The Monitor-register., 1897-01-15

Hest Song on Earth Low Note "
nescttedaess.
WASHINGTON, Jan l0,--This dis.
course Of DR. Talmage is from most
unusual standpoint an arousins call Go
reformation from dissipated habits and
must do wide good. The text was
Psalms Xix. IL. IL was the song of the
drunkards +"
Who SAM thatS Was il David. or was
il Christi II was both, These Mossianic
Psalms are like telescope, Pull the
instrument TO certain range, and IL
shows you an object near by Pull it TO
another range. and it will show you ob.
jects far away. David and Christ were
both, each in his own time, the song of
the drunkards. Holiness of doctrine and
life always did excite wicked merri-
ment. Although David had fully re-
formed and written a psalmody in
which all subsequent ages have sobbed
out their penitence, his enemies pre-
ferred to fetch up his old career and put
into metric measures sins long before
forgiven. Christ, who committed no
sin, was still more the subject of unholy
song, because the better one is the more
iniquity hates him. OF the best being
whose voice ever moved the air or whose
foot ever touched the earth, it might be
said:
The byword Of the passing throng,
The rulers scoff the drunkard's song.
The earth fitted up for the human
race, in congratulation the morning
stars sang song. The Israelitish army
safe on the bank of the Red sea and the
Egyptians clear under the returned wa
ter, Moses sang song. One of the most
important parts of this great old Book
is Solomon's song. At the birth of our
Lord the Virgin Mary and old Simeon
and angelic prima donnas in lowering
clouds sang song.
Ballad of the Inebriate.
What enrichment has been given to
the worlds literature and enjoyment
by the ballads, the canticles, the dis
cants, the ditties, the roundelays, the
epics, the lyrics, the dithyrambsl But
my text calls attention to style of
song that think has never been dis
coursed upon. You sometimes hear this
style of music when passing saloon
or residence in which dissipation is
ascendant, or after you have retired at
night you hear it coming out of the
street from those who, having tarried
long at their cups, are on their way
home-the ballad of the inebriate, the
serenade of the alcoholized. or what
my text calls the song of the drunk
ards.
For practical and saving and warn
ing and Christian purposes I will an
nounce to you the characteristics of
that well known cadence mentioned in
my text First remark that the song
of the drunkards is an old song. Much
of the music of the world and of the
church is old music First came the
music of percussion, the clapping Gym
bal, which was suggested by hammer
on an anvil, and then the signing of the
wind across the reeds suggested the
flute, and then the strained sinews of
the tortoise across its shell suggested
the harp But far back of that, and
nearly back as far as the moral collapse
Of our first parentage, is the song of the
drunkards. That tune was sung at least
4,243 years ago, when, the deluge past.
Noah came out of the ark, and as if
disgusted with too much prevalence of
water he took to strong drink and stag
gered forth, for all ages the first known
drunkard. He sounded the first note of
the old music of inebriety. An Arab
author Of A. D. 1910 wrote, "Noah,
being come out Of the ark, ordered each
Of his sons to build house"
..s - The DEVILS Vine.
Afterward they were occupied in SOW
ing and in planting trees, the pippins
and fruits of which they had found in
the ark. The vine alone was wanting,
and they could not discover it. Gabriel
then informed them that the devil had
desired it, and indeed had some right
to it. Hereupon Noah summoned him
to appear in the field and said to him
'tOh, accursedl Wing hast thou carried
away the vine from me?'' Because ,
replied the devil, sit belonged to me- .
s'Shall part it for you?' said Gabriel
81 CONSENT" said Noah, ''and will
leave him fourth. - t'That is not suffi
cient for him." said Gabriel. "Well,
will take half, 4" replied Noah, "and he
shall take the other ''That is moi
sufficient yet" responded Gabriel. "Ht
must have two-thlrds and thou one, anC
when thy wine shall have boiled on the
fire until two-thirds are gone the re-
mainder shall be assigned for thy use. u
A fable that illustrates how the vine
has been misappropriated.
Benhadad and 80 allied kings, riot.
ing in a pavilion, took up the same
bacchanal. Nabal was rendering that
drunkards' song when his wife, beauti.
ful Abigail, came back from her expe-
dition to save her husband. Herod was
singing that song when the daughter Of
Herodias whirled in the dance before
him. Belshazzar and thousand lords
renewed that song the night the hand
writing came out on the plastering OF
the wall and the tramp Of the besieging
host was heard on the palace stairs.
Ahasuerus sang that song when, after
seven days of carousal, he ordered
Vashti to come into the presence of the
roaring guests without her veil on--a
January story trying to command q
June morning. Oh, yesl The song Of
the drunkards is an old song. King Cy.
rus boasted that he could drink more
wine than his brother. Drunkenness
was so rife among the Laced8monians
that Lycurgus had all the vines of the
vineyards destroyed. Paul excoriatel
the Corinthians for turning the com
munion Of the Lords Supper at church
into a carousal. Isaiah mentions the
drunkards of Ephraim. So much were
the Athenians given to wassail that &
law was passed giving man double
punishment for crime while intoxicated
the first punishment for the crime, ani
the other for the intoxication.
The Crime of Alexander.
Itwas a staccato passage in that song
when Alexander the Great arose from 6
banquet and struck spear through the
heart Of Clitus while putting up the
curtains, and, Mortified at what was
done, withdrew the sword from the
dead body and attempted to take his
own life. In the time of Oliver Crom
well the evil was SO great that offend.
ers were compelled to wear what was
called "the drunkard S cloak namely,
barrel, with one end of it knocked Out
and hole in the opposite end. the arms
thrust through holes at the sides of the
barrel Samuel johnson made merry oi
his own inebriacy Oh, this old song
All the centuries have joined in. Among
the first songs ever sung was the song Of
the drunkards
Again, this song Of the drunkards il