The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1862-11-27

ntAlOu WIN the SEEuOu, L NANoNAOhSN AAAA
at his house, and to my surprise, and some
what to ny modification found, that he knew
nothing about the sermon. The subject Of
it was the "Worth of the Soul" The hymn
sung just before preaching was the following
one of Watts'-'Man hath soul of vast
desire" sc. It was the reading and sing
ing of this hymn that put him in the state
Of mind have described 1t was apparently
the instrument Of lis conversion. He told
me. that while they were singing that hymn,
. il was next to impossible for him to repress
an audible outburst OF his feelings; and yet
he was u man Of cool temperament, and Of
sober judgment.
The effect Of secular don't like to use
the word profaue-tbe effect Of secular song,
patriotic, martial, and others more light,
and less iunocent,-i5 well known. Music
addresses itself to the most delicate suseep-
tibiIites Of our moral nature, which are
comsaon to nearly all our race. 1t is prOba-
bly, t,ue~that no other single agency yields
so powerful On influence over human pas
sloas and affections. l am far from depreci- |
ating the ageEcy of speech, or the import
ance Of the pulpit; but music and song are
doubtless far in advance of this in their
power of exciting strong and deep emotions,
and of kindling the passions Nothing is |
said in the Bible about pulpit for heaven,
or about preaching there; but we have a
great deal in that blessed book about sing
ing, and that heaven will be place Of ever
lasting songs.
l hayelong been of the opinion-and the
convietion deepens by time and obserya
ton, that the Church of Christ have done
yet comparatively nothing for Che cpl,iva-
ton of sacred music-for Improvement in
Christian psalm0dy; that Christians have
vet to be educated in this science and trained
to this art, in Q manner and to an extent
not yet thought Of, much less attempted,
before its possible advantages shall ever be
1e'lzed. | do not mean to say that there
have not been great many new books of
music printed and published Of late years.
The fact is-as it seems to me-family and
church music have degenerated in about
the same proportion that books have been
multiplied. With ell our new books, we do
not sing either in the family or in the church,
as much or as well, as we did before we had
them. We want fewer hymns--fewer tunes
and fewer books, and we want more sing
inc ia the family and in the church. For
patriotic and martial purposes, for purposes
of pleasure and sensuality, music and song
are made to produce proGigiOus effects
And the simple reason, in my opinion Is,
that few OF the songs best adapted to these
purposes are committed to memory, and
sung not Gully in the social gathering, but
are sung by single person alone, whether
riding, walking, or working, and the song
rings on his heart by night as we'll ss by
day. "The children of this world are wiser
in their generation than the children of
light" And because music has been thus
approey%.te3 and thus perverted, many
,4s,-1.a .-,.vS Cos,sCil.1l.oi.s4s ele. .,--aiJ
caaclud5i, ttat music in itself IS an p1hat-
io,Cei a2l! Nothing could be more errone-
Gus. George Whitcfeld, or somebody else
has said-"lt is pity the Devil should
have the best songs: and vet to the shame
Of Christians, be it said, the Devil has be-.
ter music and more skilful. and more pow
erful songs, than Jesus Christ. 1t Is time
that Christians should wipe away this dis
grace-thst they should awake to a sense OF
the power of music, and make the house of
God more attractive in this particular, than
the ballad-song of the highway, or of the
theatre. Not that the music of the latter
is to be initiated by Cbristians-nOt at all
Sacred music is one thing, secular music,
another. The Synod of Virginia has hit on
the right plan, and if there was speedy
and universal return to the good old fashion
of sinSir at prayers, morning and evening,
aud singing few of the best psalms and
/ hymns to a few of the best tunes, our music
| in family and church would be altogether
different thing. Let the children commit to
memor7-one every Sabbath afternoon
some fifteen or twenty Of the very oest
psalms and hymns. and as far rs possible
sing the same hymn to the same tune, and
Eao,o there will be music worth hearing
ana worth feeling in every family that will
practice this method. All our hymn books
are FIVE or six times as large as they ought
to be, and serve only to perpleX and dis
gust our children and youth by the variety,
Oar cuubrous hymn books have done a
mischief in one department of sacred music.
that our multitude of music books have
done in another. They have served to de-
grade sacred song both in the family and
ia the church. If l had my way, would
have a hymn book with about one hundred
psalms and hymns, and music book with
about twenty tunes, and no more. When
we come to this, we shall have good sacred
music, and not before. !. 7.
The WatchWord.