Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-05-18
AT THE TABERNACLE.
REV. Or. TALMkeE's ELOQUENT SER
MON ON THE HARP AND JAvELlN.


That Can BE eAvoided-JavelIns OF wit,
Of Irony. Of sophistry and Of D'NbolIo
Hostility.
BROOKLYN, May 14-In his sermon this
forenoon in the Brooklyn Tabernacle Rev.
Dr. Talmage brought in a novel and prac-
tical 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
Ye nations bow with sacred Joy.
The subject announced was "Harp and
Javelin," the text being Samuel, eight
eenth 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 jayelin,
| for be said, / will smite David even to the
wall with It. And David avoided out Of
his presence twice"
What a spectacle for all agesl Saul, a
giant, and David, dwarf. An unfortunate
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
disposed to some physical ailment and he
| get real mad, 1t Is very apt to bring on one
| of his old attacks Saul is raving maniac,
and he goes to initiating 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 disor.
dered king ! know not, but David pre-
scribed music Having keyed up the harp,
his fingers began to pull the rhythm from
the vibrating strings Thruml Thrum!
Thrumi No use. The king will not listen
TO the exquisite cadences. He lets fly a
| javelin, expecting 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 is flung, and David
lodges it and departs What a contrastl
Roseate David with harp and enraged
Saul with javelin. Who would not rath-
er play the one than fling the other! But
that was not the only time in the world g
history that harp and javelin met. Where
their birthplace was | cannot declare. It
is said that the Tyre was first suggested by
the tight drawing of the sinews of tor
toise across its shell, and that the flute was
first suggested by the blowing of the wind
across Il bed OF reeds, and that the ratio Of
musical intervals was first suggested 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 javelin to have 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 10-stringed harp
Timotheus the Milesian was imprisoned
for adding the twelfth string to the harp
because too much luxury of sound might
enervate the people. Egyptian harps, Scot
tish harps, Welsh harps, Irish harps have
been celebrated. What an inspired tri.
angleI
Everlasting honors to Sebastian Erard
who by pedal invented called the foot as
well as the hand to the harp. When the
harpsicord maker for whom he worked dis
charged him for his genius, the employer
not wanting to be eclipsed by his subor
dinate, Erard suffered from the same pas
sion of jealousy that threw Saul of my text
into the fit during which he flung javelir
at the harpist. The harp is almost human
as you find when you put your finger on it:
pulse.
Other instruments have louder voice
and may be better for battle charge, but
II.
the harp strings, waking at the first touch
of the tips Of the fingers. 1t can weep. II
can plead 1t can sooth. 1t can pray. The
flute is more mellow, the trumpet is more
startling, the organ is more majestic, tht
cymbals are more festive, the drum is more
resounding, but the harp has richness q
its own and will continue its mission
through all time and then take part in ce
lestial symphonies, for St. John says ht
heard in heaven the harps of God.
But the javelin of my text is just a!
old. 1t is about 515 feet long, with wooder
handle and steel point. keen and sharp
But it belongs to the great family O.
death dealers and is brother to sword ant
spear and bayonet, and first cousin to al
the implements that wound and slay. L
has cut its way through the ages. 1t wa!
old when Saul, in the scene of my text
tried to harpoon David. 1t has gashed thu
earth with grave trenches. Its keen Tip il
Redeemed with the blood of American wars
English wars, German wars, Russian wars
French wars, Crusader wars and wars o
all nations and of all ages.
The structure of the javelin shows wha
it was made for. The plowshare is sharp
l,,A ! Y. -,
for harvests. The lightning rod is sharp
but aimed to disarm the lightnings ant
secure safety. The ak is sharp, but aimee
to fell forests and clear the way for human
habitation. The knife is sharp, but aimet
to cut the bread for sustenance. But tn
javelin is sharp only to open human arterie
and extinguish human eyesight and tax
human life and fill the earth with the erie
of orphanage and widowhood and childless
ness.
Oh, am so glad that my text bring
them so close together that we can see tn
contrast between the harp and the javelin
The one to soothe, the other to hurt; tn
one to save, the other to destroy; the on
divine, the other diabolic; the one to play
tho other to hurl; the one in David's skill
full hand, the other in Saul's wrathfu
clutch. May God speed the harp; may Go
grind into dullnsss the sharp edge of tn
javelinl
! Now what docs all this make you thin
} of? 1t suggests to me music as medicin
for physical and mental disorders. Davi
took hold of the musical instrument whic
he best knew how to play and evoked fror
| it sounds which were for King Saul's diver
| Izsz D,.k /,
| treatment in this case was failure. VIII
was it failure2 Saul refused to take tn
medicine. A whole apothecary shop G
curative drugs will do nothing towar
, healing your illnesses If you refuse to TAX
the medicine. 1t was not the fault c
David's prescription, but the fault of Saul
obstinacy.
David. one of the wisest and best of a