Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-10-06
REV. DR. TALMAGE
The Eminent Divine's SUNDAY
Disc urse.
Sacred Music. It's Importance, Power anu
Influence In the Cause OF Christian
ity-A Singing Church Is a Success.
full Church-Obstacles to Overcome

Influence In the Cause OF Christian
ity-A Singing Church Is a Success.
full Church-ObstacIes to Overcome.
TEXT: 1T came even to pass as the
trumpeters and singers were as one to
make one sound to be heard in praising
and thanking the Lord.''-Chronicles ",
l3.
chorus of all magDiicence and pomp
Splendor crowded against splendor. 1t was
the diamond necklace of the earth. From
the huge pillars crowned with leaves and
flowers and rows of pomegranate wrought
out in FURNISHED metal down even to the
tongs and snufferS made out of pure gold,
everything was "a complete as the God di-
rected architect could make it. 1t seemed
as if "a vision from heaven had alighted on
the mountains The day for dedication
came. Tradition says that there We're in
and around about the temple on that day
200 900 silver trumpetS. 40 900 harps 40 600
timbrels and 100000 singers, SO that all
modern demonstrations at Dusseldorf or
Boston seem nothing compared with that.
AS this great sound surged up amid the
precious stones of the temple it must
have seemed like the river of life dashing
against the amethyst of the wall of heaven.
The sound arose, and God, as IL to show
that He was well pleased with the music
which His children make in all ages,
dropped into the midst of the temple a
cloud of glory so overpowering that the
officiating priests were obliged to stop in
the midst of the services.
There has been much discussion as to
where music was born. l think that at the
beginning, when the morning stars sang
together and all the sons of God shouted
for JOY" the earth heard the echo. The
cloud on which the angels stood to cele-
brate the creation was the birthplace of
song. The stars that glitter at night are
only so many keys Of celestial pearl on
which Gods fingers play the music of the
spheres. Inanimate nature is full of Gods
stringed and wind Instruments. Silence
itself-perfect slence-is only musical
rest in Gods great anthem of worship.
Wind among the leaves, insect humming in
the summer air, the rush of billow upon
beach, the ocean far out sounding its ever
lasting psalm, the bobolink on the edge of
the forest the quail whistling up from the
grass, are music. While visiting Black wells
Island L heard. coming from window OF
the lunatic asylum, a very sweet song. 1t
was sung by one who had lost her reason,
and l have come to believe that even the
deranged and disordered elements of ma
ture would make music to our ears if we
only had acuteness enough to listen. /
suppose that even the sounds in nature
that are discordant and repulsive make
harmony in Gods ear. You know that you
may come SO near to an orchestra that the
sounds are painful instead of pleasurable,
! and think that stand so near devastat-
ing storm and frightful whirlwind we can
not hear that which makes to Gods ear and
| the ear of the spirits above us a music as
| complete as it is tremendous.
| propose to speak about sacred music,
| first showing you its Importance and then
stating some of the obstacles to its advance
ment.
| draw the first argument for the impor-
| tance of sacred music from the fact that
| God commanded it. Through Paul he tells
| us to admonish one another in psalms and
| hymns and spiritual songs. Through David
I he cries opt, "Sing We 10 God, all ye king
I doms OF the earth" And there are hun
dreds of other passages might name, prov
! ing that it is as much a mans duty to sing
as it is his dutyto pray Indeed / think
there are more commands in the Bible to
| sing than there are to pray. God not only
asks for the human voice, but for the in
| struments of music. He asks for the Gym
bal and the harp and the trumpet. And 1
| suppose that in the last days of the church
| the harp, the flute, the trumpet and all the
| instruments of music that have given their
chief aid to the theater and bacchanal will
| be brought by their masters and laid down
at the feet of Christ and then sounded in
the church's triumph on her way from suf
| fering into glory. Praise ye the Lordi''
Praise Him with your voices. Praise Him
| with stringed instruments and with or
| gans.
L draw another argument for the import
ance of this exercise from the impressive
ness of the exercise. You know something
of what secular music has achieved. You
| know it has made its impression upon gov
| ernments upon laws, upon literature, upon
whole generations. One inspiring national
! air Is worth 80 900 men as standing army.
There comes a time in the battle when one
bugle is worth 1000 nnlskets. In the earlier
part of our Civil War the Government pro-
posed to economize In bands of music and
many of them were sent home, but the gen.
erals in the army sent word to Washington:
| "You are making a very great mistake. We
are falling back and falling back. We have
not enough music" / have to tell you that
no nation or church can afford to severely
| economiZe in music.
Why should we rob the programmes OF
| worldly gayety when we have so many ap-
propriate songs and tunes composed in our
own day as well as that magnificent inner
itapce of church psalmody which has comc
down fragrant with the devotions of other
gene nerations-tunes no more worn out than
when our greatgrandfathers climbed up on
them from the church pew to glory2 Dear
old souls, how they used to sing! And in
those days there were certain tunes mar
ried to certain hymns, and they have lived
in peace great while, these two old peO-
pie and we have no right to divorce them
Born as we have been amid this great
wealth of church music, augmented by the
compositions OF artists In our day, we ought
not to be tempted out of the sphere OF
Christian harmony and try 10 seek uncon-
seerated sounds 1t Is absurd for million
are TO steal.
Many OF you are Illustrations OF what q
, sacred song can 40: ihrouSh IL you Were
Drought INTO the hihguom OF Jesus ohrist
You stoo' OUT against the warning ana ar
gument of the pulpit, but when, in the
sweet words of Charles Wesley or Johr
Newton of ioplnuy, une .h tone o. ol 'esu'
wa" ,rad ~ su si ous;,,a tha, co"i5 nn
: he taIi,n %n % h"st Iis,s a." rindnw % 70 I;s,a,
toahar,,S ,hriU ~
Thar ,..aa S.o,ob soIa;ar av;,, !, No,
OriaanS "n5 Snntnh min;lte, cona in =,
, Give him the consolations Of the gosneI
, The man turned over on his niIlow an,
said. Don't talk to me about religion.
Then the minister began to sing a familia
8 hymn that was composed by avid Dickep
e son beginning with the words: