The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-02-07
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY The NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject; Beauties of a Cheerful spirit
Causes Z or Thanksgiving That Aie sell
dom Recognized - Remember Daily
Observation-Disclosures OF Triendship.

thanksgiving lNAl are rN4uom iScoghlAtN,
and shows how 10 cultivate cheerful
spirit: text, Psalms NXxri, >, sing unto
him with psaltery and an instrument Of
ten strings
A musician as well as poet and con-
Quer0r and king was David. the author
OF my text he first composed the sacred
rhythm and then played IL upon harp
striking and p,ucking the strings with his
fingers and thumbs The harp Is the old
est of musical instruments. Jubal invent
ed n, and he was the seventh descendant
from Adam. Its music was suggested by
the twang OF the bOwstring. Homer re-
fers 90 the harp in the "lhad.' lt Is the
most consecrated of al instruments. The
fu;e Is more mellow, the bugle more mar
tal, the cornet more lncislve, the trumpet
more resonant. the organ more mighty, but
the harp has tenderness aud sweetness
belonging 20 no other instrument that
know of. 10 enters into the richest sym
hohsm OF the Holy Scriptures The cap
tycs IN their sadness hung their harps
upon the willows In other ages It had
eight strings. Davids harp had ten
strings, and when his great soul was ahre
with the theme his sympathetic voice, &C
companled by exquisite vibration OF the
chords. must have been overpowering.
w IN 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 fly.
ing fowl aud the mountains and the hills
and day and night into a chorus. Absa-
Ions plotting and Ahthophels treachery
and hosts OF antagonists and sleepleSs
nights and running sore could not hush
his psalmody. Indeed, the more his trou-
bles the mightier his sacred poems. The
words praise" and song are so often
repeated in hs psalms that one would
think the typesettcr's case containing the
letters with which those words are spelled
wolld be exhausted.
In my text David calls upon the people
10 praise the Lord with an instrument of
ten strings. like that which he was accus-
toned 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 10 take a harp
fully chorded and with glad fingers sweep
all the strngs Instead of being grateful
for here and there blessing we happen
to think OF, we ought to rchearse all our
blessings so far as we can recall them and
obey the injunction of my text to sing
unto HIM with an instrument OF ten
strings.
Have you ever thanked God for delight
some foody What vast multtudcs are a.
hunge.ed from day TO day or are obliged
TO take food not toothsome or pleasant TO
the taste! What millions are in struggle
for bread! A Confederate soldier went to
the front. and his family were on the
verge of starvation, but they were kept up
by the faith of a child of that household,
who, noticing that some supply was sure TO
come, excla med, Mother, | think God
hears when we scrape the bottom of the
barrel"
Have you appreciated the fact that on
most of your tables are Injuries that do
not come TO ally Have you realized what
varieties OF flavor often touch your tongue
and how the saccharn and the acid have
been afforded your palatey What fruits
what nuts, what meats reeale your appe.
tite, while many would be glad TO get the
crusts and rinds and peelings that fall
from your table.
For the fne havors and the luxurious
viands you have enjoyed for lifetime per
haps you have never expressed To Cod a
word o. thanksgiving. That is one of the
ten 'trings that you ought TO have
thrummed in praise to God, but you have
never vet put 1t IN vibration.
Have you thanked God for eyesight as
originally given to you or. after it was
dinmed by age for the glass that brought
the page of the book within the compass
of the vision? Have you realized the pri-
vation those suffer to whom the day ic as
black as the night and who never sec the
face OF father or mother or wife or child or
friendy Through what painful surgery
many have gone 10 get one glimpse of the
light The eye so delicate and beautiful
and useful that one Of them Is invaluable!
And most Of ms have two Of these won
ders OF divine mechanism. The man of
millions OF dollars who recently went blind
from atrophy of optic nerve would have
been willing 10 give ali his millions and be
come day laboreT il he could have kept
off the blindness that gradually crcpt over
his vision. -
You may have noticed how ChrsCs sym
pathies were stirred for the bind. Oph-
thalnia has always been prevalent in Pal
estine. the custom of sleeping on the house
tops, exposed 70 the dew and the fying
dust Of the dry season. inviting this dread.
ful disorder. A large percentage OF the in
habitants could rot tell the difference be
tween u O'Clock al noon and - O'Clock AZ
night We are told OF six Of Christ : mir.
Scics for the cure OF these sightless ones.
but ! suppose they were only specimens Of
hundreds OF restored visions.
What a pitifu spectacle Saul Of Tarsus,
mighty man, three days led about IN phys
ical as well as spiritual darkness. he who
afterward made Felix tremble by his clo.
ounce and awed the Athenian philoso.
pliers on Mars Hill and was the only cool
headed man IN the Alexandra corn ship
tus. once he mighty prosecutor of Saul,
afterward the glorious evangelist Paul, for
three days not able 10 take a safe step
without guidance!
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 colors march, the
- 4 l. l.
eve this world - a big dungeon. ] fear
that many OF MS have never given one
hearty expression OF gratitude for treasure
OF sight. the loss Of which j. the greatest
disaster possible, unless 10 be the loss Of
the mind Those woadrous seven muscles
that turn the eye up or down, 10 right or
left or around. No ono but God could
have created the retina. ii We have ever
appreciated what God did when lie gave
US two eyes IL was when we saw others
with obltcrGte1 vision.
Ala. that only through tho privation of
Others We came 20 a realization ot our own !
blessing II you had harp IN hand end
swept all the strilgs OF gratitude, you
would have struck this. which Is oac Of
the most du'cet Of the ten strings.
Further. notice how many pass through |
life ia silence because the car refuses O. |
do IT. Office They never hear music, vo- !
rolls its full diaplson through the heav |
ems does not startle the prolonged silence. |
The air that has for "a 20 many melodies |
has no swec. sound for them They live IN |
a quetude that will not be broken until |
heaven breaks ~ upon them with its har 4
nonics. The bird voices Of the spTingtime |
the chatter q the children, the sublime /
thant of the sea. the EC.o OF the cantatrice /
and the melody Of the great worshpint a.
sembnes mean nothing 70 then. Have We