The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1907-09-20
SONGS OF DAVID.
Rev. Or. Talmage on the Psalm
ist and His Poems.
The King Of tho lsraelltes Reloioed to
Sing o. Gods Law and 20
Make Il His Meditation
Day and Night.

and In harmony with Gods laws
those laws are no longer IA burden. but
are transformed into continual SONG
o. encouragement. The text Is Psalm
xix "a. "Thy statutes have been my
songs In the house Of my pilgrimage.
Never Gid sculptor's chisel create
two statues OF more opposite chauc
fer than are Michael Angeles "MoScs
and David" when you study these
two wonderful figures it does NOT seem
possible that the same human brain
could conceive both. They are dihcr-
ent rs the storm cloud and the sun
shine. as the rumbllng ourushing ava
lanche breaking loose from its anchor
are and the bubbline, laughing, leap
ing. happy brook gurgling down the
mountain side They are different as
the shrieks and the groans Of the cur
mage Of battle and the soft cooling lui-
labies Of a mother rocking her baby
10 sleep. In other words. the one stat
ne represents power and tho other
love. Tho one represents the crags
and the cliffs and inaccessible heights
Of ola Sinai with lts bare rocks in
dented by the sword cuts Of the light
nings. and the other represents the
melodious harp of the young shepherd
hoy singing 70 his sheep among the
Wild flowers Of the valley and the
dreamy relaxation Of the poet while.
lying upon a couch Of softest leaves.
no watches tho parent birds feed their
Young among the swaylng branches
overwhelming his noontide resting place
Nevor did Phidias colossal statue Of
"Zous" at Els or Canoya's "Theseus'
AZ Vienna represent greater strength
than does Angeles Moses az Rome
Never did Praxiteies' "APhroditc' at
Cnidus or the Sleeping Arladne' at
Rome reveal more love or poetic sym
metry than does Angeles marvellous
statue Of David at Florence.
But, though VIC have a perfect right
10 think Of David the musician. David
the poet David the imaginative youth.
who Is always singing the praises of
God. / wonder If we have not some
times overlooked the fact that David
sang his songs Of triumph under the
shadow Of old Mount Sinai and that DE
had but a vague and shadowy Idea Of
the tenderness Of the cross Of Jesus
Christ. The poetic eyes Of David In
the statue may not search us from ont
Of deep sockets or from under over
arching forehead. as do the penetrating
eyes of Moses the lawgivcr. but the
same thought that tcemod IN the brain
Of Moses lived and throbbed IN the
brain Of David. All through the ISalms
l find that the Ten Commandments Of
Mount Sinai are the skeletons upon
which David the psalmist based his
praises. When David writes his most
beautiful songs ne seems to DE echoing
IN rhyme what Moses. the great law
gver. had written 300 years before IN
the books Of the Pent0tcuch. David's
poetry is only Moses laws and COM
mandments set 10 music.
II was so with the other poets whose
compositions are in that great hymnal
Turn almost anywhere in the Psalms
and you can find this fact illustrated
What Is the burden Of the One Hun
dred and Nineteenth Psalm7 IL Is the
law, the rock ribbed law Of God. "Oh
how I love thy lawl II is my medita-
ton day aud night" IS the song What
Is the burden of the First Psalm7 II
Is the law Of God. What IS the burden
OF the Thirty seventh Psalm and the |
Fortieth Psalm and tho Seventy !
Psalml IL Is the law of God. And |
today I'm the words Of my text the /
shepherd poet tells us that the statutes /
of God have been his songs IN the |
house Of his pilgrimage all through his |
life. The law of Moses is here found /
20 be the theme Of the sweetest singer /
Israel ever produced
Did you ever stop % think that the
laws Of God could be set 10 music:
Oh how prosalc a book Of common
law is 20 the average man, When
my brother was young student boz
the law college ne one day came 10
my father and placed before him a
lawhook and said. Father, read that.
Did you ever read any set OF rules so
dry or so uninterestlngW Truly. for
Il young man a lawbook Is a dry and
uninterestlng book, hut when the
young man has mastered those dun
codes and uses them I'm his practice
they are changed from dry skeletons
into living forces Then he sees how
those legal enactmcnts are the great
barriers by which the rights Of men
are protected against the assaults of
evlldoers So with David When ne
mastered the principles Of Gods laws
he was able 20 clOthc them with poetic
imagery lie saw the far reaching of.
feet Of those laws. Instead Of being
a collection % skeletons bleaching I'm a
cemetery the.5 became 10 him "a living
power As living principles they wei
coined him az the cradle They guild.
ed him through childhood's hours
They led him forth into the struggle Of
young manhood They were the crown
Of glory of his old age. Thus as an
aged servant of God he celebrates The
glory Of old Mount Sinai as ne sings
"rhy statutes have been my songs I'm
the house Of my pilgrimage" Now let
rs try To- understand how Gods laws
have become the kcynotcs Of Davld's
songs
In the first place thc statutes of the
Lord we've the p-aimists cradle songs
---rr- sa.-rt
They were the lullabies with which his
mother used 70 sing him 10 sleep. They
we're the divine promises with which
Tod adopted him as his child. The ,
ovenant with which Abraham's chill =
rem and chlldren's children became .
art of Gods great redomDffOn nlan r