The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-02-04

causes OF thanksgiving that are seldom
recognized and shows how TO cultivate
q cheerful spirit; text, Psalms xxxii, 2,
"Skg unto him with a psaltery and an
instrument OF ten strngs."
A musician as well as poet and con-
.queror and king was David. the author
of M text. He first composed the sa-
cred rhythm and then played it upon a
harp. striking and p~lucking the strings
with his fingers and thumbs. The
harp is the oldest OF musical instru-
ments. Jubal invented it, and he vas
the seventh descendant from Adam.
Its music was suggested by the twans
Of the bowstring. Homer refers to the
harp in the "Iliad." 1t Is the most con-
secrated of all instruments3sThe flute
is more mellow. the bugle more mar
tial, the corlet 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 captiyes in their sad
ness 'bung 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 oyerpower-
ing.
With as many things to complain
about rs 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 q chorus. AbSa-
lom's plotting and Ahithophel's treach-
cry and hosts of antagonists and sleep
less nights and q 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 n string
or two strings or three strings when
I'VE ought to take n harp fully chorded
and with glad fingers sweep all the
strings. Instead OF being grateful for
here and there n blessing we happen
80 think of. we ought to rrehearse all
our blessings so far as we can recall
item and obey the injunction Of my
kxt to sing unto him with an instru-
pent OF ten strings.
Remember Daily Blessings.
Have you ever thanked God for de-
siatsome food? What vast muldtudes
endangered from day to day or are
aiged to take food not toothsCme
pleasant to the taste! What mil
}, D.; are in struggle for bread! A Con-
0 EIult cOIuI- we'll " hCr LULU ~
q family were on tlse verge Of star
I'll on. but they were kept up by the
It'll tOf.a child Of that household. who,
,tit apg that seme~ supply was sure to
me . .ezelaimed. Mother. l think roc
,ars when we scrape the bottom of
b hrFel."
Ha, Re yon appreciated ihe fact that
mo st,Qf your tables are .luxuries that
, not come to all? Have you realized
varieties of f1avor often touch
t angue and how the %sacchafin
nd the ,.acid have been afforded your
,latef What fruits. what nuts. what
eats re yale your appetite. while many
ould b, ' glad to get the CT usts and
nds n Npeelings that fall from your
bile. Fc the tine 6avors and the lux
via uds yeu have enjoyed for a
d, a.haps you have never ex-
ressed to Sod g word of tha1ksgiv-
g. That i. zone, os the ten strings that
ought t. ' have thruHmed in praise
, God, but J snI have never yet put it in
ibration.
Have you i tEsnl.e9 God for eyesight
s originally sSien 80 YOU or. AFTER it
6immed | y +fgs fer the glass 1h2t
rought the p. tga of the book within
be compass of 1Ae Sision? Have you !
the pri satiol those suffer so
vhom the day is az black as the night
nd who never sec the face of father or
or wife .or child or friend:
through what painful sVrgerT many
gone to get one glimpse OF the
Igbt. The yes so delicate and beau
iful aud useful thTt n Of them is
And most Of Us have two
f these wonders of divine mechanism.
The man OF mnlliens of dollars who re-
emily went hthd from atrophy of cp-
ic nerve would have been willing 70
i've all his m;lliens and become Il day
aborer If he could have kept off the
blindness that gradually crept over his
ision.
You may have noticed how Christ's
We're stirred for the blind.
has aIwsrs been prevalent :