ON PLAYING THE HARP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25394, 27 November 1943, Page 3

ON PLAYING THE HARP

Written for the Otago Daily Timgs By the Rev. Gardner Miller I do not suppose there is any more joking reference to heaven than that the people there sit on clouds playing harps. No doubt, the joking reference arose from the many pictures prevalent at one time showing angels with harps in their hands. To a non-musical person like myself—that _ is. as far as being able to play any instrument is concerned —the iaea that I shall be trusted to play a harp is amusing, i am a preacher, not a musician, and I expect that as a preacher I shall not be idle in heaven, and that the musician will have his high task al o to perform. But it is not difficult to understand why heaven and harps aic associated. The harp is especially Jewish instrument, and as every mention of heaven came to us fromi the Jews the harp is naturally chosen, above all other instruments, to express the happiness of the All countries have their favourite musical instruments. Scotland has the bagpipes, Wales the harp, Afuca tl drum, England the trumpet. There is something very fitting and very sad in the association of the harp with God’s ancient and chosen people. It is to them an instrument that expressed the joy and the pain of them national history. David played the harp to soothe the sullen Saul. Little did the player know then how soon he would take Saul’s, place and how his songs and his music would become the hymn book (known to us as the Psalms) of the world.. And when the memories that surged into their hearts, when as a people they were m exile, became too much for them and they could not see the strings of their harps for tears, they hung their harps on the willow trees, for how could they sing the Lord’s songs m a strange land? Surely there is something more than fitting, something inevitable, m the picture of the redeemed in heaven singing to the accompaniment of their harps (Rev. xiv: 1,2; xv: 2,3). “ I Wished Myself Among Them ” To the music of the harp are we welcomed to the land of rest and service How magnificently has Bunyan portrayed this! I do not know anything to match his description of the entry of the pilgrims through the gates of the celestial city. Now I saw in my dream that these two men went in at the gate, and 10. as they entered, they were transfigured, and they had raiment put on that shone like gold. (There were • also that met them with harps and crowns, and gave them to them, the harps to praise withal, and the crowns in token of honour. Then I heard in my dream that all the bells in the city rang again for joy, and that it was said unto them, Enter ye into the joy of our Lord. I also heard the men themselves say that they sang with a loud voice, saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power, be to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. Now, just as the gates were opened to let in the men, _I looked in after them, and behold, the City shone like the sun; the streets were paved with gold; and m them walked many men with crowns on their heads, palms m their hands, and golden harps, to sing praises withal. There were also of them that had wings, and they answered one another, without intermission, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord! And after that they shut up the gates, which when I had seen, I wished myself among them.

And who wouldn’t. Heaven is full of music. Everything is done there to music. That means there is nothing that jars, nothing that irritates; there is an absence of all strain and the redeemed go. about their business with a song in their hearts. A Symbol The harp is a symbol of peace and triumph in the life to come. I do not expect I shall be expected to play a harp in ■ heaven. I would not know what to do with one if it were put in iny hand—except to hand it back. But as a symbol that earth’s struggles are o’er and that the peace which the presence of God brings is mine for ever, surely the sweet music of the harp is the most appropriate. We cannot for ever play the trumpet or respond to the bugle. After the day’s march there are rest and the silence of the night while the stars shine overhead. So it is with life. After the struggle, the victories, the defeats—and the half-victories —there comes, not the absence of alertness, but the absence of strain and the entering into peace as a reward. The harp must take the place of the trumpet, as rest takes the place of toil and death gives way to life. So I smile now when any of my friends joke about my playing a harp—knowing as they do my utter inability to play even a tin whistle— I smile, for what they say conjures up a picture of rest and new activities, of greater opportunities to serve God and humanity, of peace that will never become stagnant, of joy that is unending. We cannot live without symbols. We cannot think of heaven and the life beyond except by symbols. And among them there is a special place for the harp, the symbol of rest after toil, of victory after battle.