Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-12-08
Calnnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank DE Witt Talmade. d. d.

inc approaching Christmas Festivities.
which. the preacher contends, should
be characterized by cheerfulness, kind
ness and bencncencc TO the poor and
the distressed The text Is Psalm
xcvi. ooh. sing into. the Lord new
song .,.r
The finest of pictures is yet TO be
painted; the most perfect sculpture Ia
yet to be chiselcd: the best Of poems Is
yet to be penned! the sweetest and the
most inspiring 'sf songs is yet to he
composed. We speak Of the master pc.
cts, artists, scuiptors and musicians as
though the poetical and artistic deeds
Of the past could never he excelled
This. however, is not true. Homer and
Virgil and Scott and Wordsworth and
Burns and Tennyson and Longfellow
and Lowell and Poe are master poets
to us merely because their poems excel
In beauty Of expression or delicacy of
rhythm or depth OF thought the pro
ductions of All other poets who have
yet appeared Raphael and Michael
Angelo and Murillo and Leonardo da
Ninci and Turner are master artists to
us merely because no artists have yet
appeared who could approach them in
perfection OF form and glory of color.
beethoven and Handel and Bach and
Gluck and Haydn and Mozart and
Chopin and Mendelssohn and Wayne;
nre master musicians to us because
they surpass all other musicians in per
lection of harmony aud grandeur Of
conception No composers before them
and none since have attained the mas
terry that they reach in their sublime
art
But, though these old master must
clans ARE masters 10 us. they were not
masters to themselves They struggled
continually TO give expression to high
or and nohlor conceptions that they
were never able to write. Even in their
minds there We're harmonieS far better
than those that they have given us.
Their masterpieces fell far short Of
their ideals In their rhapsodles and
dream lives hey We're continually ex.
ploring whole realms of perfect sound
barmOnies which were continually cry
ing TO them Set NE to music. Play
me upon the piano or tho harp. Sing
mo in solo and orntorio" The result
was these old masters were continually
trying TO make more perfect combinn-
tons of sound 10 echo to mortal ears
the strange, oird, transcendent voices
that were caang to them ont Of the
musical wor. $ Of perfection
To impriso7 uehnd musical bars the
perfect vote which they heard in
their strangc worlds became to tn
great musical lsters Il lies passion.
one moonlight night Beethoven was
walking tbroIpl one Of the strecta Of
Bonn. Suddcnlr be heard from an
opened pnrlor window some one play
ing one Of hiS sonatae 1t was so beau.
tifully rendered q. the great com
poser entered thu nouSc and, seating
himself ut the piano began To play il
himself Bcethovor seemed - he lost
In dreamlnnd. IL ia. Listen; | will
ilnprOvisp II sonE 30 the moonlight.
Then he went on. airing the voices OF
the unseen world reproducing them
as part Of HIS ma ieSS song called the
"Nloonlight Sonata After he had fin
ished he rushed orI II the house. say
Ing 10 his comDam.r. DO not talk &c
me. Let me haste to my room that
may write out tha Ur"am OF the moon
/ light while | yot rcmomber It. Al
/ great musicians. i.o beethoven hrt
continually reach'. ont for new com
| blnatiOns of song they do this ever
/ though. like Couu' Xinzcndorf. thel
may have written oNer 1000 songs. or
like Schmolke. they may nave writer
over Zoo musical p.'ces.
"SinE Unto the Lord IA New song
David the psalms. was n great nu
steal composer. II" 0lways strove I,
originate new mus al themes. II h'
could not compose new ones. then h
wanted to hear what some one else hac
composed. The frst time Mozart hearc
one of Bach's hymns played he crieC
ont In ecstasy. "Ihauk God, | lenrI
something absolutely new. SO Davi,
again and again il bis psalms cries on
for something new n musical praise
We not only find the words of my text
Sing unto the Lord a new song, II
the Ninety sixth Psalm. but we int
them in the Ninety eighth and in th'
one Hundredth and Forty-ninth. an(
we also find the same words IN IN
book Of Isaiah. The song they lOnge'
10 hear will yet be sung in the heaven
~ land. The Seer Of Patmos caugh
thc echo OF II as he listened to the nov
fong that no man could learn hut III
host that had been redeemed and stoo'
around the throne What exquisite
music it will be we cannot conceive
; but we know the theme that Will III
spire it. II is the theme OF salvation
the incarnation OF the Son OF Goa. III
coming 10 earth of that Divine Bein
whose birth among rs we are ABOUT I
celebrate Let thu same theme inspir
eur humble strains let us even now
b rs We mediate ON that wondrou
event attune our hearts To that glor
Gus harmony.
Our holiday song ia the first place
should be cheerful song. II Shout
, not be sung in minor key II shoul
not be dlrge or requiem, lament @
dead march in saul it should nc
! be an antiphony for the mathis or III
dead; it should be JOY on the wing;
should be the chorus Of Laughing wa