Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-05-15

tue campaign or the second the saloon
shut up. At the first verse of ssNearer,
My God, to Thee the diquor dealers
/ laughed, at the second verse they looked
solemn, at the third verse they began to
cry, and at the fourth verse they got
! down on their knees. You say they
opened their saloons again. Yes, some
of them did. But it is great thing to
have hell shut up if only for week.
Give full swing to a good gospel hymn,
and it would take the whole world for
God!
THE REBELLIOUS NATURE.
But when in my text see Saul declin-
ing this medicine of rhythm and cadence
and actually hurting javelin at the
heart of David, the harpist I bethink
myself of the fact that sin would like to
kill sacred music. We are not told what
tune David was playing on the harp that
day, but from the character of the man
we know it was not a crazy madrigal, or
senseless ditty, or a sweep of strings
suggestive of the me1odrama, but ele-
waited music, God given music, inspired
music, religious music, whole heaven
of it encamped under harpstring No
WOuucI UIIdU WICACO kOdu1 IIdU0u III dAo
could not abide the sound and with all
his might hurled an instrument of death
1T it.
I know there are styles of music that
sin admires, and you hear it as you pass
the casino or the dance hall, and the
devil has stolen most of the fiddles,
though I am glad the Ole Bulls have
snatched up the charmed strings from
their dissertation, but it is a fact that
sin has a javelin for sacred sounds. In
many churches the javelin of criticism
has killed the music, javelin flung from
organ loft OF from adjoining pew of the
supersensitive. Saul's javelin aimed at
David's harp. Thousands of people so
afraid they may not sing scientifically,
they will not sing at all, or sing with
such low tone that no one hears them.
In many church the javelin of criti-
cism has crippled the harp of worship.
IF satan could silence all the Sunday
school songs and the hymns of Christian
worship, he would gain his greatest
achievement. When the millennial song
shall rise-and it is being made ready
there will be such roll of voices, such
a concentrated power of stringed and
wind instruments, such majesty, such
unanimity, such continental and hemi-
spheric and planetary reclamation, that
it will be impossible to know where earth
stops and heaven begins Roll on, rol
in. roll up, thou millennial harmony
THE MEANNEsS OF REVENGE.
See also in my subject a rejected OPP
portunity of revenge. Why did not
David pick up Saul's javelin and hurl it
back again? David had skillful arm.
He demonstrated on another occasion he
could WELD a sling, and he could have
easily picked up that javelin, aimed it
at Saul, the would be assassin, and left
the foaming and demented monster as
Hfeless under the javelin as he had left
Goliath under sling. Oh, David, now
is your chance. No, no. Men and women
with power of tongue or pen or hand to
reply to an imbittered antagonist, bet
ter initiate David and let the javelin lie
at your feet and keep the harp in you.
hand. Do not strike back. Do not play
the game Of tit for tat.
Gibbon, in his history, tells of Bajazet,
the great Moslem general who was
brought captive to the tent of Timur.
He had attempted the massacre of Timur
and his men. Timur said to him: Had
you vanquished us am not ignorant Of
the fate which you reserved for myself
and my troops, but l disdain to retaliate.
You life and honor are secure, and | shall
express my gratitude to God by my elem
ency to man." Beautiful.
Revenge ON Christians tongue or pen
OF hand is inapt and more damage to
I the one who employs it than the one
against whom it is employed. What! A
iavelin hurled at you and fallen at your
4 ieet, and you not hurl it back again?
! Yes. | have tried the plan learned
it from my father and have practiced it
all my life, and it works well, and by
the help Of God and javelins not picked
up have conquered all my foes and
preached funeral sermons in honor of
most of them.
The best thing you can do with jave-
lin hurled at you is to let it lie where it
| dropped or hang it up in your museum
as curiosity. The deepest wound made
by javelin is not by the sharp edge, but
at the dull end of the handle to him who
yields it. ! leave it to you to say which
got the best Of that fight in the palace
Saul or David.
See also in my subject that the fact
that man sometimes lodges is not
against his courage. My text says that
when Saul assailed him, David avoided
out of his presence twice''-that is, when
the javelin was flung he stepped out of
its direction or bent this way or that-in
other words, he lodged. But all those
who have read the life of David know
that he was not lacking in proves.
David had faults, but cowardice was not
one Of them.
When David, who was, guess, about
d feet high, went out to meet the giant,
who was, guess, about 10 feet high, it