Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1858-04-23
OLD HUNDRED.

In q rustic church opposite. while we write,
q company Of worshipers are singing that
old, old hymn, "Be thou, o God, exalted
h;gh.' The air is old. also, the immortal
sOid Hundred" /"
Ifit be true that Luther composed that
tune. and If the worship of mortals is carried
on the wings of angels to heaven, how often
has he heard the deetaration-'eThey are
singing Old Hundred now!''
The solemn strain carries US back TO the
voted band. He, doubtless, was the first to
strike the grand old chords in the public
sanctuary of his OWE Germany.
From his stentorian lungs they rolled, vi
bratihg not through vaulted cathedral roof,
but along a grander arch, the eternal hea-
vens He wrought into each note his own
sublime faith, aud stamped it with that
faiths immortality. Hence it cannot die.
Neither men nor angels viii aletit pass into
obIssion.
The blue-eyed girls Of old ssfader IaHd''
sang those same strains with all the enthu-
siassn of new and helasr religion. They
had been bound down to priest, prager-book.
and rosary. They had raised adoring eyes
70 tie spargIed image Ct the Virgin, and
bert HnbEushin4ly before the carved SEM
blaeee of the Saviour of sinners. They have
knsIs at the dark confessional, and placing
their lips to lis uuningly-wrought portals,
told the choicest and most sinful emotions
/ of their hearts, into the ears of their father
confessor, whom, som metimes, they feared
more than they feared God. But Luther. in
tue face Of the fathers, had thrown down his
rosary, and refused to acknowledge any in
tercessor save Christ. Luther had, as it
were, nailed his anathem over the doors of
The confessional. He had laughed TO scorn
the holy relics, pretended miracles, and sa-
wing power of the priesthood, and with do
rinv, burning eloqunce denounced their SEN
satisfy and IdolalIy. First the mother heard
then the maids. They went to listen and
remained TO pray, aye, and to sing with
lthrobblng hearts and fearful eyes, praise
G od from whom all blessings flow"
Can ycu find toomb in the land where
the sealed lips lay that have not sung that
tune! II they were gray old men they had
heard or sung "Old Hundred. If they were
babes, they smiled as their mothers rocked
them to sleep singing sold Hundred. -
Sinner and saint have joined with the count
less congregation where it has, with and
without the perling organ, sounded on the
sacred air. The dear little children, looking g
/ with wondering eyes on this strange Rorlt
/ have lisped it, The sweet young girl
4 whose tombstone told but of sixteen sum
mers-she whose pure aaa innocent face
haunted you with its mild beauty--loved Ok
Hundred, and as she sung il, she closed he
eyes and seemed communing with the an
gels, who were so soon to claim her. hi
| whose manhood was devoted to the service
tsof his God, and who with faHeriBg teet as
4 cended the pulpit, with white hand placed o
yer his laburing heart, loved, "Old Hundred.
And thouqh his lips only moved, away doqr
in his heart, so soouato cease its throbs, the
holy melody was sounding, the dear white
headed father, with his treuyulous voice
how he loved sold Hundredt" Do you see
him now, sitting in the venerable arm chair
his hands crossed on The top of his cane
his silvery locks floating off his hollow TEN
piles, and tear, perchance stealing dow
his furroysed cheeks, as the noble strains
& ring cut! Do You hear that thin, quayering
fallering sound, now bursting forth, now lis
tened for, almost i'm vain? Ifyou do not
we do; and from such lips haliowel by fou
score years service in the Masters cause
EssOld Hundred sounds indeed sacred mel
fody-
You may fill your church choirs with Sab
bath, prima donnas, whose daring notes EN-
ulate the steepIe and cost as much. but Civ
US the spirit stirring tones of the Lntherai
hymn, sung by young and old together.-
Martyrs have halloweG it--it has gone U
from the dying beds of the saints. The oil
J churches, where generation after generation
has worshiped, and where many scores 6
: the dear dead have been carried, and laid be
forethe altar where they gave themselves
God, seem to breathe of "Old Hundred
from vestibule to tower-tep--the very air
haunted with its spirit.
Think for a moment Of the assembled com
pany who have, at different times and i
: different places, joined IN the familiar tune
, Throng upon throng-the stern, the timit
the gentle, the braye--with the insPiratio
of heavenly sounds.
aOId Hundred king of the sacred ban
i of ancient airs !. Never shall our ears gro'
tired of hearing. or our tongues of singin
thee! And when We get to heaven. VIII
q knows but the first triumphal strain thi
welcomes us, may be-
= a.Re thou O God ex ated high"