Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., APRIL 21, 1898. OUR LISTENING GOD. DR. TALMAGE TELLS US HOW HEARS PRAYERS. GOC The Human Ear th« Sarrad Ve*tlbule ot the Palace of the Soul — God In Our< •elvm— He That Planted the Ear, Shall lie Not Hear? (Copyright, 1898, by American Preas Asso ciation.] Washington, April 17.—In this dis course Dr. TalmaKu sets forth the goodness and wisdom of Clod in tho con- structicu of the human car and extnh music and encourages prayer; text, Psalms xciv, 9, “Ho that planted tho ear, shall he not hear?’’ Architecture is one of the most fasci nating arts, and the study of Egyptian. Grecian, Etruscan, Roman, Byzantine, Moorish, Renaissance styles of building has been to many a man a sublime life work. Liucolu and York cathedrals, St. Paul's and St. Peter’s and arch of Ti tus and Theban temple and Alhambra and Parthenon are tho monuments to the genius of those who built them. But more wonderful than any arch they ever lifted, or any transept window they ever illumined, or any Corinthian column they ever crowned, or any Goth ic cloister they ever elaborated, is tho human car. Among the most skillful and assidu ous physiologists of our time have been those who have given their time to the examination of the ear and tho study o( its arches, its walls, its floors, its ca nals, its aqueducts, its galleries, its in tricacies, its convolutions, its divine machinery, and yet it will take another thousand years before the world comes to any adequate appreciation of what God did when he planned and executed the iufiuito and overmastering architec ture of tho human ear. Tho most of it is invisible, and the microscope breaks down in the attempt at exploration. The cartilage which we call the oar is only tho storm door of tho great temple clear down out of sight, next door to tho immortal soul. Such scieutists ns Helmholtz aud Conte and De Blaiuvillo and Rank and Buck have attempted to walk tho Ap- piau way of the human ear, but tho mysterious pathway has never been ful ly trodden but by two feet—tho foot of sound aud the foot of God. Three ears on each side tho head—the external ear, 1 the middle ear, tho internal ear—bat all connected by most wonderful teleg raphy. Wonders of the Ear. The external ear, in all ages adorned by precious stones or precious metals. The temple of Jerusalem partly built by tho contribution of earrings, and Homer, in tho “Iliad,’’speaks of Hera, “the three bright drops, her glittering gems suspended from tho ear,” aud many of the adornments of modern times were only copies of her ear. jewels found in Pompeiian museum and Etruscan vase. But, while tho outer car may be adorn ed by human art, tho middle aud tho in ternal car are adorned and garnished only by tho hand of the Lord Almighty. The stroke of a key of yonder organ sec? the air vibrating, aud tho external car catches the undulating sound aud passes it on through the bouelets of the middle ear to the internal ear, and the 8,000 fibers of the human brain take up the vibration and roll the sound on into tho soul. The hidden machinery of tho ear, by physiologists called by tho names u: things familiar to us, like the hammer, something to strike; like the anvil, something to ho smitten; like tlio stirrup of the saddle with which we mount tho steed; like tho drum, beaten in tho march; like tho harpstrings, to be swept with music; coiled like a “snail shell,’’ by which one of the innermost passages of the ear is actually called; like a stair way, tho sound to ascend; like a bent tube of a heating apparatus, taking that which enters round aud round; like a labyrinth with wonderful passages, into which the thought enters only to he lost in bewilderment; a muscle contracting when tho noise is too loud, just as the pupil of tho eye contracts when the light is too glaring. The external ear is de fended by wax which with its bitter ness discourages insectile invasion. Tho internal ear imbedded in by what is far tho hardest hone of the human system, a very rock of strength and defiance. Tho car so strange a contrivance that by tho estimate of one scientist it can catch tho sound of 78,700 vibrations in a second, the outer ear taking in all kinds of sonud, whether the crash of an avalaucbo or the hum of a bee. Tho sound passing to the inner door of tho outsido car halts until another mechan ism, divine mechanism, passes it on by the bouelets of the middle ear, and, com ing to the inner door of that second ear, the sound has no power to come farther until another divine mechanism passes it on through iuto the inner ear, aud then tho sound comes to the rail