The Yale expositor., 1898-04-22
TALMAGE'S SERM ON.
a LISTENING GOD" LAST SUM-
DAYS SUBJECT.
From the Text; Gle That PIanteth the
Ca r, Shall He Not Hear. Stories OF
the Worlds Greatest MufIcIans-The
Souls They Have stirred.

Buck have attempted TO walk the
Apian Way of the human ear. but the
mysterious pathway has never been
fully trodden but by two feet-the foot
OF sound and the foot of God. Three
ears on each side the head-the exter-
nal ear, the middle ear, the Internal
ear, but all connected by most wonder
full telegraphy,
The external ear IN all ages adorned
by precious stones or precious metals.
The temple of Jerusalem partly built
by the contribution of earrings, and
Homer in the Had speaks of Hera,
"the three bright drops, her glittering
gems suspended from the ear" and
many of the adornments Of modern
times were only copies of her ear jew
els found in Pompeiian museum and
Etruscan vase. But while the outer
ear may be adorned by human art. the
middle and the internal ear are adorned
and garnished only by the hand of the
Lord Almighty. The stroke of key
OF yonder organ sets the air vibrating.
and the external ear catches the I'M
dulating sound and passes it on
through the bonelets of the middle ear
to the internal ear, and the three
thousand flbres of the human brain
take up the vibration and roll the
sound on into the soul. The hidden
machinery of the ear by psychologists
called by the names Of tnirGs familiar
to us, like the hammer. something TO
strike-like the anvil-something to be
smitten-like the stirrup of the saddle
with which we mount the steed-like
the drum, beaten in the march-like
the harpstrings, to be swept with mu-
sic. Cooled like snail she'll" by
which one of the innermost passages OF
the ear is actually called-like stair
way, the sound to ascend-like bent
tube of a heating apparatus, taking
that which enters round and round
like a labyrinth with wonderful pas
sages into which the thought enters
only to be lost in bewllderment. A
muscle contracting when the noise is
too loud, just as the pupil of the eye
contracts when the light is too glazing.
The external ear is defended by wax
which with its bitterness discourages
insectile invasion. The internal ear
imbedded in by what is far the hardest
bone of the human system. very rock
Of strength and defiance.
The ear so strange contrivance tina.
by the estimate OF one scientist, 1t can
catch the sound of 70, 700 vibrations in
second. The outer ear taking in all
kinds of sound, whether the crash OF an
avalanche. or the hum of a bee. The
sound passing to the inner door of the
outside ear halts until another mechan-
ism, divine mechanism, passes it on
by the bonelets OF the middle ear, and
coming TO the inner door of that sec
ond ear, the sound has no power TO
come further until another divine
mechanism passes it on through into
the inner ear, and then the sound
comes to the rail track of the brain
branchlet, and rolls on and on until it
comes to sensation, and there the cur
tain drops, and a hundred gates shut,
and the voice of God seems to say to
all human inspections: THUS far and
no farther"
In this vestibule of the palace of the
soul, how many kings of thought, OF
medicine, of physiology, have done
penance of lifelong study and got no
further than the vestibule. Mysterious
home Of reverberation and echo. Grand
Central depot of sound. Headquarters
to which there come quick dispatches.
part the way by cartilages, part the
way by air, part the way by bone. part
the way by nerve-the slowest dis
patch plunging into the ear at the
speed of l,O9O feet second. Small in
strument of music on VIII n is played
all the music you ever heard, from the
grandeurs of an August thunderstorm
to the softest breathings OF a flute
Small instrument of music. only a
quarter Of an inch of surface and the
thinness OF one-two hundredth and Gf-
tieth part of an inch. and that thin
ness divided into three layers. In that
ear musical staff. lines, spaces. bar
and rest. A bridge leading from the
outside natural world to the inside
spiritual world; we seeing the abut
ment at this end the bridge. hut fbe |
fog of an unified mystery hiding the
abutment on the other end the bridge
gallery of the soul. The |
human voice is Gods eulogy the ear
That voice capable of producing II 5e2-
1876, O44, 415 sounds, and all that variety |
made, not for the regalement of beast
Or bird. but for the human ear.
About fifteen years ago. in Venice
lay down in death one whom many
considered the greatest musical COM
poser OF the century. Struggling on
up from years of age when he was
left fatherless. Wagner "ose through
The obloquy of the world. and ofttimes
Ill nations seemingly against him. I'M
I'll he gained the favor of king. and
won the enthusiasm of the opera
houses Of Europe and America. Strug-
Cling all the way on to 20 years OF age.
% conquer the worlds ear. In that
'ame attempt to master the human ear
Ind gain supremacy over this gate OF
he immortal soul, great battles were
ought by Mozart, Gluck and Weber.
md by Beethoven and Meyerbeer. by