The Chanute times., 1902-02-07
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
OUR CAUSES FOR THANKSGIVING TO
, THE GOD OF LOVE.
Text from Psalms; "Sing Unto Him
with n Psaltery and an lnstrumen
OF Ten Strings" - Fnvors Lavishlyl


Washington, Feb. I'm this dis
course DR.. Talmage calls attention to
causes of thanksgiving that are sell
dom recognized and shows how to cul-
tivate a cheerful spirit; text, Psalms
xxxiii. 2. "Sing unto him with a psal-
terry and an instrument Of ten strings
A musician as we'll as poet and con-
queror and king was David, the au-
thor of my text. He first composed
the sacred rhythm and then played IT
upon harp, striking and plucking the
strings with his fingers and thumbs.
The harp is the Oldest Of musical in
struments. Jubal invented IL, and he
was the seventh descendant from
Adam. It's music was suggested by the
twang of the bowstring. Homer re-
fers to the harp in the "Iliad." 1t Is
the most consecrated Of all instru-
ments, it has tenderness and sweet
ness belonging to no other instrusn ent
that know Of It enters into the
richest symbolism of the Holy Scrip
lures. The raptures of heaven are rep
resented under the figure of "harpers
harping on their harps." We learn
from coins and medals that in the
Maccabean age the harp had only
three strings. In other ages 1t had
eight strings. David's harp had ten
strings, and when his great soul was
afire with the theme his sympathetic
voice, accompanied by exquisite vi
bration of the chords, must have been
overpowering.
With as many things to complain
about as any man ever had David
wrote more anthems than any other
man ever wrote. Indeed, the more his
troubles the mightier his sacred poems
The words praise and song" are SO
often repeated in his psalms that one
would think the typesetters case con-
tanning the letters with which those
words are spelled would be exhausted
In my text David calls upon the peot
pie to praise the Lord with an instru-
ment of ten strings, like that which he
was accustomed to finger. The simple
fact is that the most of us, if we praise
| the Lord at all, play upon one string
or two strings or three strings when
we ought to take a harp fully chorded
and with glad fingers sweep all the
strings. Instead of being grateful for
here and there blessing we happen
| to think of, we ought to rehearse all
our blessings so far as we can recall
them and obey the injunction Of my
| text to sing unto him with an instru-
ment of ten strings.
Have you ever thanked God for de-
| lightsome food? What vast multitudes
are a-hungered from day to day or are
| obliged to take food not toothsome or
| pleasant to the taste! What millions
are in struggle for bread!
Have you appreciated the fact that
on most of your tables are luxuries
| that do not come to all? What fruits,
| what nuts, what meats regale your ap-
petite, while many would be glad to
get the crusts and rinds and peelings
| that fall from your table. For the fine
| flavors and the luxurious viands you
have enjoyed for a lifetime perhaps
| you have never expressed to God a
word of thanksgiving.
Have you thanked God for eyesight
as originally given to you or, after it
was dimmed by age, for the glass that
brought the page of the book within
the compass of the vision? Have you
realized the privation those suffer to
whom the day is as black as the night
and who never see the face Of father or
mother or wife or child or friend?
The man Of millions of dollars who re-
| Gently went blind from atrophy of op-
tic nerve would have been willing to
| give all his millions and become day
laborer II he could have kept off the
blindness that gradually crept over his
vision.
Have you ever given thanks for two
| eyes-media between the soul inside
and the world outside, media that no
one but the infinite God could create
The eye, the window of our immortal
nature, the gate through which all COL
ors march, the picture gallery of the
soul! Without the eye this world Is a
big dungeon. l fear that many of us
have never given one hearty express
sion Of gratitude for treasure of sight,
the loss of which is the greatest dis
aster possible unless it be the loss of
the mind.
Further notice how many pass
through life in silence because the ear
refuses to do its Office. They never
hear music, vocal or instrumental.
The thunder that rolls its full diapason
through the heavens does not startle
the prolonged silence. The air that
has for us so many melodies has no
sweet sound for them. They live in a
| quietude that will not be broken urtil
heaven breaks in upon them with its
harmonies. The bird voices of the
springtime, the chatter Of the children,
the sublime chant Of the sea. the solo
OF the cantatrice and the melody of
the great worshiping assemblies mean
nothing to them. Have we devoutiy
thanked God for these two wonders Of
our hearing, with which we can now
put ourselves under the charm OF sweet