The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1902-02-08
A GRATEFUL SPIRIT.
Should Be Cultivated by One and
all, Says Dr.. Talmage.
We Should Rehearse All Our Bless
ngs and Give Praise TO God
for Them-The Gospel of
Good Morals.
Copyright. 1902. by Louis Klopsch, N. VI
Washington.

TO causes OF tnuIhsSlNln
that are seldom recognized and show
how to cultivate a cheerful spirit; text
Psalms 1892: Sing unto Him with
psaltery and an instrument of tel
strings"
a musician as well 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 Q
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 "Iliad." 1t is the most con-
secrated of all instruments. The huto
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 I 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,
n when his great soul was afre 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 ard the hills and
day and night into a chorus. Absa-
Ions plotting and ~Ahithophel's 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
"@N Ahof JAW nOAlA lllllh luC " pc |
settlers case containing the letters
with which these 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 string
or W 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 a blessing we happen
30 think of, we ought to rehearse all
Dur blessings so far as we can recall
them and obey the injunction of nv
to sing unto Him with an instru-
fnent 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 mil
are in struggle for bread! Aeon
1ederate soldier went to the front, and
his family were on the verge of star
vatlon, but they were kept up by the
faith of a child of that household, who.
noticing that some supply was sure to
come, exclaimed: Mother, I think
God hears when we scrape the bottom
the barrel"
Have you appreciated the fact that
On most of your tables are Injuries
do not come to all? Have you real
-
Ized wha varieties of flavor often
touch your tongue and how the sac
,harin and the acid have been afforded
your palate? What fruits, what nuts.
what meats regale your appetite, while
many would be glad to get the crusts
rinds and Feelings that fall from
'our table. For the fine favors and
luxurious viands you have enioved
or a lifetime perhaps you have never
expressed 10 God a word of thanksgiv-
ng. That is one of the ten strings that
ought to have thrummed in praise
o God, but you have never yet put if in
-ibration. .
Have you thanked God for eyesight
S originally given to you or, after il
dimmed by age, for the glass that
'rought the page of the book within
he compass of the vision? Have YOU {
called the %privation those suffer TO {
'hom the day is as black as the night !
nd who never see the face of father or '
or wife or child or friend?
through what painful surgery MANY
ave gone to get one glimpse of the {
ght! The eyes so delicate and beau
full and useful that one of them Is L
valuable! And most of us have two
{ these wonders of Divine mechanism.
he man of millions of dollars who re- I
emily vent blind from atrophy of op- a
C nerve would have been willing to v
i've all his millions and become a day v
lborer if he could nave kept off the C
Kindness that gradually crept over his e
sion. Q
You may have noticed how Christ's t
'mpathies were stirred for the blind. +
phthalmia has always been prevalent fl
Palestine, the custom of sleeping on s
e housetops, exposed to the dew and "
e flying dust of the dry season, invit- "