The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1893-05-24
A NOVEL TEXT.
Rage Subdued by the Sweet Strains
of Music.
saui's Javelin Fell at the Feet of Day d,
Who Played Harp to soothe the
Angry King--Dr. t. Dewitt
Talmage's Sermon.

mage brought in novel and practical
conjunction thoughts suggested by
text perhaps never before chosen.
The subject announced was Harp
and javelin," the text being l. Samuel,
xviii. 10, H. "And David played with
his hand as at other times, and there
was iaveiin in Saul hand. And Saul
cast the javelin; for he said, will
mite David even to the wall with it.
And David avoided out of his presence
twice"
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 par
oxysm 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 ailment, and he get
real mad, it is very apt to bring on one
of his old attacks.
Saul is a raving maniac, and he goes
to initiating the false prophets or
sibvls, who kicked and gesticulated
wildly when they pretended to be fore
telling events. Whatever the physl-
clans of the royal staff may have pre-
scribed for the disordered king | know
| not, but David prescribed music. Hav-
ing keyed up the strings, his fingers be-
gan to pull the rhythm from the vi
brated strings. Thrum! Thrum.
No use The king will not listen to the
exquisite cadences. He let's fly a Jave-
lin. 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 it 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 harp and javelin met. Where their
birthplace was | can not declare.
1t is said that the Tyre was first sug-
gested by the tight drawing of the
sinews of tortoise across its shell, and
that the flute was first suggested by
the blowing of the winds across bed
of reeds, and that the ratio of musical
intervals was first suggested to
| Pythagoras by the different hammers
on the anvil of the smithy, but the
harp seems to me to have dropped out
of the sky and 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 ten-stringed harp.
Timotheus. the Milesian, was impris-
oned 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 cele-
brated. 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 harpsichord-maker
for whom he worked discharged
him for his genius, the employer
not wanting to be eclipsed by his subor-
dinate, 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 in
struments have louder voice, and may
be better for a 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 re-
sounding, but the harp has richness
of its own, and will continue its mis-.
sion through all time and then take
part in celestial symphonies, 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 a half feet
long, with wooden handle and steel
point, keen and sharp. But it belongs
20 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 gasheC
the earth with grave trenches. 1t:
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 anC
all ages The structure of the iavelir
shows what it was made for. The pillow
share is sharp, but aimed TO cut the
earth in preparation for harvests, The
lightning rod is sharp, but aimed tc
disarm the lightning and secure safety
The AK is sharp, but aimed to fell for
ests and clear the way for human habi
tation. The knife is sharp, but aimed
20 cut the bread for sustenance. But
the javelin is sharp only to open HUI
man arteries, and extinguish human
eyesight, and take human life, and fl
the earth with the cries of orphanagt
and widowhood and childleSsness. Oh
am so glad that my text brings then
so close together that we can SCI
the contrast between the harp and the
javelin.
The one to soothe, the other to h .rt
| thn nnn To Snrn the other TO DESTROY