twice"
What spectacle for all ages! Saul, a
giant. and David, a dwarf. An unfor-
tunate war ballad had been composed and
sung eulogizing David above Saul. That
song threw Saul into 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 all
ment and he get real mad, it is very apt
TO bring on one of his old attacks. Saul
is raving maniac. and he goes to imi-
tating the 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 dis
ordered king know not, but David pre-
scribed music. Having keyed up the
harp. his fingers began TO pull the rhythm
from the vibrating strings. Thrum!
.Thruml Thru1n! No use. The king will
not listen to the exquisite cadences. He
lets fly IA javelin, expecting to pin the
minstrel to the wall, but David lodged
the weapon and kept on, for he was con-
fident that he could, as before, subdue
Sauls bad spirit by music.
Again the javelin is flung, and David
lodges it and departs. What contrast!
Roseate David with harp and enraged
Saul with jayelin. 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 javelin
met Where their birthplace was I can
not declare. 1t is said that the Tyre was
first suggested by the tight drawing of
the sinews of 4 tortoise across its shell,
and that the flute was first suggested by
the blowing of the wind across bed of
reeds. and that the ratio of musical in
tervals was first suggested to Pythago-
ras by the different hammers on the anvil
of the smithr. but the harp seems to me
to have dropped out of the sky and the
Javelin to hs.ve been thrown up from the
pit.
The oldest stringed 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
IO-stringed harp. Timotheus. the Mile
sian was imprisoned for aiding the
twelfth string to the harp, because too
much luxury of sound might enervate
the people Egyptian harps, Scottish
harls Welsh harps. Irish harps have
been celebrated What an inspired tri-
angle.
Everlasting honors to Sebastian Erard,
who by pedals invented called the foot
as well rs the hand to the harp When
the harpsicord maker for whom he
worked discharged him for his genius,
the employer not wanting to be eclipsed
by his subordinate. Erard suffered from
the same passion of jealousy that threw
SAM of my text into the fit during which
he flung Il Javelin at the harpist. The
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 a battle charge,
but what exquisite sweetness slumbers
between the harp strings, waking at the
first touch of the tips of the fingers. 1t
can weep 1t 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 resounding,
but the harp has richness of its own |
and will continue its mission through all |
time and then take part in celestial SYM
phonies, for St. John says he heard in
heaven the harps of God
THE ANCIENT JAvELIN.
But the iavelin of my text is just as
old 1t is about 81 feet long, with wood |
en- handle and steel point, keen and sharp.
But it belongs to the great family of
death dealers and is brother to sword
to all the implements that wound and
slay 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. |
Its keen tip is Redeemed with the blood |
of American wars. English wars, Ger
man wars, Russian wars, French wars.
Crusader wars and wars of all nations
and Of all ages.
The structure of the javelin shows
what it was made for. The plowshare
is sharp, but aimed to cut the earth in |
preparation for harvests. The lightning
rod is sharp, but aimed to disarm the
hghtnings and secure safety. The ak 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 eyesight and take
human life and fill the earth with the
cries of orphanage and widowhood and
childlessness.
Oh, am so glad that my text brings
them so close together that we can see
the contrast between the harp and the |
Javelin. The one to soothe, the other to |
hurt; the one to save, the other to destroy: |
the one divine, the other diabolic; the |
one to play, the other to hurl; the one in
David's skillful hand, the other in Saurs |
wrathful clutch Nav God speed the |
harp, may God grind into du1lness the
sharp edge of the javelin.
Now what does all this make you think |
Of: It suggests to me music as medi-
cine for physical and mental disorders.
David took hold of the musical instru-
ment which he best knew how to play
and evoked from it sounds which were
for King Sauls diversion and medica-
ment. But, you say, the treatment in
this case was failure. Why was it a
failure? Saul refused to take the medi-
zine. A whole apothecary shop of cura-
tive drugs will do nothing toward healing
your illnesses if you refuse to take the
medicine. TWAS not the fault of David's
prescription, but the fault of Saul's OBJ
stinacy.
David, one of the wisest and best of
all ages, stands before us in the text adj
ministering music for nervous disorder
and cerebral disturbance, and David was
right. Music is the mightiest force in
MI therapeutics. It's results may not be
Teen rs suddenly as other forms of cure.
but it is just as wonderful You will
never know how much suffering and sor-
row music has assuaged and healed. A
soldier in the United States army said
that on the days the regimental band
played near the hospitals all the sick