Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-07-01
SACRED MUSIC.

=. n
Extract from the address Of Hon. ROBERT G. VIM
rHRop. delivered in Boston, at the opening Of tho
Grand MusicoI Eestiuak
do not forget that q severe religious casuistry
has sometimes raised question how far it s fit to
employ sacred themes and sacred words for the
mere purpose of entertainment. But it is q great
mistake to suppose that mere entertainment is all
that is impaired, or al! that is intended by such
performances. That man must indeed be "deaf as
the dead to harmony" who can listen to the story
of the Creation of the Redemption, told in the
lofty strains which presently to be heard here,
without being kindled into more fervent adm:ra-
ton and alteration of the great Author and Finsher
of both. Yes, deaf as the dead to harmony must
he have been born, and with soul sealed up to at
least one of the highest sources of inspiration who
feels no glow of grateful awe as the light flashes
forth in audible coruscations upon that new-created
world, and thrill of holy Joy the Heavens are
heard telling the glory Of God whose belief in the
miraculous incarnation of " One mighty to save is
not quickened, as the majestic titles by which he
to be called pealing forth SO triumphantly
in the very words of prophecy, "Wondcrful, Coun-
selor, the Mighty God )" who is not conscious of
more vivid faith in The great doctrine OF the resur-
rection, as the sublime declaration of the patient
old Patriarch is again and again exquisitey reit.
Grated, 81 know, know that my Redeener lveth )"
and who does not catch deeper sense of the mys-
terry and the glory of that blessed contamination,
when "Kingdoms of the earth shall become the
Kingdoms of our Lord and his Chris" while the
air around him is ringing and reverberating with
the ecstacy of those transcendent and exulting
Hallcluiahs X
The sacred Chroncler has told US how it
under the old dispensaton; that it was only "when
the singers and the trumpeters were as one to make
one sound to be heard in praisng and thanking the
Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the
trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music and
praised the Lord, saving, For he is good for his
, Of yvaa m " hana t
the outpouring of that grand vocal and instrumental
unison of thanksgiving and praise, that the visible
glory of the Lord came down, filling and overshad-
owing the house of God. And though the Gospel
does undoubtedly point to purer and more spirit
ual worship vet from that most memorable and
solemn hour, of which the simple record runs con-
corning the Saviour and his disciples" And when
they had sung hymn they went out into the
Mount of Olives from that most memorable and
solemn hour Music has been recognised as conse-
Grated handmade of Christianity; and those which
Christ himself has thus Joined together it is not for
any man to put asunder.
And may God grant that the performances which
are now about to begin may be cnGued with dou-
bic power over the hearts of all who hear them !;
that these resounding anthems may do something
to purge and purify the corrupted currents of the
air we BREATHE that these lofty enunciations and
rceratons of the great truths of the Bible may aid
in arresting and driving back the tide of deusion,
inhdclity, and crime which is raging and swelling
so fear(ully around us; and that these Hosannahs
and Haelujahs may combine with the Prayers and
Aims of the approaching Anniversary Week in
calling down fresh blessing on our beloved city
and upon us who dwell in it that when at last
that hour shall come which can neither be FASTENED
nor postponed by the idle calculations of learned
astrologers the idle conurations of OWNERS and
sorcerers-when the trumpet Of the Archangcl shall
be heard sounding through the sky and summon
ing US, in Gods own time, from our destined sleep
of dcath-our hearts and voices may not be wholly
unattuned for uniting with Cherubim and Seraphim
and all the Company of Heaven in that sublime
Trisagion-" Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts !;
Heaven and earth are full of the majesty Of thy
glory!"