Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-03-11
Henry Ward Beecher ON New
Stvle of Methodist Music.

Henry Ward Beecher ON New
style OF Methodist Music.
In letter from printed in the lade
pendent, under date of "Mcuntain rest
Matteawan," We read:
By the way, yesterday morning was a
the Methodist Church here. A very pleas
ant room it is, and / am told worthy so
eiety occupy it. But l have. mos
weighty charge to bring against the goot
people, Of musical apostacy. / had ex
peeted treat of good hearty singing
There were Charles Wesley's hymns, ant
there were the good old Methodist tunes
that ancient piety loved and modern con
ceit laughs at Imagine my chagrin when
after reading the hymn, up rose a ehoil
| from the shelf at the other end of ths
Church, and began to sing monotonou;
tune of the modern mucic-book style
The patient congregation stood up meekly
to be sung to as men stand under rair
when there is no shelter. Scarcely Lip
moved. No one seemed to hear the hymn
or care for the music. How l longed fol
the good old Methodist thunder =
Our good burst of old fashioned music
would have blown this modern singing ouI
of the windows like wadding from gun
Men may call this an improvement, gen
teel! GenGlity has nearly killed oul
cburces, and it will kill the methodist
churches il they give way to its false and
pernicious ambition. We know very vel
what good old fashioned Methodist music
was. 1t bad faults enough, doubtless
against taste. But it had an inward pur.
pose and religious earnestness which en-.
abled it to carry all its faults, and to
triumph in spite of them! 1t was wor-
ship. Yesterdays music was tolerable
good singing but very poor worship. We
are sorry that just as churches are beginning
to initiate the former example of Metho-
dist churches, and to introduce melodies
that the people love, and to encourage uni
versal singing in the congregation, our
Methodist brethren should pick up our
cast off Journalism in church music. 1t
will be worse with them than with us. 1t
will mark greater length Of decline. We
could not persuade ouselves that we stood
before Methodist church, in which the
choir and pulpit performed everything, and
the people did nothing.
Our brethren in this church must not
take these remarks unkindly. They are
presented in all kindness and Affection
The choir sung better than many choirs
in city churches, but no one sung with
them. The people were mute. They used
their ears, and not their mouths! But
alas! we missed the old fervor-the good
old fashioned Methodist fire. We have
seen the time when one of Charles Wes-
ley's hymns, taking the congregation by
the hand, would have led them up to the
gate of Heaven. But yesterday it only
led them up as far as the choir, about ten
feet above the pews. This will never do,
Methodists will make grand good worship
ing christians if they are not ashamed Of
their own ways, but very poor ones if they
are. Brethren !! you are in the wrong way.
1t will never do you to silence the people.
Your fire will 60 out if you rake it up un-
der the ashes of false refinement.
Let an outsider, but a well-wisher. say
these plain words to you without offense.
The Methodist church has laid the chris
tian world under great debt by his SER
vice in the cause of Christ, and we have a
right 10 it, and an interest in it, as COM
mon christians, too great to suffer us to
see signs of degeneracy in it without sor-
row and alarm. We hope God means to
do great things by it yet, for our land. But
it will not be by giving up heart and soul,
zeal and popular enthusiasm in worship,
for the sake Of sham propriety and testfnl
Journalism, that t6e Methodist church will
become yet further efficient. We hope to
see such revival of religion among them
as shall come like freshet upon their
churches, and swept out the channels of
song, and carry away the dead wood and
trash which has already damned up the
current Of song, and made the congrega-
ton stagnant. Oh, that there might be a
rain of righteousness upon them, which
shall swell their hearts to overfowing, and
cleanse their sanctuary from all Journalism,
and especially from the Journalism of pedan-
tic music!