Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-25

We hanged up our harps.
For they that led captive required of us songs.
And they that wasted required Of us mirth,
Saving. ''Sing us one OF the songs OF Zion
How sing the Lords song
In a strange landf
II | forget thee. o Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her cunning
Let my tongue cleave to the roof Of my mouth
II remember thee not.
II prefer Jerusalem
Above my chief joys. 1915.
What poetry. What pathos! What lofty
imagery! What mixture of sad melan-
choly and fiery patriotism! There is the
moaning OF the captive, the waling of the
exile and the signing of the saint in every
word of this psalm Whether 1t was writ
ten by jeremiah the weeping prophet, or by
some unknown and forgotten seer, 1t Is
worthy of a place among the immortal
productions. even if it were not inspired
What ode of Homer or Horace or Shake
speare or Milton surpasses 1t either In
pathos, beauty imagery?
Ii opens to view page In the marvellous
history of The Jewish race that reveals the
fearful penalty OF their sins which sent
them into captivity. There is n deep and
abiding pathos in the fact that after all of
Gods effort to train a peculiar people to
receive His Law and make known to the
world His son; yes after Abraham had
trusted. after Moses had delivered Israel
from Egyptian bondage, after David had
reigned in such spiendor and glory and
after prophets had unfolded the majesty of
Gods sovereign grace-that after all these
things, Israel WAS now captive in far away
Babylon Behold tie poor captives tired,
scourgcd dispirited. sitting by the quiet
waters of Babylon trying in vain to sooth
their sorrows by the melodies and memories
of home,
Let US briefly notice the first two verses
Of this psalm 1t is one sad, wall Of
sorrow:
by the rivers Of Babylon
There We down; yea wept.
when We remembered Zion.
Upon the willows in the midst thereof
We hanged up harps.''
Well might they weep when they remem-
bered their beloved Zion! Her armies had
been utterly routed again and again; her
brave and valiant warriors slain by the
sword or carried away captive; her land
had been laid waste and her inhabitants, in
GLIDING both women and children, had been
carried away into a bondage more cruel
and degrading than that in Egypt. Then
the holy city. Jerusalem, had been taken
and sacked with a ruthless hand, every
monument of her greatness and her glory
destroyed, even the temple itself, their pride
and JOY. had been piIlaged by heather
hoIdes, and her affairs with their sacred
vessels desecrated. We talk about the
unspeakable Turk" Well he is a relic
that tells of the fearful barbarism
of the east and the past. All, it was a
time for memory and for tears when
these heartless captors demanded that the
Zion songs be sung just for their sport
and amusement The sad, weird wall of
these forlorn and PROSTATE captives would
entertain them for a time. They cared for
naught else, for they worshiped the god of
pleasure.
In this case, however they reckoned with |
out their host. History nowhere records a |
more heroic refusal TO be false to ones !
country and to ones God than these crush
ed captives made.
Verses three TO sx-This heroic declara-
ton of fidelity:
'How can we sing the Lords song
Iu a strange laudf
If I forget thee, o Jerusalem.
Let my right hand forget her cunning.
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
II l remember thee not,
II | prefer not Jerusalem above my chief Joy"
I'VE Will die. sir, but we will never sur |
IA no Of trio
In it than the indignant refusal of these |
poor captives to desecrate their temple wor- |
ship for the merriment of their wicked tor
mentors Babylon may destroy their coun-
try, their wives and children, and even |
their liberty. but she cannot destroy their
conscience; she cannot rob them of their |
religion; she may kill the body but she has |
power over the soul The wicked plot |
failed utterly. 1t was as if a crowd of in
fdel testers were TO ask a band of devout |
Christians to sing for their pastime and |
sport There Is a Fountain Filled With
Blood or Jesus Lover of My Soul" or
Holy. Holy. Holy. Lord God Almighty
Our reverence for these grand old HYMNS
IS no greater than theirs for the songs Of
Zion.
The Zion songs were paeans of victory
extolling the greatness the goodness and
the glory of lions God. Listen for a mo-
rneut;
Il VIII sing unto the Lord,
For He hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and the rider
Hath He thrown into the sea.
Who is like thee. o Lord
Among the gods;
Who is Ike unto thee glorious In holiness, !
Fearful In praise
We cannot sing the Lords songs in q |
strange land. The memories and melodies
of home viii not let US do it. If forget
thee o Jerusalem" The sweet and sacred
memories Of home, country and temple wor
ship cannot be effaced by sorrow or suffer-
ing or disaster. The keener the sorrow the
sweeter the memory OF the JOY DAYS The
memory and melody of their far-away home
r.tt 6 y.T--