Litchfield enquirer., 1859-06-09
THE ORGAN. BY HENRY WARD BEECHER. From the Tndenendant May 0S

l
 served by the noblest servants. And, surely, in music, without which it would seem impos- sible to express the deepest and dfvinest emo tions. He has appointed the worthiest ser want of all For music is itself the language that the soul takes in-the inarticulate speech of feelings too subtle and pure for expression by coarse words. And yet God has joiued to music the divine thoughts of hymns. For what music is to feeling, poetry is to thinking. And of all poetry none is so spiritual and universal as hymn mot alone those which are cast to the mould of some tune, but those 1 of other noble strains, hymns in spirit and not in form, irregular and untunable, scattered up and down through all fervcnt and deep reli- gions poetry, and which move the heart to music if not the tongue ;-such music as Ma ture inspires in birds, in soft sounds of moving trees and murmuring brooks, wild, and not yet tanned and broken into the bit and harness of the schools. A hymn is taken out of the hu- man soul as Eve was from the side of Adam. And music is the paradise where voice and hymn walk entranced.
 Likewise hath it been appointed to the Church of Christ to possess the sublimest i,'- strument of the world-the organ It is not so much a single instrument as multitude of them, dwelling together-a cathedral of sounds within cathedral of service.
 It would seem as if Divine Providence had permitted men in the outward world, to devise and perfect musical instruments for ev- cry quality of sound, and with every degree of power, that then they might be gathered up into one many-voiced orchestra. The flute and harp for love, the trumpet for battle, the clarlonet for the march, the violin and viols for festive gaities, but all of them for religion, when gathered together and ranged by the side of other instruments without names, ex- pressing all the sounds which Nature knows i; some of birds. some of sharp and piercing winds, flying high in the air or signing around ! old and desolate places ; some of moving wa all tempered to a harmony with vast and thunder-rolling basses, so that every thing and every object in Nature hears the sound of de- votion in it's own tongue
 If that mysterious element which the hu- man will exerts upon single instrument CT orchestra, and which makes violin speak like a spirit-voice instinct with human feeling, be wanted in an organ. so, too, in the caprice of irritable musicians, the wilfu temper, the spite full neglect, which have always made musicians the most inharmonious and dscordant people iu the world.
 To the service of religion has this noblest of all instruments been preserved without be- ing deGled by any evil associations of secular service or perversion. And it stands in the churches, with its massive harmonies, to excite and express the noblest feelings which the hu- man soul ever experiences!
 But it is to be feared that, except in few instances, this instrument is almost useless for religious purposes, and in great many cases positively injurious. Indeed. the men that play the organ, in hundreds of instances, seem utterly unconscious of it's moral functions. The service of the organ in non-Epscopal churches is usually an opening piece or pre- Jude 1; an accompaniment to the singing of choir and congregation interludes and a clo- sing voluntary
 What is the use of the opening organ piece Is it amusement a musical luxury 1?
 When men enter the house of God upon the Sabbath, they come from care, from busi- ness, from secular pleasures and duties. And the two things needed at the beginning of public worship are, first, a transition from or dinary thought and feeling into higher and more devout frame of mind aud, secondly, a unity of feeling, fellowship in the whole as sembly. Now, it is in the power of music 10 arrest the attention. to change the current of feeling, to draw off the thoughts from com mon things, aud to give to the mind, if not religious tone, yet a state higher than before, and from which the transition to worship will
 be easy and natural. Nothing will bring men into state of feeling common to all sooner than fit organ music. This, then, is the ob- ject of the opening piece. Upon entering the house of God there is, as it were, screen of sound rolled down between the audience and the outward world. Every susceptible nature is drawn out from sordid or sad thoughts, the careless are interested, and the attention of all is attracted to common influence which is moulding them gently to holy thoughts and feelings. Of course this object will determine the fitness of an opening piece. It may be slow and soft; it may be grand and majestic i; it may be persuasive and soothing or it may 1 be jubilant, as celebrating the incoming of Christ's Day But the end to be gained is in the hearts of the audience, not in the ears of counoisseurs That is good which gains the audience to a preparation for worship, and only that is good. No man that knows the almost omnipotent power of association, will l greet the audience with marches, or opera airs, which take the thoughts right back to the world. No man either, who has religious sen sibility, will take such time laboriously to l perform intricate pieces, which are, perhaps, !, masterpieces of skill, but which are about as fit for the church as Paradise Lost would be for hymn. This opening organ-piece admits of as great range of usefulness as any ser vice of music in the church. And 1t is 9 thing to be studied and remedied. If organpiaJmg
 is but organ diversion in church, if it is only 2 stupendous method of gratifying the taste, the organ had better be sienced. But if the organist feels the power of the Sabbath day