Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-05-03
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING.
An interesting Discourse by Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage
ON SACRED MUSIC, AND WHAT IT IS.
The Power of Sacred Song Greater
Than the Arguments Of
the Pulpit,
SpecidI 10 the RegiJisr.

1
Services we're opened BY the congregation
singing the hymn beginning:
"The morning light is breaking.
The darkness disappears,
The sons OF men are waking
To psuitsntial tears"
Before the sermon DR.. Tslmage expour-
ded one OF the jubilsnt psalms OF David
and then took his text from IL Chron. v,
l3: II. came even to pass, as the trumpet
era and singers were as one, to make one
sound to be heard in praising and thank
ing the Lord" Following is
TiE SERMON Is FULL:
The Temple was done. 1t was the very
chorus of al msgni6cence and pomp
Solendor crowded against splendor. 1t
was the diamond necklace OF the earth
From the huge pillars crowned with leaves
of flowers aud rows o! pomegraDate
wrought out in Furnished metal, down even
to the toDgs and snutfers made ont OF pure
gold, everything vas SO complste as the
God directed architect could make 1t. It
seemed as if q vision from heaven had
alshted on the mountains. The day for
de iicstion came. Tradition says that there
were in and around about the Temple on
ths, dsy two hundred thousand silver
tru o pets, forty thousand hsrps, forty thous-
aud tlmbrels and t~o hundred thousand
singers; so that all modern demonstrs-
tions at Dusseldorf or Boston seem
no,hiog compared with that. As
thi, greav sound surged up amid
the precious stones of the Temple, 1t must
have seemed like the River OF life dashing
against The amethyst Of the wall of heaven.
The sound arose and God, as If to show
that Hs was we'll pleased with the music
which His children make in all ages,
dropoed into the midst of the Temple a
cloud Of glory so oyerpowering that the
officiating priests were obliged to stop in
the the midst of the service.
There has been much discussion as to
wasRE MUSIC WAS EORE.
| think that at the beginning, when ths
morniog stars sang together and all the
sous of God shouted for joy, that the earth
heard the echo. The cloud on which the
angels stood to celebrate the creation was
the birthplace of song. The stars that
glitter 1t night are only 80 many keys OF
celestial pearl on which Gods tiuger5 play
the music of the spneres. lnsnimate ma
ture is iull of Gods stringed nnd wind In
srrumeu,s. Silence itseli-perfect silence
is only a musical rest in Gods great
anthem of worship Wind among the
lesvea, inject humuing in the summer sir,
the rush OF billos upon beach, the ocean
far out sounding its everlasting psalm, the
boboliuk on the edge Of the forest, the
quail whistling up from the grass are
music. While visiting BlAckwells Island
heard coming from 3 window of the lun-
s,ic asylum very sweet song. IL WAS
Gurg b7 one who had lost her reason, and
7 hsye come to telicys thai evea the de-
r.nged ard disordered eleqeqts OF nature
would make music to our ear it We only
had acutenpss enough to listen, ! sup.
pose that even the sounds in nature that
ara discordant and repulsiys make hsr-
mony in Gods ear. You know that you
msy ooms 90 neGr to an orchestra that the
sounds are painful instead Of pleesGIesh!e
and think that We stand so near devss-
tstin2 storm aud frighttul whirl~ind we
cannot hear that WHICH makes 10 Gods
ear aud The esr of the spirits above uS
music as complete ss it is tremendous
The Day of Judgment, which. will be
dsy of uoroar aud iumuls | suppose will
briug 10 disaouarss 10 the ears of those
sho can cRiMly listsn; although il will be
ga when some great perforneris exscnting
boi4teFous piece Of music, ne sometimes
breaks down tbs instsamalt OF " hic6 ne
plnys: 60 it may be on that last Gay that
the grand march of God, played by the
fingers of thunder and earthquake and
confagratiou may break down the world
uoOb SaicL the music is executed Not
only IA iranimate nature TO-! o. music but
God has wonderfully organized the human
voice, 80 that in the plainest throat and
lungs there are fourteen direct muscles
which eau HSks over sixteen thousand
different sounds! Now, lhsss sTa thirty
indirec, muscles which can make, 1t has
been estimated, more than one hundred
and ssyeu,y.three millions Of sounds Now
/ ssy, VIXEN God has 90 constructed the
humsn voice sud when Ee hes Glled the
whole earth with harmony and when be
recognized it in the ancient Temple, | have
a right to come to the conclusion that God
loves music.
Irrcpose this morning to speak about
sAGREp NEsIC,
first showing you its Importance ana then
stating some OF the obstacles TO Its ed
vancement.
draw the FIRST srgum ent for the impo;r'
tancs OF ssers2 pgsic from the fact that
God commanded it. Through Paul be
tells us to sdmonish one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs; through
1 David be cries out: Sing ye to God ell
ye kingdoms OF the earth" And there are
hundreds of other passages | might name,
proving that it is as much mans duty to
sing as it is hia duty to pray. Indeed
think there are more commands in the Bible
10 sing than there are to pray. God
not only asks for the human voice but
for the instruments of music. He asks
for the cymbal and the harp and the trum
pet Aud | supp-ss that, in the last days
of the church, the harp, the late, the trum
pct. and all the Instruments OF music thai
have given their chief aid to the theatre
and bacchGnsl. will be brought By theil
masters and laid down at the feet o
Christ, and then sounded 10 the church,
triumph on her way from suffering intC
glory. Praise ye the LordP Prsise hin
With your voices. Praise him with stringst
instruments ana With organs.
|, / drawanother argument for the import
ance of this exercise from the
INPRSssIvENESs
az the exerci.e You know something G
What secular music has achieved. Yo
know it has made its impression upo
} governments, upon Laws, upon literature
> upon whole generations. One inspiri'tn
national air is worth thirty thousand me
as standing army. There comes q tim
in the battle when one bugle ia worth
thousand muskets. In the earlier part {
our civil war the Government proposed
= economic in bands Of music and many