Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-05-20
HARP AND JAVELIN.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
Power Of Music.
Its Power to Cure Diseased Bodies and
Minds 1t In Sometimes the Best Policy
10 Dodge Unreasonable Attitude of
Evil Toward Goodness.

Dewitt ralmagc took for his subject.
Harp and javelin," the text being
Samuel xviii 1911: And David
played with his hand as at other tunes,
and there was javclin in Saul's hand.
And Saul cast the javclin: for he said,
] will smite David even to the wall
with il. And David avoided out of his
presence twice" DR.. Talmage said:
What spectacle for all ages! Saul
giant. and David dwarf. An un-
fortunate war ballad had been, COM
posed and sung eulogizing David above
Saul. That song threw Saul into n
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 ailmcnt, and
he get real mad it is very apt to bring on
one of his old attacks. Saul lisa raving
maniac and he goes to initiating the
false prophets or sibyls, who kicked
and gcsticulated wildly when they pre-
tenGcd to be fortelling events. What
ever the physicians of the royal staff
may have prescribed for the disordered
king. know not, but David prescribed
music. Having keyed up the harp his
fingers began to pull the rhythm from
the vibrated strings. Thrum. Thrum.
Thrum, No nse. The king will not
listen to the exquisite cadences lie
lets fly javelin, expecting to pin the
minstrel to the wall. but David lodged
the weapon and kept on. for he was
IL 4 Al. l.. l.,f h
due Sauls bad spirit by music Again
the iavclin was flung and David lodges
it and departs. What Il contrast.
Roscatc David with harp and en-
ragged 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 harp and
iavclin met. Where their birthplace
was. | cannot declare. 1t is said that
the lyre was first suggested by the
tight drawing of the sinews of tor
tosc 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 differ
cnt 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 stringcd instrument of the
world is the harp. .Iubal 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 will
lows. Iosephus celebrated the inven-
ton of the ten-stringed harp. limo
theus 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 inspiring triangle! Everlast-
ing honors to Sebastian Erard. who,
by pedals invented, called the foot as
well as the hand to the harp.
Rut the javelin of my text is just as
old. Il is about five and one-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 i'm
plements 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. 1t 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, Cru
sader wars, and wars of all nations and
of all ages. The structure of
theiavelin shows what it was made for.
The plowshare is sharp, but aimed
to cut the earth in preparation for har-
vests. The lightning rod is sharp but
aimed to disarm the lightnings and
secure safety. The AK is sharp, but
aimed to fell forests and clear the way
for human habitation. The knife is
sharp, but aimed to cut the bread for
sustenance. But the javelin is sharp
only to open human arteries and ex-
tinguish human eyesight and take
human life and fill the earth with the
cries of orphanage and widowhood and
childlessness.
Now what does this make you think
Of? 1t suggests to me music as a medi-
cine for physical and mental disorders.
David took hold of the musical instru-
ment which he best knew how to play
and evoked from it sounds which were
for King Saul's diversion and medica-
ment. But, you say, the treatment in
This case was failure. WHY was il a
failure? Saul refused to take the medi-
cine. A whole apothecary shop of cura-
tive drugs will do nothing toward heal
ing your illness if you refuse to take
the medicine. 1t was not the fault of
David's prescription, but the fault OF
Saul's obstinacy. David, one of the
wisest and best of all ages, stands be-