The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-11-11


Fastening the Triumpa-rhe Unirerse
WIN Again be il Tune.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1.-The musical
resources of all the nations seem drawn
upon By DR.. Talmage in this sermon
to illustrate a most practical truth.
His subject was The chant Of the
Stars and the text Job 3S, +, Z, 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, asylum or Masonic temple.
Into the hollow Of the stone were
placed scrolls of history and important
documents, to be suggestive if. 100 or
200 wears after, the building should be
destroyed by fire or torn down. we
remember the silver trowel or IRON
hammer that smote the square piece
of granite into sanctity. We remem;
Der some venerable man who pres.3s=o IH=
welding the trowel or hammer we
remember also the music as the cuotr
stood on the scattered stones ana tlm-
her of the building about to be con-
structed. The leaves of the NOTEBOOKS
fluttere6 in the wind and were turned
over with great resting, and we re-
member how the bass, barytone, tenor,
consralto and soprano voices commln-
gled. They had for many days been
rehearsing the special program that 1t
might be worthy of the cornerstone
laying.
In NV text the poet Of Uz calls us to
grander ceremony-the laying ofthe
foundation of this great temple OF a
world. The cornerstone was block
of light, and the trowel was OF celes-
,ial crystal. All about and on the en-
bankments Of clouds stood the angelic
choristers uarolling their llorettos OF
overture, and other worlds clapped
shining cymbals while the ceremony
went on, and God, the Architect, by
stroke of light after stroke OF light,
dedicated this great cathedral OF a
world, with mountains for pillars and
sky for frescoed ceiling aud towering
fields for floor and sunrise and mid.
night aurora for upholstery. w no
laid the cornerstone thereof, when the
morning stars sang together"
The fact is that the whole universe
was complete cadence, an unbroken
dithyramb, 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, modulatlons, the
space between the worlds a musical
interval, trembling of stellar light a
ouayer, the thunder bass clef, the
wind among trees treble clef. That
Is the way God made all things a per
feet harmony.
But one day harp string snapped
in the great orchestra. One day q
voice sounded out Of tune. One day a
discord, harsh and terrific, grated up
on the glorious antiphon. It was sin
that made the dissonance, 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
oiscord and get all things back into
the perfect harmony which was heard
st the laying of the cornerstone when
the morning stars sang together. Be
fore I get through, if I am divinsty
helped, I will make it plain thai sin is
discord and righteouspess harmony;
that in general thiggs are out Of tune
is SIS plain as toa musicians ear IS the
unhappyetaSh of clarinet and bassoon
~-insn orchestral rendering.
The worlds heal tn out Of tune; weak
lungs and the atmosphere in collision,
disordered eye and MONDAY Light IN
quarrel, rheumatic limb and damp
weather in struggle, neuralglas and
pneumonias and consumptions and
epileptics in focks sweep the neigh bor-
hoods and cities. Where you find one
person with sound throat, and keen
eyesight, and alert ear, and easy respl-
ration, and regular pulsation, and
supple limb, and prime digestion, and
steady nerves, you ind 100 who 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 sweryed, or the
memory leaky, or the will weak, or
the temper ;nhammable, the well BAL
anced mind exceptional.
Domestic lie out of tune; only here
and there a jonjugal outbreak OF n
compatibility of temper throug b the
divorce courts, or a flial outbreak
about fathers will through the sur
rogate's court, or a case of wife beat
ing or husband poisoning through the
criminal courts, but thousands of lam
lilies with June outside and January
within.
Society out OF tune; labor and capl-
tai, 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 ny
pocrisy, and lying, and subtersuge,
and double dealing, and sycophancy,
and charlatanism, and revenge have
for 5000 years been banging away at
the keys and stamping the pedals.
On all sides there is shipWreck OF
harmonies nations in oiscord without
realizing it. 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 q
bird as can be found in all the orni-
biological catalogues. In Great Brit
ian, where they have lambs and fal-
low 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 her
aldry favorite figure is the dragon,
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