The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1902-03-06
/ GRATEFUL SPIRIT.
Should Be Cultivated by One and
All, Says DR.. Talmage.
We Should Rehearse All Our Bless
tngs and Give Praise to God
for Them-Thc Gospel of
Good Morals.
ICopyright, 1902, by Louis Klopsch. N. u
Washington.

lCOpyflSut, 15uS, Wy AooA. .NAoAN>, " -
Washington,
In this discourse DR.. Talmage calls
attention to causes of Thanksgiving
that are seldom recognized and shows
how to cultivate cheerful spirit; text,
Psalms 1872: Sing unto Him with
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 Sd
cred rhythm and then played it upon a
harp, striking and plucking the strings
with his fingers and thumbs. Inc
harp is the Oldest of musical lnstru-
ments. Jubal invented it, and he was
the seventh descendant from Adam
It's music was suggested by the twang
of the bowstring. Homer refers 10 the
harp in the "Iliad." 1t is the most con-
secrated of all instruments. Ihe nut'
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 tenderness
| and sweetness belonging to no otner
| 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,
and when his great soul was atire 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 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
psalms that one would think the type
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 two strings or three strings wher
we ought to take harp fully chordet
and with glad fingers sweep all thu
. strings. Instead of being grateful fol
here and there blessing we happe1
to think of, we ought to rehearse al
our blessings so far as we can recall
them and obey the injunction OF m!
text to sing unto Him with an instru
ment of ten strings
Have you ever thanked God for de
{ lightsome food? What vast multitude
, are a-hungered from day to day or ar
, obliged to take food not toothsom
, or pleasant to the taste! What mil
lions are in struggle for bread! A con
federate soldier went to the front, an
. his family were on the verge of star
, vation, but they were kept up by tn
! faith of child of that household, who
: noticing that some supply was sure t
come, exclaimed: Mother, I thin
God hears when we scrape the botto1
:, of the barrel"
Have you appreciated the fact tha
on most of your tables are luxurie
that do not come to all? Have you rea
lied what varieties of flavor ofte
/ touch your tongue and how the sal
3 charm and the acid have been afforde
your palate? What fruits, what nut
what meats regale your appetite, Will
e many would be glad to get the crust
e and rinds and peelings that fall fro7
e your table. For the fine favors an
the luxurious viands you have enjoye
l. for lifetime perhaps you have nev'
e expressed to God word of thanksg
< ing. That is one of the ten strings tn;
n YOU ought to have thrummed in prai
D to God, but you have never yet put it
vibration.
Have you thanked God for eyesigl
% as originally given to you or, after
- was dimmed by age, for the glass tn
,o brought the page of the book with
~ the compass of the vision? Have y.
realized the privation those suffer
whom the day is as black as the mig
y, and who never see the face of father
mother or wife or child or frien
Through what painful surgery MAJ
have gone to get one glimpse of t
light! The eyes so delicate and bea
q tiful and useful that one of them
invaluable! And most of us have t.
ri of these wonders of Divine mechanis
The man of millions of dollars who
Gently went blind from atrophy of {
tic nerve would have been willing
give all his millions and become d
laborer if he could have kept off
=. blindness that gradually crept over
vision.