Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-10-06
Master" and is declared by DIR. Philip
Schaff to be "the finest Christian ode pro-
duced in America" 1t begins with this
MAGNIFICENT tribute to our Christ

"Immortal love forever full,
Forever flowing free,
Forever shared, forever whole
A never-ebbing sea y
What, but the merest shreds of thought
and feeling, would be the beautiful songs
of our dead Bryant and Longfellow, II
robbed of the beauty and fervor of their
Christ-thought Rob Shakespeare, Byron,
Shelley, Wordsworth, Campbell, Moore
and Scott, Goethe and Schiller, OF all
traces, dim and distinct, of this world.
wide Christ Thought, and there would
scarcely be enough left of all OF them to
make one small volume of the poorest
thoughts they ever penned. Somebody
has said that " Infidelity has no song )"
it is because infdelity has no Christ for
theme or thought or soul OF song. All
Gods nightingales, the heaven-insplred
"sacred historians OF the heart, have ever
sung the power and beauty, love and gram
deur, faith and hope of that Christ around
whom all of times stupendous cycles, all
of earth's momentous events aud issues,
and all human destinies and possibilities
revolve.
What does the worlds music say of
Christ Music is an unworded expression
of thought, and to the ear well attuned 1t
speaks beautiful thoughts, grand thoughts,
too lofty or too exquisite for worded ex-
preston. 1t speaks Lot merely to the ear,
and through it to the mind, but into the
very soul. Music can almost be said to be
cbild of Christianity, because outside OF
the enlightening and uplifting influences OF
Christianity but little of it is found, and
that little of the crudest character. The
crude primitive music of ancient heathen-
ism, like it's fairer sister of ancient Juda-
ism, was a minister of religion, voieing the
worlds dim Christ. thought which is inter
twined into every religious conception OF
humanity. When the glory of Christian
ity's midmorning had burst upon the world.
music came forth from rebirth baptized
for its mission as minister of the religion
of Christ. Palestrina, the father of modern
music, who lived in the sixteenth century,
wrote with Christ as the one exhaustless
theme of every strain. Bach, in his Pas.
sion Anthems; Handel, in his Saul, "
Israel in Egypt" " Messiah" and
"Samson ;" Haydn, in his Crea.
ton :" Beethoven, in his masses and
symphonies; Mendelssohn, in his st:
Paul, F" Hymns of Praise, " Elijah, and
"Landa Sion" and Cherubini, in his
masses and requiems, with long roll OF
lesser names, have voiced the Christ
thought, the Christ hope, the Christ love
of the world and their melodies float
down the years full of our blessed Christ.
| In the Passion week of each year, dur
! ing a service in the Sistine chapel at Rome,
conducted by the Pope and Cardinals,
Miserere, composed by Gregorio Allegri, OF
the seventeenth century, is sung, with an
effect unequaled by any other music ever
heard on earth. the chapel, usually so
gorgeous, is stripped for the occasion OF
every vestige of movable ornament. The
yellow candles instead of white, typical of
sorrow, stand unlighted and solemn,
awful shadow fills the crowded chapel
while the record of the Cruclfixion, as
written by St. John, is impressively in.
toned. a prayer follows, and all is silent.
Suddenly, amid the profound and awful
silence, a sweet, low strain OF the
richest melody steals out from an I'M
seen choir, and grows and sWells
into a sublime choral of the most enchant-
ing harmony-now one voice of almost an
gelic melody walls out its 'nlisereTe
n1isereref p like lost spirit of Paradise !;
then another equally appealing joins IN /;
then the full chorus thunders and walls it's
miserereS, until it seems as if all the angels
of heaven were weeping over the death OF
our Christ. One has said: II angels
could be supposed to sigh and mourn in
sorrow. they might attune their harps of
heaven to such music as is then sung IN
the Sistine Chapel" Another declares ::
"Never had we heard, never do we expect
to hear again such strains" Sill another
says: "When it concluded, we felt like
returning to earthly things and feelings,
after listening to the music of Heaven"
This richest music of earth, which rivals
Heavens minssrelsy, sings the world
redeeming death of our Christ.
What does the worlds art say of Christ
By art we mean the creations of human
handicraft but, in a restricted sense, it
includes only what are sometimes dis
tinctively termed "the fine arts they
are architecture, sculpture and painting.
The worlds most splendid edifices, the
| highest expressions of her architectural
taste and skill, with few exceptions, are
temples of her religion, dedicated to the
Christ thought, interviewed into every
religious conception of the world. Egypt,
the mother of architecture, with an un-
paralleled career Of prosperity, points to
her temples as her masterpieces. Cham
pollion says: "The Imagination SINKS
abashed at the foot of the one hundred and
forty columns of the hypostole hall of
! Karnak the temple of old Thebes.
The temple of Belus at Babylon, the marble
structure on Mt. Zion at Jerusalem, the Par.
thenon surmounted by its colossal statue OF
Minerva, wrought in ivory and gold by the
hand of Phidias, browning the Acropolis at
Athens, with others too numerous
to mention, draw the worlds at
tention from meaner buildings, and
point heavenward to the faith and
! hope born ages ago of earth's first prophecy
of Christ. The world to-day, as in the
dead past, points to her temples as the
wonders of her building art Rome re-
wolves around her st. Peters, London
around her st, Pauls and Westminster,
and Paris about her Madeleine and Notre
Dame; while almost every city of Europe
offers some marvel of architecture as a
tribute of love to our Christ.
So has it been with sculpture. Phidias
| in his colossal statue of Zeus for the tenn
pie of Olympia, which became the Greek
ideal of the majesty of perfect manhood /;
and Praxiteles, in his Venuses of Cspua
and Knidus, ideals of perfect womauhood,
expressed the worlds thought and feeling,
kindled by the dim hope of an incar-
nate Christ of God, who, being born
of woman would elevate one mortal
maid to the proud honor of being, in q
sense, the mother of God. Michael An
cello. in his master pieces, Moses"
"Christ and "The Holy Family" leads
the Christian world in sculpture and his
disciples follow his example, dedicating
their genius to his faith, hope and love of
/ our Corist.
1t is SO with painting. The cathedrals
of Europe, rather than her art galleries,
bear on their walls as frescoes the worlds
highest art scenes from the life of our
Christ or from the lives of those only
great because of their associations with
Christ. Fra Angelicos Coronation of the
Virgin and "Christ in Glory" Fra
Lippi's "MadoDna and " Martyrdom of
St Stephen ;" Montezna's Dead Christ )"
! T L