Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-05-19
REV. DR.. 7ALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
suh,ec.. "MaytIme Thoughts"

What spectacle Tor all ages Saul n
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 to
which he had been subject II one is disposed
to some physical ailment and he get real
mad. It IS very apt to bring on one of his old
attacks. Saul is raving maniac. and nd
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 star
may have prescribed for the disOrdered king
| know not, but David prescribed music.
Having keyed up the harp, his fingers began
to pull the rhythm from the vibrating strings.
Thrum Thrum Thrum No use. Tho
king will not listen to the exquisite cadences.
he lets fly javelln. 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 iavelin is flung, and ror,d
lodges it and -asSs sr IT," Wat contrast
7i.t-e.cs.sse David with harp and enraged Saul
with javelin. 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 birth
place was l cannot declare 1t is said that
the Tyre was first suggested by the tight
drawing Oithe sinews of tortoise across its
shell, and that the flute was first suggested
by the blowing o, the wind across q bed OF
reeds. and that the ratio of musical intervals
was first suggested to Pythagoras by the diff
terent 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 ofthe 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 1O-stringed harp. Timotheus, the
Miesian. was imprisoned for adding the
twelfth string to the harp. because too much
luxury of sound might enervate 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
harpiscord maker for whom he worked dis
charged him for his genius, the employer
not wanting to be ecipsed by his subordt-
nate. Erard suffered from the same passion
OF jealousy that threw Saul of my text into
the fit during which he flung 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 battle charge, but what
exquisite sweetness SAUNDERS between the
harp strings. waking at the first touch Of the
tips Of the fingers. It 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 a 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 hatps OF God.
But the javelin of my text is just as old.
It is about five and half feet long, with
wooden handle and steel point, keen and
sharp But it belongs to the great family of
death dealers and is brother to sword and
spear and bayOnet, and first cousin to all the
implements that wound and STAY. II has cut
its way through the ages. 1t was old when
Saul, in the scene OF my text, tried to har-
pooh David It 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 ages.
The structure Of the javelin shows what
il 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 lightnings and secure
safety. The ak is sharp but aimed to fell
forests and clear the way for human habi-
tation. The knife Is sharp, but aimed to cut
the bread for sustenance. But the javelin is
sharp only to open human arteries and extin-
guish human eyesight and take human life
and I'll the earth with the cries of orphanage
and widowhOOd and childlessness.
Oh, l 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 Daylds skillful hand, the other in
Sauls wrathful clutch. May God speed the
harp, may God grind into dizziness the sharp
edge OF the javelin.
Now what does all this make you think OF?
It suggests TO me music as a medicine for
physical and mental disorders. David took
hold Of the musical instrument which he best
knew how to play and evoked from 1t sounds
which were for King Saurs diversion and
medicament. But you say, the treatment In
this case was failure. Why was it failure2
Saul refused TO take the medicine. A whole
apothecary shop of curative drugs will do
nothing toward healing your illnesses if you
refuse to take the medicine II was not the
fault of David's prescription, but the fault OF
Saul's obstinacy.
David, one of the wisest and best Of all
ages, stands before us in the text administer
ing music for nervous disorder and cerebral
disturbance. and David was right. Music is
the mightiest force In all therapeutics. Its
results may not be seen az suddenly as other
forms OF cure, but it is just as wonderful.
You will never know how much suffering anG
sorrow 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 and wounded re-
vived. and men who were 80 lame they could
not walk before got up and went out and sat
In the sunshine, and those so dispirited that
they never expected to get homo began to
pack their baggage and ask about timetables
on steamboat and rail train.
Theodosius, the emperor, wrathful at the
behavior Of the people Of Antioch, who, on
some sudden provocation tore down the
statues Of emperor and empress, resolved
severely to punish them, but the bishop,
knowing that the emperor had group Of
boys to sing to him while eating at the table,
taught the boys plaintive song in which the
people lamented their bad behavior, and the
king under the pathOs of the music cried out,
''The city OF Antioch Is forgiven. The rage
of Achilles was assuaged by harp. Ascle-
piades swayed rebellious multitudes by a
harp.
After the battle OF Yorktown, when a
musician was 70 suffer amDutation. and be-
fore the days Of an4sthetics, the wounded
artist called for a musical instrument and
lost nOt.a note during the forty minutes OF
amputation. Filippo Palma, the great must
clan, confronted by an angry creditor,
PLAYED so enchantingly before him that the
creditor forgave the debt and gave the debtor
ten g,lineas more to appease other creditors.
An eminent physician Of olden time con-
tended (of course carrying our theory too
far) that all ailments Of the world could be
cured by music. The medical journals never
report their recoveries by this mode. But In
what twilight hour has many saint OF God
solaced heartsche with hymn hummed or
sung or played jerome Of Prague sang
while burning at the stake. Over what keys
OF piano or organ consolation has walked.
Xea, In church one hymn has rolled peace
over a r7..c;Ss5-11 C the worried, perpiexed
and az )nized.
While there are hymns and tunes ready for
the jubilant, there is a rich hymnology for
the suffering Naomi" and 'Eventide" and
Autumn Leaves" and "Ceme We disconso.
late" and whole portfolios and librettos Of
tears set to music. All the wonderful
triumphs Of surgery and all the new modes
of successful treatment Of physical and men.
tai disorders are discussed in medical con-
ventions aud spread abroad in medical books.
and it Is high time that some Of the millions