The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-02
THE CHANT OF THE STARS.
LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF
THE WORLD.

" NANbDs
TaImage breaches sermon on the
Building of the Great Cathedral of
the WOrId-MOuntains for pillars.
sky for FrescOed Ceiling, Flower
ing Fields for "A Floor, and sunrise
and Midnight Aurora for Uphol-
stery.
Washington. Nov. 1.-The musical re-
sources of all nations seem drawn upon
by Dr. Talmage, in this sermon, to Illus
trate most practical truth. His
subject was: "The Chant Of the Stars "
and the text, job 1886, 2: "Who laid the
cornerstone thereof when the morning
stars sang together"
We have all seen the ceremony at the
laying of the cornerstone Of church, asy-
lum or Masonic temple. Into the hollow
of the stone were placed scrolls of his
tory and important documents, to be
suggestive if, one or two hundred years
after, the building should be destroyed by
fire or torn down. We remember the sill
yer trowel or iron hammer that smote
the square piece of granite into sanctity.
We remember some venerable man who
presided welding the trowel or hammer.
We remember also the music as the choir
stood on the scattered stones and timber
of the building, about to be constructed.
The leaves of the notebooks futtered in
the wind, and We're turned over with a
great rustling, and we remember how the
bass, baritone, tenor, contralto and So
prano voices commingled. They had for
many days been rehearsing the special
programme, that it might be worthy of
the cornerstone laying.
In my text the poet of u calls us to a
grander ceremony-the laying of the foun-
dation of this great temple of a world
The cornerstone was a block of light and
the trowel was of celestial crystal All
about and on the entertainments of clouds
stood the angelic choristers unrolling their
hbrettos of overture and other worlds,
clapped shining cymbals while the cere-
mony went on, and God the architect, by
stroke of light after stroke of light, dedi-
Gated this great cathedral of a world, with
mountains for pillars, and sky for fres-
coed ceiling, and Towering fields for
floor, and sunrise and midnight aurora
for upholstery. who laid the corner
stone thereof, when the morning stars
sang together"
The fact is that the whole universe was
a complete cadence, an unbroken dithy-
ramb a musical portfolio. The great
sheet of immensely had been spread out,
and written on it were the stars, the
smaller of them minims, the larger of them
sustained notes. The meteors marked
the staccato passages the whole heavens
a gamut with all sounds, intonations,
modulations, the space between the worlds
a musical interval, trembling of stellar
light a quaver, the thunder a bass clef,
the wind among trees a treble clef. That
is the way God made all things a perfect
harmony.
But one day a harp string snapped in
the great orchestra. One day a voice
sounded out of tune One day a discord,
harsh and terrific, grated upon the glorious
antiphon. 1t was sin that made the dis
sonance, and that harsh discord has been
sounding through the centuries. All the
work of Christians and philanthropists
and reformers of all ages is to stop that
discord and get all things back into the
perfect harmony which was heard at the
laying of the cornerstone when the morn
ing stars sang together. Before l get
through, if l am Divinely helped, / will
make 1t plain that sin is discord and right
eousness harmony. That, in general
things are out of tune is as plain as to a
MUSICIAN , car 10 AllG unhappy NAeNSAA Va
clarionet and bassoon in an orchestral rem
dering.
The worlds health out of tune; weak
lungs and the atmosphere in collision, dis
ordered eye and monday light in quarrel.
rheumatic limb and damp weather IN
struggle. neuralgias and pneumonias and
consumptions and epilepsies in fiocks
sweep upon neighborhoods and cities.
Where you find one person with sound
throat and keen eyesight, and alert ear
and easy respiration, and regular pulsa-
ton and supple limb, and prime digestion
and steady nerves, you find hundred VINO
have to be very careful because this or
that or the other physical function is dis
ordered.
The human intellect out of tune; the
judgment wrongly swerved or the memory
leaky or the will weak or the temper in
f1ammable. the well-balanced mind excep-
tional.
Domestic life out of tune; only here and
there a conjugal outbreak of incompau-
l,ility of temper through the divorce courts,
or a filial outbreak about fathers VIII
through the surrogate's court or case
of wife-beating or MISUNDERSTANDING
through the criminal courts, but thou
SANDS of families with June outside and
January within.
Society out of tune; labor and capital,
their hands on each others throat. Spirit
Of caste keeping those down in the social
scale who are struggling to get up, and
putting those who are up in anxiety lest
they have to come down. No wonder the
old pianoforte of society is all out of tune,
when hypocrisy and lying, and subtertuge,
and double-dealing, and sycophancy, and
charlatanism, and revenge, have for SIX
thousand years been banging away at the
keys and stamping the pedals.
On all sides there is shipwreck OF
harmonies. Nations in discord without
realizing 1t, so wrong is the feeling of
nation for nation that symbols chosen are
fierce and destructive. In this country.
where our skies are full of robins and
doves and morning larks, we have our
national symbol, the fierce and filthy
eagle, as cruel a bird as can be found IN
all the pathological catalogues. In
Great Britain, where they have lambs and
fallow deer, their symbol is the merciless
lion. In Russia where from between her
frozen north and blooming south all kindly
beasts dwell. they chose the growing
bear; and in the worlds heraldry a IA
vorte figure is the dragon, the tabled
winged serpent ferocOus and dreadful
And so fond is the world of contention
that We climb out through the heavens
and baptize one of the other planets with