Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-05-26
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIyINE's sun.
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "HARP AND JAyELIN."

D1ttb ttOHHt tht " hts lFtStAEt tt' g..
I Samuel xviii, 10-ll.
What a spectacle for all ages! Saul.
giant, and David, n dwarf. An uafortunlts
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 disyOs i
TO some physical ailment and he get real
mad, 1t Is very apt TO bring on one of his Old
attacks. Saul Is u raving maniac, AMI he
goes TO initiating the false prophets or sibyls,
who kicked and gesticulated wildly when
they pretended TO be foretelinC events.
Whatever the physicians OF the royal stan
may have prescribed for the disordered king
l 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 The
king will not listen to the exquisite cadenccs.
BE lets fly . jayelin. 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 Sauls bad
spirit by music
Again the javelin is flung. and David
| dodges 1t and departs What contrast
Roseate 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
| uhIp anu lhNtIlu met. W mere tUtlT IlFIU-
place was cannot declare. II Is said that
the Tyre was first suggested by the tight
drawing OF the sinews OF a tort oise across its
shell, and that the flute was first suggested
| by the blowing OF the wind across a bed of
reeds and that the ratio OF musical intervals
was first suggested to PythaSOras by the dif
ferent hammers on the anvil of the smithy.
but the harp seems to me to have dropped out
OF the sky and the iavelin to have been thrown
up from the pit.
| The oldest stringed instrument 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 lO-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 Scottish harps, Welsh harps,
| Irish harps have been celebrated. What an
Inspired triangle
| Everlasting honors to Sebastian Frard.
who by pedals invented called the foot as
| well 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 eclipsed by his subordi-
nate, Erard suffered from the same passion
of jealousy that threw Saul OF my text into
the At during which he flung a javelin at the
harpist The harp is almost human, as you
fnd 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 tho
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, for st. John says he heard In heaven
the harps Of God.
But the javelin OF my text Is Just rs old.
1t 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 slay. II has cut
its way through the ages. 1t was old when
Saul In the scene of my text, tried to har-
poon David. II has gashed the earth with
grave trenches. Its 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
1t was made for. The powshare Is sharp,
but aimed to cut the earth in preparation for
harvests. The lightning rod is sharp, but
aimed to disarm the lghtnings 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 fill the earth with the cries of orphanage
and widowhood and childlessness.
oh, am so glad that my text brings them
80 close together that We can see the contrast
between the harp and the jayelin. The one
TO soothe the other to hurt 4; 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 Davids skillful hand, the other in
Saul's wrathful clutch. May God speed the
harp may God grind into dullness the sharp
edge OF the javelin.
Now what does al this make you think off,
1t 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 Saul's diversion and
medicament. But, you say, the treatment in
this case was n failure. Why was it failuref
Saul refused to take the medicine. A whole
apothecary shop Of curative drugs will do
nothing toward healing your illnesses II you
refuse to take the medicine. 1t was not the
fault OF David's prescription, but the fault OF
Saul's ohstinacy
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 as suddenly as other
forms Of cure, but It Is just as wonderful
You will never know how much suffering and
sorrow music has assuaged and healed.
soldier in the United States army said thai
on the days the regimental band played neal
the hospitals all the sick and wounded re
vived, and men who we're so lame they coulC
not walk before got up and went out and sal
in the sunshine, and those so dispirited tha
they never expected to get home began tt
pack their baggage and ask about timetables
on steamboat and rail train.
Theodosius, the emperor, wrathful ar thu
behavior of tho people OF Antioch, who, ol
some sudden provocation tore down thu
statues OF emperor and empress, resolved
severely to punish them, but the bishop
knowing that the emperor had q group o
boys to sing to him while eating at the table
taught the boys plaintive song In which tn
people lamented their bad behavior, and tn
, king under the pathos OF the music cried out
"The city OF Antioch is forgiven" The rag
Of Achilles was assuaged by harp. Ascle
piades swayed rebellious multitudes by
harp.
After the battle Of Yorktown, when
musician was to suffer amputation, and be
fore the days of anRsthetics, the Wounds
artist called for musical instrument an
lost not note during the forty minutes Q
amputation. Filippo Palma, the great mus
clan, confronted by an angry creditor
played SO enchantingly before him that tn
creditor forgave the debt and gave the debto
ten guineas more to appease other creditors
An eminent physician OF olden time con
tended (of course carrylLg our theory to-