Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-11-06
A PERFECT HARMONY
REV. DR.. TALMAGE DRAWS A LESSON
FROM MUSIC.

He Takes 'The Chant of the Stars" For
the Subject of Sermon of Great Beauty
and Power-The Final Harmony.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1.-The musical
resources Of all nations seem drawn
upon by DR.. Talmage in this sermon
to illustrate a most practical truth. His
subject was 1.-THE Chant Of the Stars, "
and the text Job xxxviii, 6, 7. "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 years 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 remember some venerable man who
presided welding the trowel or ham,
mer. 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
fiuttered in the wind and were turned
over with a great rustling, and we re-
member how the bass, baritone, tenor,
contralto and soprano voices commln-
gled. They had for many days been re-
> hearsing the special programme that 1t
might be worthy Of the cornerstone lay
ing
Laying the Cornerstone.
In my text the poet Of Uz calls US to
a grander ceremony-the laying Of the
foundation Of this great temple Of a
world. The cornerstone was block of
! light and the trowel was Of celestial
crystal. All about and on the embank-
ments Of clouds stood the angelic choris-
ters unrolling their librettos of overture,
and other worlds clapped shining Gym.
balls while the ceremony went on, and
God, the Architect, by stroke Of light aft
er stroke Of light, dedicated this great
cathedral of a world, with mountains
for pillars, and sky for frescoed ceiling
and Towering fields for floor, and sun
rise and midnight aurora for upholstery.
! "Who laid the cornerstone thereof, when
the morning stars sang together!'
The fact is that the whole universe
was a complete cadence, an unbroken
dithvramb, a musical portfolio. The
great sheet Of immensity had been spread
ont. 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, in
] donations, modulations, the space be-
tween the worlds a musical interval,
trembling Of stellar light a quayer, 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 harp string snapped in
the great orchestra One day a voice
sounded out Of tune. One day discord,
harsh and terrific, grated upon the glo-
rious antiphon. 1t was sin that made
the dissonance, and that harsh discord
has been sounding through the centuries.
All the work of Christians and phllan-
th1opists 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 morning stars sang together
Before l get through, If | am diyinely
helped, will make it plain that sin Is
discord and righteousness harmony
That in general things are out OF tune
is as plain as to musician s ear IS the
unhappy clash Of clarinet and bassooD
in an orchestral rendering.
Out of Tune.
The worlds health ont Of tune; weak
lungs and the atmosphere in COLLISION
disordered eye and MONDAY light IN
quarrel, rheumatic limb and damp
1 weather in struggle, neuralgias and
pneumonias and consumptions and cpl
lepsies in focks sweep upon neighbor-
hoods and cities. Where you find one
person with sound throat and keen eye
sight and alert ear and easy respiration
and regular pulsation and supple limb
and prime digestion and steady nerves.
YOU find hundred who have to be very
careful because this or that or the other
physical function is disordered.
The human intellect out Of tune; the
Judgment wrongly sweryed. or the
memory leaky, or the will weak, or the
temper inflammable, the well balanced
mind exceptional
Domestic life out Of tune; only here
and there a conjugal outbreak OF lncom-
patibility Of temper through the divorce
courts, or a filial outbreak about a IA
theirs will through the surrogate rs court.
or a case Of wife beating or husband
poisoning through the criminal courts
but thousands 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 IL
the social scale who are struggling &C
get up and putting those who are up IL
anxiety lest they have to come down
No wonder the old pianoforte of society
is all out of tune, when hypocrisy aho
living and subterfuge and double dealing
and sycophancy and charlatanism anc
revenge have for 6, 200 years been bang
ing away at the keys and stamping the
pedals. .,-oL .,
barmonies. Nations in discord wlthou
realizing it. So wrong is the feeling o
nation for nation that symbols chosei
are fierce and destructive. In this coun
try. where our skies are full Of robin
E and doves and morning larks, we hav'
our national symbol, the fierce and nitn.
eagle, as cruel bird as can be found u
ali the ornithological catalogues. u
Great Britain, where they have lamp
? and fallow deer, their symbol is tn
merciless lion. In Russia. where iron
between her frozen north and bloomin
. south all kindly beasts dwell, they chos
the growing bear. And in the world
:. heraldry a favorite figure is the dragon
the tabled winged serpent, ferociou
and dreadful And so fond is the wori