The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-05-31
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Harp and Javelin."

at other times and there ,cds q jduetin IN SduF
hand. And Saul cast the jaretin, for he said
7 ,oiH smate. Darid erer to the 'odu ,oth IL. And
Dnrid ovoided out Of his presence tscice. ~
Samuel xviii, 10-11.
What q spectacle for oil ages. Saul, a
giant. and David, dwarf. An unfortunate
war ballad had been composed and sung
eulogizing David above Saul That song
threw Saul into paro1ysm 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 ne
goes to initiating the false prophets or sloyls,
who kicked and gesticulated wildly when
they pretended to be foretelling events.
Whatever the physicians OF the royal stan
may have prescribed for the disordered king
I know not, but David prescribed music.
Having KEYED up the harp, his fingers began
to pull the rhythm from the vibrating STRINGS.
IThrum! Thrum! Thrum! No use. The
king will not listen to the exquisite cadences.
He lets fly q javelin. expecting to pin the
minstrel to the wall, but David lodged the
that he could, as before, subdue Saul's bad
spirit by music.
Again the javelin Is flung, and David
dodees it and departs. What contrast
Roseate David with harp and enraged Saul
with iavelin. 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 cannot declare. It is said that
the Tyre was first suggested by the tight
drawing of the sinews Of tortoise across its
shell, and that the flute was first suggested
by the blowing of the wind across bed OF
reeds. and that the ratio Of musical intervals
was first suggested to Pythagoras by the diff
ferent 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 bus
psalms on the harp while he sang them. Ths
captives in Babylon hung their harps on the
willows. Josephus celebrated the invention
of the 10-stringed harp. Ttmotheus, 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 Erard,
who by pedals invented called the foot as
well as the hand to the harp. When the
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 fit during which he flung javelin at the
harpist. The harp is almost human, as you
find when you put your finger on It's pulse.
Other instruments have louder voice and
may be better for q 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. It can soothe. It 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
sesounding, but the harp has 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 as old.
1t is about five and half feet long, with
wooden handle and steel point, keen and
sharp. But 1t 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 slsy. It has cut
Its way through the ages. 1t was old when
Saul, in the scene of my text, tried to har-
poon David. It has gashed the earth with
grave treAches. 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
but aimed to cut the earth in preparation for
harvests. The lightning rod is sharp, but
aimed to disarrn the nghtnings and secure
safety. The ax 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 e1tin-
guish human eyesight and take human life
and fill the earth with the cries OF orphanage
and widowhood and childlessness.
Oh, am 80 glad that my text brings them
80 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 David's skillful hand, the other in
Saui's wrathful clutch. May God speed the
harp, may God grind into dullness the sharp
edge OF the iavelin.
Now what does all this make you think Of?
It suggests to me music as medicine for
physical and mental disorders. David took
hold OF the musical instrument which he best
knew how to play and evoked from it sounds
which were for King Saul's diversion and
medicament. But, you say, the treatment In
tnis case was failure. Why was 1t q falluref
Saul refused to take the medicine. A whole
spothecary shop of curative drugs will do
nothing toward healing your illnesses if you
refuse to take the medicine. 1t was not the
fault Of Davids prescription, but the fault OF
Sauls 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 as suddenly rs other
forms Of cure, but 1t is just 0s W ondsrful.
You will never know how much suffering and
sorrow music has assuaged ant healed. A
soldier in the United States army said that
on the days the regimental band played near
She hospitals all the sick and wounded re-
vived, and men who we're 80 lame they could
not walk before got up and went out and sat
In the sunshine, and those 80 dispirited that
they never expected to get home 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, VINO, 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 taole,
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 tee battle Of Yorktown, when a
musician was to suffer amputs-ton.' 'and be-
fore the days Of anRsthetics, the wounded
artist called for a musical instrument and
lost not note during the forty minutes OF
amputstion. Bilippo Palma, the great musi.
clan confronted by an angry creditor,