Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-05-15
HARP AND JAVELIN.
DR.. TALMAGE breaches ON A NOV
Ei SUBJECT.

BROOKLYN. May I4.-In his sermon
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
Ye nations bow with sacred joy.
The subject 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
Saurs 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 a spectacle for all ages! Saul, a
giant. and David, dwarf. An unfor-
tunate war ballad had been composed and
sung eulogizing David above Saul. That
song threw Saul into a 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!
Thrum! Thru1n! No use. The king will
not listen to the exquisite cadences. He
lets fly a JSVeGn, 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
Saul's bad spirit by music.
Again the javelin is flung, and David
lodges it and departs. What a contrast!
Roseate David with harp and enraged
Saul with a 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 birthplace was can
not declare 1t is said that the Tyre was
first suggested by the tight drawing of
the sinews of Il tortoise across it's shell,
and that the flute was first suggested by
reeds, and that the ratio of musical in
tervals was first suggested to Pythago-
ras 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 Mile
sian, 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 tri-
angle!
Everlasting honors to Sebastian Erard
who by pedals invented called the foot
rs well as 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
Saul of my text into the fit during which
he flung a 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 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 a richness of its own
and will continue its mission through all
time and then take part in celestial sym
phonies. foi. ST. John says he heard in
heaven the harps of God.
THE ANCIENT JAvELIN.
But the javelin 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
and spear and bayonet, and first cousin
TO all the implements that wound and
Stay 1t has cut its way through the
ages. 1t was old when Saul. in the scene
of my text, tried to harpoon David. It
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
Ightnings and secure safety. The ak is
sharp but aimed to fell forests and