The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-05-12

about religion" Then the Scotch minis
I Ter began to sing familiar hymn Of
/ Scotland that was composed by David
Dickinson, beginning with the words;
o mother, dear Jeru-Alera.e'
Whs1 shall come % thee"
/ lie sung it r. the tame of Dandee, and
! everybody in Scotland knows that; and
4s be began % sing, the dying soldier
| tarned over on his pillow aud said 10
I the minister Where did you learn
that o. Why" replied the minister
/ my mother taught me that" 50 did
mine said the dying Scotch soldier,
4ad the very foundation of his heart
was upturned, and then and there he
Yielded himself 70 Christ. Oh, il has an
irresiatibis power. Luthers sermons
have been forgotten, but his 'Jud gmeut
Hymn" sings on through the ages, and
vii keep on singing until the blast Of
the archangei's trumpet shall bricg
a5Dut that very day which the hymo
celebrates would 70 God that tqose
who hear nae to day would take these
sO1g- Of salvation - messages from
helyeni for just as certainty as the
birds brought food 10 Elijah by the
brook Cherith, so these winged harmo
nie-, G)1 sent. are flying 10 your soul
with the bread Of life. Open your
mouth aai take It, . hungry Elijah
| have alsa noticed the power of
tcrei song to
sogfHE PERrUKBArIOE
You nay have come in here With n
great IA lny w0rrinant. and auxietie-.
srsst .arft IN, 81 81
aymu yOa lost all these w0rrimeuts and
aaXieLie.. You have read in the Bible oi
saul, ani how he was sad aud angry. aud
how the boy David came in aud played
the evil spirits out of him. A Spanish
King was melancholy. fhe window
we're closed. He sat 10 the darkness
Nothing could bring him forth until
Franeli came and dlscoursed music for
three or four days to him. On the
fourth day he looked up and wep' aud
rejoiced, and the windows were thrown
open and that which all the splendors Of
the court could not do, the power of
song accomplished If you have anxi-
etles aud wOrriments try this heavenly
charm upon them. ID not sit down on
the bank Of the hymn but plunge in that
the devil of care may be brought out of
you.
II also 4rOuses TO action Do you
know that a singing church Is always a
trium 9h4ut church? If a congregation
is silent during the exercise, or partially
silent, il is the silence OF death II when
the hymn is given out you hear the faint
ham Of here and there a father and
mother in Israel while the vast majority
are silent, that minister of Christ who i
presiding needs to have Il very strong
constitution if he doos not get the chills
He needs not only the grace of God but
nerves like whalebone. IL is amazing
how some people with voice enough to
discharge all their duties in the world,
when they come into the house Of God
have no voice to discharge this duty. |
really believe shat if the church of
Christ could rise up and sing a it ought
70 sing, that wlere We have u Hundred
souls brought into the kingdom of
Christ. there would bs thOus md. How
was it in III Olden tine? Cateian said ::
Luther conquered Us by his songs"
Bat must now speak Of some OF the
OBSTACLES N The WAY
Of the advancement of this sacred music /;
and the first is, that IT his besu impress
ed into the service OF superstition. | am
far from believing that m 1sic ought al
ways to be positively religious. Refined
art has opened places where music has
been sccularzed, and lawfully 50. The
drawing room, the music al club, the or
chestra, the concert, by the qualification
of pure taste and the production of
harmle ess amusement and the improve
ment of talent, have become potent
forces in the advancement of our civil
izatiOn Music has rs much right to
laugh in the Surrey Gardens rs II has
TO pray ia s.. Pauls. In the kig lom of
nature we have the glad filing of the
wind as well as the long metre psalm of
the thunder. But while all this is so
every observer has noticed that this art,
which God intended for the improve
ment of the ear aud the voice and the
head and the heart, has often been i'm
pressed into the service OF error. Tar
tini, the musical composer, dreamed one
night that Satan snatched from his
hand an instrument and played upon 1t
something very sweet "a dream that has
often been fulfilled in our day-the voice
aud the instruments that ought to have
been devoted 20 Christ, captured from
the church and applied to purposes of
sin.
Another obstacle has been an iuordi-
nate fear of criticism. The vast major
ity os people singing in church never
want anybody else to hear them sing.
Everybody is waiting for somebody else
to do his duty If we all sang, then the
inaccuracies that are evidert when only
a few sing would be drowned out. God
asks YOU to do as well as you can, and
then, if you get the wrong pitch or keep
wrong time. He will forgive any def
cheney of the ear and imperfeetion OF
Che voices. Angels will not laugh il
YOU should lose your place in the musi-
cal scale. or come in at the close BAR
behind. There are three schools Of
singing. am told the German school,
the Italian school and the French
school Now, would like To add a
fourth school, and that is
rHE scHooL OF CHRIST.
The voice of contrite, broken heart,
although it may not b. able 10 stan3
hunlan criticism, IN tkes better music 10
Gods ear than the most artistic per
farmance when the heart IS wanting. |
know ii is easier 10 preach on this than
20 practice. bat sing for two reasons =
first. because like it, and next because
| want to encourage those who do not
know how. | have bat very little fac
nlty in that direction aud no culture at
ali vet am resolved to sing though ev
ery note should g off like Chinese
gapg. Gld has COMMANDED it, aud |
lure not be silent. He calls on the
beasts. on the cattle, on the dragons, to
praise him, and We ought not to he be
hind the cattle aud the dragons
Another obstacle that has been in the
way of the advancement of this holy art
has been so much angry discussion on
the subject of mu,ic. There are thos
who would have this exercise condueted
by musical instruments. In the same
church there are those who d. not Ike
musical instruments, and SO 1t Is organ
and no organ, and there isa tight. La au
other church it is a question whether
the music shall be conducted by a pre-
centar or by a drilled choir. Some want
! drilled choir and some want pre-
eantor. and there is fight. Then there
are those who would like in the church
"a have the organ played in dull, life
| lass draning way, while there are others
who would haveit wreathed inso fan
tastics. branchin out in jets and span
pies Of sound rolling aud tossing IN mar
yalous convoIutions as when in pyro
technic displays you think piece i
exhausted il breaks out 10 wheels rock
cts, blue lights and serpeatine demon
ssrstions. 5 ,me would have the orgar
nlayed in almost inaudihle sweetness
md Others would hayeit full of staccatt
- .lsk ,,,aE-a tha auiiance iunf