The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-11-20
BEEcHER ON METHODIST SINGING.

ticle, in an exchange paper, from the pen o
Henry Ward Beecher. We trust that on
Methodist friends will thank us for publish
ing ii; and as it hits so many other churche
in the right place, we hope they will take
hint from the remarks Of this gifted man.
He spent Sabbath some time ago at Matte
avian and visited Methodist Chapel for wor
ship, which gave an occasion for this extract
"By the way, yesterday morning was al
A the Methodist Church here. A very pleas.
ant room it is, and am told that very wor.
thy society occupy it. But | have a mosl
weighty charge TO bring against the good peo.
pie, of musical apostacy. had expected a
treat Of good, hearty singing. There were
Charles Wesley's hymns, and there were the
good old Methodist tunes, that ancient piety
loved, and modern concsit laughs at Ina.
gine my chagrin when, after reading the
hymn, up rose the choir from the shelf at the
other end Of the church, and began to sing n
monotonons tune Of the modern music book
style. The patient congregation stood up
meekly TO be sung TO, as men stand under
rain when there is no shelter.
Scarcely lip moved. No one seemed TO
hear the hymn, or TO care for the music. How
longed for the good old Methodist thunder.
One good burst Of old fashioned music would
have blown this modern singing out of the
windows like wadding from gun! Men may
call this an Improvement, and genteel Cen
tility has nearly killed our churches, and it
will kill Methodist Churches if they give
way to its false and pcrnlcious ambition. We
know very well what good old-fashoned
Methodist music was 1t had faults enough.
doubtless, against taste. But il had an in
ward purpose and religious earnestness
which enabled it to carry all its faults, and 10
triumph in spite Of them. II ,oas worship.
Yesterdays music was tolerabe singing,
but very poor worship. We are sorry that,
just as our Churches are beginning to initiate
the former example of Methodist Churches,
and to introduce melodies that the people
love, and to encourage universal singing in
the congregation, our Methodist brethren
should pick up our cast-Of Journalism in
Church music. It will be worse with them
than with us. 1t will mark greater length
of decline. We could hardly believe our
eyes and ears yesterday. We couldn't pur-
suade ourselves that we stood before Meth
a''t o"'.o" we we, Saouiu nave suPPoseu u
70 % goou sono rfrspy.er'an or longre-
pit performed everything, and the people did
nothing.
0u' o.e.n,en ~ nus D""lc, ,r mus. no. lase
.n'ae '.',';'na , un"inu,y. lucy h'r p'eSen.'
=" y. ~, N"uuess anu nheel'oo. ne cnu'
sung oe''el '""n man! e""''s III c,,y D"u'cn-
es, o". NO o"r % sune WIZ" .hem' Inc people
we:e n'"'.; ney useu .ne'r ears. anu no,
sne' u'ou'"s pu' "'as: we ni'sseu .ne o'a
e.'oW'"v yv eo'u o'u 'snl'neu "e'nou'ss
r.e. W.. W. , n"ve seen 'he .'','e wnen Que o'
ona''es Wesley nynlns, 'aAihg 'ne eonsre-
s",'"n 90 oy 'ne ',anu' Wou.u havs isa .ne'h up
w. va '"s ,s s"'u " ".a'e" nu. yts'e'uay y '.'y
sa Im ap VI :, -, y" r,u; ae ..' ';, ap""' 'en
'eIu Ma,@s: NV ."e ':, ps" n's WI, never 40.
i; ."o,as rsN,-,. WI" .i'ne ;r ~. s'"nu soou "oi,
s"'pPMs 1n''."n', ."ey are "o' "s''a'ieu 's
~ ,h.u s"en @ Wv" pro,n.s. Tays, Ua. very PoI omes
ny s " sill e". ramea !Vu gu "e aI S;. w''hs ,,'