Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-05-02
o1p.fAsH1oNiiED METHODIST MUSIC.

OLDeFASHlONED 4MHAnUpioA MooiO'
y What WIS our Church musics It was quite dig.
| il WIS A mighty Sorsr u our assemblies None
who saw those times will deny; all who remember
| them will say, in this respect, would to God they
could return again. Not only was our singing char
acterstic of us religious community, but it greo
essentially out of our system our system of theolo-
gy, of practical measures, and religious life. II was
full of freedom, of simplicity, of feeling, and OF en-
ergetic sentiment. 1t was as wings of seraphim,
upon which our congregations were borne asst were
up to the heavens-preachers and hearers so ele-
waited in the introductory that the whole subsequent
service frequently showed its effect.
But, to be more particular, We had then, first, no
chors choristers, not to speak Of the instru
ments; the exceptions, ut least, were few. we
mention it not as an advantage Qor we shall have
favorable word for these dircctly) but we mention
it us a tact and fact full of significance in con-
nection with the other tdct that OUT Church melody
was then full of power, and of popular attraction.
An individual worshipper, authorized in some places
for the purpose in most cases not, started the tune
as in prayermeetng he would. lead prayer, and
the assembly joined in "ustily," as Mr.. Wesley ex-
horts; in this respect did only some of the best
religious communities of Europe do. Throughout
Scotland single 'precentor" ''raises" the tune to
this day:
"And old Dundees wild, wnrbling measures rise,
Or puinve Marvrs worthy of the name
Or noble Elgn beats the heavenward flame,
The s~ eetest far of Scotia's holy lays
The tickled heartfelt raptures raise.
Nae unison hae they with our Creators praise"
Second: We all sung together in those days.
Singing was not a performance, recreation or
tasteful ceremony to relieve the rest of the service
it was soorshp; it the beginning, it were, of
the prayer We rose up to sing, and repeating the
last two lines OF the hymn in rapthrous or suppl
ant refrain, fell down upon our knees, all over the
house Eyes, upon our knees for that was another OF
old characerstics to continue the act of dero-
in n mel
ody again upon our lips This, we repeat, was de-
cotton and there was poaccr in it; they people felt
it; the mu'titudes focked to temples under its
mighty charm, and many hardened heart broke
under its spell into prayer and tears. Critics even
admired it. and resorted to assemblies to enjoy
it. We soberly believe that much of early sue
cess was attributable to this single cause. Richard
Storrs Willis one of the best living critics in music
says in his late work on "Chnrch Music" "The
Methodists, more than any other denomination have
practically favored cong, esationa song; although,
thus far it has existed only in its rude and unculti-
waited state. Yet can deny that the true spir-
it of congregational singing has swayed the heart of
this devou people, far removed as their music. may
have been from the standard to which with such ma
teriais, and such heart OF melody, they might have
attained"
Third: Our tunes were characteristic. They
sisted OF two classes. First, We used. in common
with all Protestant Christendom the grand old tunes
which have grown up in the progress Of Christani-
ty, and grown out of its essential spirit, in the COM
mon mind of the Christian world Old Hundred,
Dundee, Wells, China Near, Coronation, and SINH
lar mighty strains rolled oftener then along the walls
Of our Zion throughout the land than they do now;
oftener by far They seemed to be instructive to the
deep devotional feelings Of people II our con-
gregation had not the artistca1 appreciation and
ecution of music which belongs to the present day,
they had at least truer religious sentiment for
and their choice of tunes of this class showed in
humble judgment really higher musical taste than
now prevails among u.s. Some of these grand old
tunes were hali:ual in worship almost erery Sab
bath-a fact which was no fault, as shall show
hereafter.
The other class of tunes were simple, " sociable"
melodies, which prevailed in our social services"
and grew up, hardly know how but they grew
out of the profound religious spirit of the times
and many of them expressed that spirit in its most
vivid life and power. We do not, indeed consider
it prcsumptuous to say that Methodism in this de-
partment OF its music, produced the first natire
todies of our country. They preceded and gave
birth to of those beautiful airs which have be-
come national among US, and are pronounced, as
yet. only national music, the Negro Minstrelsy.
And let not the reader smile at the allusion Never
did tuer music gush from the deep, instructive sem
timents of the human heart than those old tender
triumphant airs. We have seen ten thousand
men swayed to and fro under their power, at camp
meetings like the forest under the rising gale. We
ridicule them now days, and the poetry to which
rcproach is true somewhat, but not SO fully as is
supposed for there was period when these melo
dies were used almost exclusively with Charles Wes-
ley's noble strains. We remember that :ime
for we claim to belong to the :" old school, OF Me-
thodism, as well as to the Their degcne-
rated afterwards p the hands of original pcetastcrs
and this fact, more than any other, has brought
them into undeserved contempt. The Primitive Me-
thodists were more exempt from "doggerer follies
than The two classes of tunes we have mem
toned were mixed among them, in both public and
social worship; confined almost entirely to Charles
Wesleys unrivalled lyrcis. they rung not only
through our public assemblies and social meetings.
but habitually through habitations. Methodist
singing at church, and at home, had charm of its
own, almost as much as Quaker apparel had a FASH
ion of its own; and everybody liked it because it
spake to what in us makes all hearts akin" Such
was our Church music. What is 1t noo!
NJ Y. Christian Adpocdte.
L1NcoLNToN, N. C.-Wc spent a day last week in
attendance on Lincoln Superior Court. The village
Of Lincolnton is quite a handsome little town, with
DrOhablv eight or ten hundred Inhabitants eivht