track of the bruin branchlot aud rolls on and on until it comes to sensation, and there tho curtain drops, and a hundred gates shut, and tho voice of God seams to suy to all human inspection, “Thus far and no farther. ’’ Veptibnlo of the Soul. In this vestibule of the palaco of the soul how many kings of thought, of medicine, of physiology, have done pen ance of lifelong study and got no far ther than the vestibule? Mysterious home of reverberation and echo. Grand Central depot of sonud. Headquarters to which there come quick dispatches, part the way by cartilages, part tho way by air, part tho way by bone, part tho way by nerve, the slowest dispatch plunging into the ear at tho speed of 1,090 feet a second. Small instrument of music on which is played all the music you ever heard, from tho gran deurs of an August thunderstorm to the softest breathings of a flute. Small in strument of musio, only a quarter of an inch of surface and the thinness of one two-hundred-aud-flftieth part of an inch, and that thinness divided into three layers. In that ear musical staff, lines, spaces, bar and rest. A bridge leading from the outside natural world to the Inside spiritual world, we Meing the abutment at this end the bridge, but the fog of an uplifted mystery hid ing the abutment on the other end tho bridge. Whispering gallery of the soul. Tho bumm voice is God’s eulogy tho ear. That voice capable of produc ing 17,fi92,186,0-14,415 sounds, and nil that variety made not for tho regale- ! ment of beast or bird, but for tho hu- man car. About 15 years ago, in Venice, lay down in death one whom many consid ered the greatest musical composer of ( the centary. Struggling on up from 6 years of age, when he was left father less, Wagner rose through the obloquy , of the world aud ofttimes all nations seemingly against him until be gained the favor of a king and won tho euthnsi- i asm of tho opera houses of Europe and America. Struggling all tho way on to 70 years of age to conquer tho world’s ear! In that same attempt to master tho human oar aud gain supremacy over this gato of the immortal soul great battles were fought by Mozart, Gluck and Wober and by Beethoven and Moy- erbeer, by Rossini aud by all tho rcdl of German and Italian and Trench com posers, some of them in the battle leav- | ing their blood on tho keynotes aud the musical scores. Great battle fought for tho ear—fought with baton, with organ pipe, with trumpet, with coruet-a-pis- ton, with all ivory and brazen aud sil ver and golden weapons of the orchestra; ! royal theater and cathedral and acad emy of music tho fortresses for tho con test for the ear. England and Egypt fought for the supremacy of tho Suez canal, and tho Spartans and the Persians fought for tho defile at Thermopylae, hut the musicians of all ages have fought for tho mastery of the auditory caual and the defile of the immortal soul aud the Thermopylae of struggling cadences. Conquest of the Ear, For the conquest of the car Haydn struggled on up from the garret, where he had neither fire nor food, on and on until under the too great nervous strain of hearing his own oratorio of tho “Creation” performed ho was carried out to die, but leaving as his legacy to tho world 118 symphonies, 163 pieces for the baritone, 15 masses, 5 oratorios, 42 German aud Italian songs, 39 canons, 865 English ana Scotch songs, with ac companiment, aud 1,530 pages of libret ti. All that to capture the gato of the body that swings in from the tympanum to the “snail shell” lying on the beach of tho ocean of the immortal soul. To conquer tho ear Handel struggled on from tho time when bis father would not let him go to school lesT he learn the gamut and become a musician, and from tho time when he was allowed in the organ loft just to play after tho au dience had left to the time when ho loft to all nations his unparalleled oratorios of "Esther,” “Deborah,” “Sampson,” “Jephtbah,” "Judas Maccabeus,’’ “Is rael In Egypt” aud the “Messiah” the soul of tho great German composer still weeping in the dead march of our great obsequies and triumphing in the rap tures of every Easter morn. To conquer tho ear and take this gate of the immortal soul Schubert composed I his great “Serenade,” writing the staves of tho music on the bill of faro in a restaurant, and went on until he could leave as a legacy to the world over 1,000 magnificent compositions in music. To conquer.tho ear aud take this gate of tho soul’s castlo Mozart strug gled on through poverty uutil ho camo to a pauper’s grave, and one chilly, wet afternoon tho body of him who gave to the world the “Requiem” and tho “G Minor