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nOld Hundred.n

1t 1t be true that Luther. composed thai
tune, and if the worship of mortnIs is car
r'ed on the wings of angels to Heaven, how
often has he heard the declaration, "Thcy
are singing Old Hundred now.' Tile
solemn strain carries us back to times of the
reformers-Luther and his devoted band
lie, doubtless, was the first to strike the
grand old chords in the public sanctuary o
his own Germany. From his stentorar
lungs they rolled, vibrating not through
, vaulted cathedral roof, but along a grande,
arch, the eternal heavens. lie wrought
into each note his own sublime faith, and
stamped it with that faiths Immortality
| Hence it cannot die. Neither men mol
angels will let it pass into oblivion.
| Can you find tomb in the land where
sealed lips lay, tha, have not sung that tune
II they were grey old men, they had heard
or sung "OId Hundred" II they were ba
bies, they smiled as their mother rocked
| them TO sleep, singing "OII Hundred" Sin
ner and saint have joined with endless con.
gregations where it has, with and without
the pealing organ, sounded on the sacred
| air
The dear little children, looking with
wondering eyes on this strange world, have
llsPed 1t. The sweet young girl whose
; tombstone told Of 10 summers she whose
pure innocent face haunted you with its
mild beauty, loved "Old Hundred ;" and as
she sang it, closed her eyes and seemed
communing with the angels who were soon
TO claim her. lie whose manhood was dc.
voted to the service of God, and he who
with the white hand placed over his labor.
ing breast, loved old Hundred" And
though sometimes his lips only move, away
down III his heart, SO soon 10 cease its
throbs, the holy melody was sounding. The
Gear whitc-Lcadcl father, with his trcmulous
voice, how he loved "Old Hundred !" Do
you see him now, sitting in the venerable
arm chair, his hands crossed over the head
OF hls cane, his silvery locks hoatcd off from
ms hollow temples and a tear stealing
down his careworn, furrowed cheeks, that
thin, quaverlng !altering sound, now burst
fng forth, now listened for almost in vain ?
II You DO not, we do; and from such lips,
haliowed by four score years service in the
masters cause. "Old Hundred" sounds in.
deed, sacred melody.
on may fill your cbors with Sabbath
pr'na donnas, whose daring notes emulate
the steeple and cost most as much, bu, give
us the spirit-stirring tones Of the Lutheran
hymn, sung by old and young together.
Martyrs have hallowed it; it has gone up
from the beds Of the saints The old
churches, where generation after generation
has worsLipped, and where many scores Of
the dear dead have been carried and laid
before the altar, where they gave themselves
10 God. seem to breathe Of Old Hundred"
from ve>tibnlo to tower-top-lhe air is
haunted with its spirit
Think a moment of the assembled COM
pany who have at different times and in
different places joined in the familiar tune !!
Ihrong upon throng-the strong, the timid,
the gentle, the brave. the beautiful, their
rapt faces all beaming with the inspiration
OF the heavenly sounds.
"Old Hundred - king Of the sacred band
of "ancient airs " Never shall our ears
grow weary of hearing, or our tonses Of
singing thee And when we get to heaven,
who knows but what the first triumpha
strains that welcome, may be:
"Be thou, O God! exalted high"