Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-02-03


course DR.. Talmage calls attention to
causes of thanksgiving that are seldom
recognized and shows how to cultivate
a cheerful spirit; text, Psalms XXXiii, 2.
''Sing unto him with psaltery and an
instrument OF ten strings"
A musician as well rs poet and con-
queror and king was David, the author
of my text. He first composed the So
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 "Iliad." 1t is the most con-
secrated Of oil instruments. The flute
IS more mellow. the bugle more mar
tial, the Cornet moro incisive, the trum-
pet more resonant. the organ more
mighty. but the harp has Il 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 coAs and medals that in the Mac
cabean age the harp had only three
strings. IL 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.. &C.
companed by exquisite vibration of
the chords, must have been Overpower-
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 Il chorus. Absa
Ions plotting and Ahithophel's treach-
cry and hosts OF antagonists and sleep
less nights and n running sore could
not hush his psalmody. Indeed, the
more his Troubles the mightier his sa-
cred poems. The words praise" and
t'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 string
or two striRgs 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 q blessing we happen
to think CT. 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 fcr de-
lightsome food? What vast multitudes
are a-hungcred from day to day or are
Obliged to take food net toothsJme
or pleasant to the taste! What mill
lions are in struggle for bread! A Con-
federate soldier went to the front, and
his family were OH 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 to
come. exclaimed. Mother. | think God
hears when we scrape the bottom of
the barrel"
Have you appreciated the fact that
on most of your tables are luXurics that
do not come 10 all? Have you realized
what varieties of flavor often touch
your tongue and how the saccharin
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 and
rinds and pceiings that fall from your
table. For the fine favors and the lux
urious viands you have enjoyed for a
lifetime perhaps you have never ex'
pressed to God word of thankSgiv.
ing. That is one of the ten strings that
you ought to have thrummed in praise
to God. but you have never yet put it il
vibration.
Have you thanked God for eyesight
as originally given to you or. after il
was dimmed by age. fer the glass thai
brought the page of the book within
the compass of the vision? Have yoJ
realized the privation those suffer t.
whom the day is as black as the nigh
and who never see the face of father OF
mother CT wife or child or friend
Through what painful surgery man!
have gone to get one glimpse of the
light. The yes so delicate and beau
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 re
Gently went blind from atrOphy of op
tic nerve would have been willing t
give all his millions and become Il da.
1aborer If he could have kept off til
III