Symphony" was crunch ed in on tho top of two other paupers iuto a grave which to this day is epi taphless. For tho car everything mellifluous, from the birth hour when our earth was wrapped in swaddling clothes of light and serenaded by other worlds, from tho time when Jubal thrummed tho first harp and pressed a key of tho first or gan down to tho music of this Sabbath day. Yea, for the ear the coming over tures of heaven, for whatever other , part of the body may be left in the dust the ear, wo know, is to come to celes tial life; otherwise why the “harpers harping with their harps?” For tho ear, j carol of lark, aud whistle of quail, aud 1 chirp of cricket, and dash of cascade, j aud roar of tides oceanic, aud doxology of worshipful assombly and minstrelsy, cherubic, seraphic aud archaugelic. For | tho ear all Pandean pipes, all flutes, all clarinets, all hautboys, all bassoons, all bells and all organs—Luzerne and West minster abbey, and Freiburg, and Ber lin, and all the organ pipes set across Christendom, the great Giant’s Cause way for the mouarchs of musio to pass over. For the ear, all chimes, all tick ings of chronometers, nil anthems, all dirges, all glees, all choruses, all lulla bies, all orchestration. Oh, the car, tho ] God honored ear, grooved with divine j sculpture and poised with divine grace fulness aud upholstered with curtains of divine embroidery, aud corridored by divine carpentry, and pillared with di vine arcbitectura, and chiseled in bone of divine masonry, aud conquered by processions of divino marshaling! The ear! A perpetual point of interrogation, asking, How? A perpetual point of apostrophe appealing to God. None but God could plan it. None but God could build it. Nona but God could work it. None but God could keep It. Nouo hut God could understand it. None but God could explain it. Oh, the wonders of the human ear! everything from the outside rim of tho outside oar clear in to tho point wbevo sound steps off the anditory nerve and rolls on down into the unfathomable depths of the immortal soul. The Bible speaks of “dull tars” and of “uucir- cumcised ears” ami of “itching oars” ‘rebellious ears” and of "open A Sacred Thing. How surpassing sacred the human oar! You had better he careful how you let and of ears” and of those who bavo ail the or gans of hearing and yet who seem to be deaf, for itor'es to them, ”He that bath ears to hear, let biin hear.” To show how much Christ thought of the human oar, ho one day mot a man who was deaf, oamo up to him and put a linger of the right hand iuto the orifice of the loft ear of the patient and put a Anger of the left hand iuto theorifico of the right ear of the patient aud agitated the tympanum and startled tho bouelets and, with a voice that rang clear through iuto tho man’s soul, cried, “Ephpba- tba!” aud tho polypoid growths gave way, aud the inflamed auricle cooled off, aud that man who had not heard a sound for many years that night heard tho wash of tho waves of Galilee against the limestone shelving. To show how much Christ thought of tho human ear, when the apostle Peter got mad and with one slash of his sword dropped tho ear of Malchus iuto tho dost Christ cre ated a new external car for Malchus cor responding with tho middle ear and tho internal ear that no sword could clip away. | And to show what God thinks of the ear we are informed of tho fact that in tho millennial June which shall roseate all the earth, tho ears of the deaf will be unstopped, all the vascular growths gone—all deformation of tho listening I organ cured, corrected, ebangod. Every being on earth will hove a hearing ap paratus as perfect as God knows how to make it, and all the ears will be ready for that great symphony in which all the musical instruments of the earth shall play the accompaniment, nations of earth aud empires of heaven min gling their voices together with tho deep bass of the sea, aud the alto of tho woods, and the tenor of winds, aud the baritone of the thunder. “Hallelu iah !” surging up meeting tho “Hallelu iah!” descending. God In Onrselrcs. : Oh, yes, my friends, wo have been looking for God too far away instead of looking for him closo by and in our own organism. Wo go up into tho observa tory and look through the telescope and see God in Jupiter, and God in Saturn, ; aud God in Mars, bnt we could see more I of him through tho microscope of an j aurist. No king is satisfied with only ouo residence, and in France it has been . St. Cloud and Versailles aud tho Tui- j leries, and in Great Britain it has been l Windsor and Balmoral and Osborne. A ruler does not always prefer the