Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1902-02-07


causes of thanksgiving that are seldom
recognized and shows how to cultivate
a cheerful spirit; text Psalms xxxiii, 2,
"Sing unto him with a psaltery and an
instrument of ten strings"
A musician as we'll as poet and con-
queror and king was David. the author
of my text. He first composed the sa-
cred rhythm and then played it upon
harp, striking and plucking the strings
with his fingers and thumbs. The
harp is the oldest of musical instru-
ments. Jubal invented it, and he was
the seventh descendant from Adam
Its music was suggested by the twang
of the bowstring. Homer refers to the
harp in the 'Illad." 1t is the most con
secrated of all instruments. The flute
is more mellow. the bugle more mar
tial. the cornet more incisive. the trum-
pet more resonant, the organ more
mighty. but the harp has a tenderness
and sweetness belonging to no other
instrument that | know of. 1t enters
into the richest symbolism of the Holy
Scriptures. The captives in their sad
ness hung their harps upon the will
lows" The raptures of heaven are
represented under the figure of "harp-
ers harping on their harps." We learn
from coins and medals that in the Mac
cabean age the harp had only three
strings. In other ages it had eight
strings. David's harp had ten strings.
and when his great soul was afire with
the theme his sympathetic voice. ac-
companied by exquisite vibration of
the chords, must have been overpower-
ing.
With as many things to complain
about as any man ever had David
wrote more anthems than any other
man ever wrote. He puts even the
frOsts and hailstorms and tempests
and creeping things and flying fowl
and the mountains and the hills and
day and night into a chorus Absa-
lom's plotting and Ahithophers treach-
cry and hosts of antagonists and sleep
less nights and a running sore could
not hush his psalmody. Indeed. the
more his troubles the mightier his sa-
cred poems. The words praise" and
''sOng" are so often repeated in his
psalms that one would think the type
settlers case containing the letters with
which those words are spelled would
be exhausted
In my text David calls upon the peO
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 strin
or two strings or three strings when
we ought to take harp fully chorded
and with glad fingers sweep all the
strings Instead of being grateful for
here and there a 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.
Remember Daily Blessings.
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 toothsomC
or pleasant to the taste! What mil
lions are in struggle for bread. A Con.
federate soldier went to the front. and
his family were on the verge of star
walton. but they were kept up by the
faith Of child of that household. who
noticing that some supply was sure t.
come. exclaimed. Mother, l think God
hears when we scrape the bottom oil
the barrel"
Have you appreciated the fact that
on most of your tables are luxuries that
do not come to all? Have you realized
what varieties of flavor often toucl
your tongue and how the sacchariI
and the acid have been afforded you
palate? What fruits. what nuts. wha-
meats regale your appetite. while many
would be glad to get the crusts anC
rinds and Feelings that fall from you
table. For the fine flavors and the lux
uriOus viands you have enjoyed for {
lifetime perhaps you have never ex
pressed to God a word of thanksgiv
ing. That is one of the ten strings tina
you ought TO have thrummed in prais,
to God, but you have never yet put it il
vibration.
Have you thanked God for eyesigh
as originally given to you or, after /
was dimmed by age, for the glass tina
brought the page of the book within
the compass of the vision? Have yor
realized the privation those suffer t
whom the day is as black as the nigh
and who never see the face of father o
mother or wife or child or friend
Through what painful surgery man
? have gone to get one glimpse of tn
: light! The yes so delicate and beat
! tiful and useful that one of them i
, invaluable! And most of US have tw
of these wonders of divine mechanism
The man of millions of dollars who r,
Gently went blind from atrOphy of OF
tic nerve would have been willing I
give all his millions and become a da
laborer if he could have kept off I'll
blindness that gradually crept over h
vision.
You may have noticed how Christ
j., Rympathies were stirred for the bin
), Ophthalmia has always been prevalel
in Palestine. the custom of sleeping {
the hOusetops. exposed to the dew al
the flying dust of the dry season. inv
ing this dreadful disorder A large pc
eentage of the inhabitants could n
" cell the difference between 10 O'clo
? at noon and u o'clock at night. Y
:. are told of six of Christs miracles
T the cure of these sightless ones, but
a suppose they were only specimens
eI hundreds of restored Visions What
rs pitiful spectacle Saul of Tarsus, t
I'd mighty man, three days led about
physical as we'll as spiritual darkne
he who afterward made Felix trent
by his elOquence and awed the Athe
an philosophers on Mars hill and W
the only cool headed man in the ALI
andria cOrnship that went to pieces
the rocks of Miletus, once the migI
prosecutor of Saul. afterward the gle
Gus evangelist Paul, for three days
able to take safe step without gu
= ance!
Two Strings of Gratitude.
Have you ever given thanks for t
eyes-media between the soul ms
and the world outside, media that
one but the infinite God could crea
The eye. the window Of our immOr
nature, the gate through which all