Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-05-20
NUMBER At
their hands"
CAUSELESS HATRED.

/
cAUsELEss HATRED.
See also in my subject theunreason-
able attitude of javelin toward harp.
What had that harp In David's hand
done to the javelin in saul's hand2 Had
the vibrating strings Of the one hurt the
keen edge Of the other? Was there an
old grudge between the two families Of
sweet sound and sharp cut? Had the tri-
angle ever insulted the polished shaft:
Why the deadly aim of the destroying
weapon against the instrument Of soothr
ing. calming, healing sound?
Well, will answer that If you will
tell me why the hostility Of so many to
the gospel, why the virulent attacks
against Christian religion. why the engry
antipathy of so many to the most genial.
most inviting, most salutary influence
under all the heavens. Why will men
give their lives 30 writing and speak.
Ing and warning against Christ and
the gospelS Why the javelin OF tho
worlds hatred and rage against the
harp of heavenly Lover You know
and I know men who get wrathfully
red In the face and foaming at the
mouth and use the gesture OF the clinch-
ed fist and put down their feet with 10,
dignant emphasis and invoke all sar.
casm and irony and vituperaAon and
scorn and spite at the Christian reii
gion. What has the Christian religion
! done that it should be 30 aesaileG
Whom hath 1t bitten and left with by.
drophobia virus In their veins that It
should sometimes be chased as though Il
were maddened canine?
To head off and trip up and push
down and corner our religion was The
dominant thought III the life of David
| Hume and Voltaire and Shaftesbury
and even the Earl Of Rochester, until
one day In princely house, In which
they blasphemously put God on trial,
and the Earl of Rochester was the attos-
ney against God and religion and re-
ceived the applause Of the whole com.
pany, when suddenly the earl was struck
under conviction and cried; Good God,
that a man who walks uprightly, who
sees the wonderful works Of God and
has the use Of his senses and reason.
should use them IN defying his Creator!
| I wish I had been crawling leper in O
ditch rather than have acted toward
God as I have done"
Javelin of wit, javelin of irony, javelin
Of scurrility, javelin Of sophistry, jave
! lin Of human and diabolic hostility have
been flying for hundreds Of years and are
flying now. But aimed at what? At
something that has come to devastats
the world? At something that Stays No
tions9 At something that would maui
and trample under foot and excruciato
and crush tho human racer
TER WONDERFUL HARP.
No, aimed at the gospel harp-harp
on which prophets played with some
what lingering and uncertain angers,
but harp on which apostles played with
sublime certainty, and martyrs played
while their fingers were on fire. Harp
that was dripping with the blood Of the
Christ, out of whose heartstrings the
harp was chorded and from whose dying
groan the strings were keyed. Oh, gos-
pei harp! Ali thy nerves a-tremble
with stories of self sacrifice. Harp
thrummed by fingers long ago turned
Ito dust. Harp that made heaven listen
and will yet make all the earth heaR.
Harp that sounded pardon to my sinful
soul and peace over the grave where my
dead sleep. Harp that will lead the
chant Of the blood washed throng Sc
deemed around the throne May q jave-
lin slay me before I fling a javelin at
that Harp which 1t seems almost too
sacred for me to touch, and so I call
down from their thrones tLose who used
to finger 1t and ask them to touch 1t
now. Come down, William Cooper,
and run your fingers over the strings Of
this harp He says, II WILL and be
plays:
Theyo IL O fountain filed with blood
Drawn from 1mmanuels veins
'.Oome down. Charles Wesley, and touch
the strings" He says, II will, end he
plays:
Jeeus, lover Of my eoul.
Let me to thy bosom fly.
Come down, Augustus Toplady, and
sweep your fingers across this gospel
harp He says, II will and he plays:
Rock Of Ages, cleft for NE,
Lot me hide myself in thee.
Come down, Isaac Watts, and take this
harp" He says, II WILL" and he plays:
Alas, and did my Saviour bleed,
And did my Sovereign die?
'P. P. Bliss, como down and thrum this
gospel harp" Ho says, II will, nand he
Eailluiah, tis done
believe on she Son
Inefable harp! Transporting ila-pi Har,
Of earthI Harp Of heaven! Harp sanity
and seraphiol Harp Of Godl Oh, lika
the idea of that old monument In the
ancient church a. U1lard, near Kilkenny,
Ireland. The sculpture on that mono
ment, though chiseled more than Q
thousand years ago, as appropriate today
sthen, the sculpture representing harp
upon cross. Tint Is where I hang 1t
now, that Is where you had better hang
it. Let the javelin be forever buried, the
sharp edge down, but hang the harp upon
the cross.
And now upon our souls let the harps
of heaven raln music, ana as Wnen tlB
SUMS rays fall aslant tn Switzerland at
the approach Of eventide, and the. shep-
herd among the Alps puts the horn to
his lips and blows blast and says,
"Glory be to God" and all the shep-
herds on the Alpine heights or down HI
the deep valleys respond with other
blasts Of horns, saying, GLORY be to
God" and then all the shepherds uncover
their heads and kneel In worship, and
after few moments Of silence some
shepherd rises from his knees and blows
another blast of the horn and says,
'"Thanks be to God" and al through the
mountains theresponse comes from other
shepherds, Thanks be to God,' 50 this
moment let all the valleys of earth e.