larger. Tho King cf earth and heaven may have larger castles aud greater palaces, bnt I 1 do not think thero is any one more curi- ; ously wrought than tho human ear. , | The heaven of heavens cannot contain ■ him, and yet ho says he finds room to ! ' dwell in a contrite heart, and I think in a Christian car. We have been looking fer Gcd in tho infinite; let us look for him in the infi nitesimal. God walking the corridor of tho car, God sitting in the gallery of tbe human ear, God speaking along tho au ditory urrvo of tho car, God dwelling in tho car to hear that which comes from the outside, and so near tho brain and the soul ho can hear all that tran spires thero. The Lord of hosts encamp ing under the curtains of membrane. Palaco of tho Almighty in the human ear. The rider on tho white horse of tho Apocalypso thrusting his foot into the loop of bono which the physiologist has been pleased to call tho stirrup of the ear. Ara yon ready now for tho question of my text? Have you tho endurauco to bear its overwhelming snggestiveness? Will you take hold of some pillar aud balnuco yourself under tho semioiuuipo- tent stroke? “Ho that planted tho ear, shall ho not hear?” tihall tho God who gives us tho apparatus with which wo hear tho sounds of tho world himself not be able to catch up song aud groan and blasphemy and worship? Does ho givo us a faculty which bo has not him self: Drs. Wild aud Gruber aud Toyn bee invented the acoumcter and other instruments by which to meusnro and examine the cur, aud do these instru ments know more than the doctor:; who inudo them? “He that planted tho car, shall he not hear?” Jupiter of Crude was always represented in statuary aud painting as without ears, suggesting tho idea that ho did not want to be bother ed with tho affairs of the world. But our God has ears. “His ears are open to their cry.’’ Tho Biblo intimates that two workmen on Saturday night do not get their wages. Their complaint in stantly strikes tho ear of God, “The cry of those that reaped hath entered tho ears of tho Lord of Sabaotb. ” Did God bear that poor girl last night as sho threw herself on the prison hunk in the city dungeon and cried in the midnight, “God have mercy?” Do you really think God could bear her? Yes, just ns easily as when 15 years ago sho was sick with scarlet fever and ber mother beard her when at midnight she asked for a drink of water. “He that planted tho ear, shall ho not hear?” How God Hewra Prayers. When a soul prays, God does not sit bolt upright until the prayer travels im mensity and climbs to his ear. Tho Bi ble says ho bends clear over. In more than one place Isaiah said be bowed down his ear. In mure than one place tho psalmist said he inclined his ear, by which I come to bclievo that God puts his ear so closely down to your lips that bo hears the salvo of artillery when the 18 squares of English troops open all tbeir batteries at once at Waterloo. He that planted the oar can hoar. Just as sometimes an entrancing strain of music will linger in your ears for days after you have hoard it, aud just as a sharp cry of pain I once heard while passing through Bellevue hospi tal clung to my oar for weeks, and just as a horrid blasphemy in tbe street sometimes haunts one’s ears for days, so God not only hears, but holds tbe songs, the prayers, tbe groans, the wor ship, tho blasphemy. How wo have all wondered at the phonograph, which holds not only tho words you utter, but tho very tones of your voice, so that 100 years from now, that instrument turned, tho very words you now utter and tbe very tone of your voice will be reproduced. Amazing phonograph! But more wonderful is God’s power to bold, to retain. Ah, what delightful encour agement for our prayers! Wbat an aw ful fright for our bard speeches! Wbat assurance of warm hearted sympathy for all our griefs! “He that planted tbe ear, shall be not hear?” Better tako that organ away from all sin. Better put it under tho best sound. Better take it away from all gossip, from all slander, from all innuendo, from all had influence of evil associa tion. Better put it to school, to church, to philharmonic. Better put that ear under the blessed touch of Christian bymnology. Bettor consecrate it for time aud eternity to him who planted tbo ear. Rousseau, the infidel, fell asleep amid bis skeptical manuscripts lying all around tbe room, and in his dream be entered heaven and heard the song of the worshipers, and it was so sweet ho asked an angel what it meant. Tho angel said, “This is the paradise of God, and the song you bear is tho an them of tbo redeemed.” Under another roll of the celestial