The Penn's Grove record., 1897-05-28
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

DIVINE.
Gods Perfect Harmony and the Discord
That Was Made by sin-The Time is
Coming When the World Will Again
Resoupd to Heavenly H~arrnonies,
TEXT: 'who lad the cornerstone thereof,
when the morning stars sang t~o9Ssher?'-
Job So, Q, 2.
We have all seen the ceremony at the lay
ing OF the cornerstone Of church, asylum or
Masonic temple. Into the hollow Of the
stone were placed scrolls OF history and Inn
portant documents, to be suggestive II, 100
or 200 years after, the building should be
destroyed by fire or tofn down. We re-
member the silver trowel or iron hammer
that smote che 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 con-
structed. The leaves Of the notebooks
fiuttered In the wind and were turned over
with q great rustling, and we remember
how the bass, baritone, tenor, contralto
and soprano voices commingied. They had
for many days been rehearsing the special
programmed hat it might be worthy OF the
cornerstone laying.
In my text the poet of Us calls us to o
grander ceremony-the laying Of the foun-
dalton OF this great temple Of a world.
The cornerstone was q block of light, and
the trowel was Of celestial crystal. All
about and on the entertainments of clouds
stood the angelic choristers unrolling their
librettos 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 q world, with
mountains for pillars and sky for frescoed
ceiling and Towering fields for a floor and
sunrise and midnight aurora for uphol
stery. "Who laid the cornerstone thereof,
when the morning stars sang together"
The fact Is that the whole universe was a
complete cadence, IN unbroken dithy-
ramb, q musical portfolio. The great sheet
OF immensely had been spread out, and
written on Il were the stars, the smaller OF
them minims, the larger Of them sustained
notes. The meteors marked the staccato
passages, the whole heavens q gsmut with
all sounds, lntonations, modulations, the
space between the worlds a musical in
terval, trembling OF stellar light q quaver,
the thunder q bass clef, the wind among
trees a treble clef. That is the way God
made all things q perfect harmony.
But n day q 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.
II was sin tina made the d~issonance, and
that harsh discord has been sounding
through the centuries. All the work OF
Christians and philenthropists and reform
ers of all ages is to stop that discord and
get all things back into the perfect har-
mony which was heard at the laying Of the
cornerstone when the morning stars sang
together. Before l get through, IL l am
divinely helped, I will make 1t plain that
sin is discord and righteousness harmony;
that in general things are out Of tune is as
plain as to a musicians ear Is the unhappy
clash OF clarinet and bassoon in an orches-
trial rendering.s
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 strug-
gle; neuralglas, and pneumonias, n con-
sumptions, and epileptics in focks sweep
the neighborhoods and cities. Where you
find one person with sound throat, and keen
eyesight, and alert ear, and easy respira-
tion, and regular pulsation, and supple
limb, and prime digestion, and steady
nerves, you lnd 100 who have to be very
careful because this or hat or the other
physical function is disordered.
The human intellect out Of tune; the
Judgment wrongly swayed, or the memory
leaky, or the will weak, or the temper In
fammable, the well balanced mind exeep.
tfonal.
Domestic life out OF tune; only here and
there a conjugal outbreak of ~incompata-
bility Of temper through the divorce courts
or a flial outbreak about q fathers will
through the s~urrogate's court, or q case OF
wife beating or husband poisoning through
the criminal courts, but thousands of fami-
lies 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
aHala Whn ara ofr,t prltN0 70 NOT nm md
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 subterfuge,
and double dealing, and s~ycophancy, and
charlatanism, and revenge have for 600(
years been banging away at the keys and
stamping the pedals.
On all sides there Is a shipwreck OF har-
manifestations in discord without realiz-
ing 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 SYM
Dol. the fierce and filthy eagle, as cruel a
bird as can be found in all the ~ornithologi-
col catalogues. In Great Britain, where
they nave lambs and fallow deer, their sym
boil Is the merciless lion. In Russia, where
rom between her frozen north to he,
blooming south all kindly beasts dwell;
tuey cnose tne GROWING DEAF. anu IN tne
worlds heraldry n favorite figure is the
dragon, the tabled winged serpent, Zero.
cious 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 the spirit of battle
and call 1t Mars, after the god Of war, and
we give to the eighth sign Of the zodiac
the name of the scorpion, a creature which
is chiefly celebrated for Its deadly sting
But, after all, these symbols are expressive
of the way nation feels toward nationals
cord wide as the continent and bridging
the seas.
Isuppose you have noticed how warmly
in love dry goods stores are with other dry
goods stores, and how highly grocery mef
think OF the sugars OF the grocery man or
the same street, and in what a eulogistit
way allopathic and homeopathic doctor;
speak Of each other and how ministers viii
sometimes put ministers Oh that beautiful
cooking instrument which the English cal
a spit-an iron roller with spikes on 1t ant
turned by a crank before q hot hre-ant
then, II the minister being roasted cries ou'
against 1t, the men who are turning hin
say, Hush, my brother; we are turning
this spit for the glory of God and the good
Of your soul, and yon must be quiet, Will,
we close the service with;
'Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts In Christian love-"
The earth Is diametered and clrcumfer
enced with discord, and the music that wa.
rendered at the laying OF the worlds cor
nerstone when the morning stars sang to
gether Is not heard now. n though herr
and there from this and that part OF so
ciety and from this and that part OF thu
earth there comes up a thrilling solo o
love, or a MARBLE OF worship, or a swee'
duet of patience, they are drowned out b,
q diseord hat shakes the earth.
Paul says, .'The whole creation groan
eth" And while the nightingale, and thu
woodlark. and the canary, and the plovel
sometimes sing SO sweetly that their nCtei
have been written out in musical notation
and 1t Is found that the cuckoo sings In thu
key OF ID and that the cormorant is O bass
In the winged choir. yet sportsman's gul
and the autumnal blast often leave then
rufied and bleeding or dead In meadow o
forest. Paul was right, for the groaa II
nature browns out the prima donnas Of TIL
sky.
Tartini, the great musical composer
dreamed one night thnt he mad a eontrae
with satan, the latter to be ever In tn