musio Rousseau wakened aud got up in the midnight, and as well as ho could wroto down tbe strains of the music that ho had heard in the wonderful tune culled “The Songs of the Redeemed.” God grant that it may not be to you and to me an infidel dream, hit a glorious reality. When we come to tbe night of death aud wo lie down to our last sleep, may our ears really he wakened by the can ticles of tho heavenly temple aud the songs and tho anthems aud the carols aud the doxologics that shall climb the musical ladder of that heavenly gamut. \Vlinens on the Table. A man named Hogan was charged with murder. A hat, believed to be the prisoner’s, was found near the body of tho murdered man, and this was the principal ground for supposing Hogan was the perpetrator of the foul deed. O’Couuell, who was retained for tho de fense, felt tho case required tho exercise of his utmost powers. The counsel for tho crown mado u strong point on tho hat. O’Connell cross examined the wit ness who identified it. “Are yon per fectly sure that this was the hat found close to the body?” “Surtiu sure.” O’C'onucll proceeded to inspect tho ean- bcou. “Was tho prisoner’s name, Rat Hogan” (ho spelled each letter slowly), “in it at tho time you found it?” “ ’Twas, of course.” “Youcould not be mistaken?” “No, sir.” “And all you swore is as true us that?” “(^uite. ” “Thfugetofi’ tho table this minute!” criod U’C’ounull triumphantly. Address ing the judge, he said: “My lord, there can bo no conviction here. There is no name in the hat!” In many of the county assize courts in Ireland witnesses givo their evidence when sitting on a chair placed on top of a table which is fixed in front of the bench. Some cf these tables are covered with green baize. In the assize court in tho town of Wicklow I have frequently heard a witness, after ho has been call ed, ordered to “come on the table” by an official of tho court.—Notes aud Queries. The Uobb}’hor.ie Craze In America. In St. Nicholas “Tho Story of tho Wheel” is told by Frank II. Vizetelly. Speaking of thedraisine, or hobbyhorse, as it was derisively called, Mr. Vizetel ly says: The first American appearance of the druisiue was made in Now York city. Tho people of the new world eagerly welcomed tho now sport. Small manu factories sprang up all over town, but the demand for wheels far exceeded tbe supply. Near Bowling Green these ve hicles were first exhibited. Around City Hall park and around tho Bowery at all times of tbe day riders might he seen. Tho craze—for craze it was—soon spread over the land, aud tbo principal cities each hud wheels. However, a re action soon set in, and as saddenly as tbo draisiuo had risen iuto favor so sud denly did it fall frum grace. PREPARE ^ $3 yOL’R SYSTEM FOR THE DISEASES OF SU.M.uER ... BY USING... 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IT WILL MAKE U LAFF tost* the bnrgens I hav for 11 this week. U’ll he sorry if 11 dont. Respectfully, J. L. ALEXANDER. IF YOU WANT TO BUY iVIules, AZVTajsons, Onaiio i 111 cl yVc-Ic! OliesLp- CAUL ON J. I. N. B.—Oak wood delivered at 75c per load. Buy Your Corn, Hay, Oats, Cotton Seed Hulls and Meal a! T. DAVENPORT’S Cheap Store. 12011b P’k’gs. Roasted Coffee for $1. | Couldn't 11 rad Him Off. During tbe visit of a political gentle man to Kentucky his servant came iuto his room early one morning and an nounced the coldest weather of tho sea* sou. “Hit’s so cold, knuuel,” hu said, “dat all do whisky’s frozi had.” “What!” shrieked the colonel, jamp- ing out of bed. “Dey tolls mode whisky’s froze, sub.” "Well, well! That beats my time! Bnt, say, John I” "Yes, sub.” "Just go down and bring me op a hunk of it. I always did like cracked ice!”—-Chicago Timos-Horald. COLO S1W v f Iii the shape of Soda Water, Cocoa Cola, B011 Bons, Lemonade, Ac., are "on tup"’ now at our fountain. Call on us when you get thirsty. Don’t forget us when you want pure drugs. THE DuPRE DRUG CO. the sound of blasphemy or uncleenness ! ho can hear your faintest whisper. It is step into that holy of holies. Thu Bible says that in the ancient temple tbo priest was set apart by the putting of : tho blood of arum on the tip of the ear, the right ear of tho priest. Bnt, my friends, we need all of us to liavu the sacred touch of ordiuaticn on the hang- I ing lobe of both ours and on the arches 1 of the ears, on tho enstachinu tube of the oar, on the mastoid cells of tbo ear, on tbe tympanh cavity of tbe ear and on > not God away off up yonder. It is God away down here, close up, so close up that when you pray to him it is not more a whisper than a kiss. 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