The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-05-20


Paul, keep. quiet, though you have
come to that crown of rejoicing Richard
Baxter, keep still, though this is the saints
Everlasting Re,tr Four spirits now do all
the singing: But how long would heaven he
quieti How long, "Hallelujah!h would cry
some glorifed Methodist from under the altar.
"Praise the Lord" would sing tho martyrs
from among the thrones, THANKS be unto
God who giveth us tn, victoryn q
great multitude Of redeemed spirits
would cry--myriais of voices COM
ing Into the harmony and the one
hundred and forty and four thou.ani break
ing forth into ono acclamation Stop that
loud singing! Stopl OH no; they canrot
hear me- You might as well try 70 drown
the thun Ter OF the sky or beat back the roar
Of the SEA, for every soul in heavon has re-
solved to do its own singing, Alas, that we
shonld have tried on earth thet which thry
cannot do IN heaven, ana instead Of Joining
all our voices in the praise of tho Most High
God, de'egatiny perhaps to unconsecrated
inen and women this most solemn AMI most
delightful service.
Now, in thischurch, we have resolved Il ION
the pan of conducting tho mu'c by pre-
centor. We do it for two reasons: One is that
by throwing the whole responsibility upon
the mass of the peop'c, making thu great
multitude the choir, we might rouse moro
heartiness. The great congregation com
Ing OH the sibbath day feel that
they cannot delegate this part # tho
great service tn any one else, ard
50 they themselves asSune it. We
have glorious congregational singing here.
People have come many miles to hear it,
They are not sure about tho preaching, but
they can always depend on the singing. W.
have heard the sound coming up like "tla
voice of many waters but it win be done "a
4 better rate after a while, when We shah
realize the height and the depth, and the i'm.
mensity of this privilege.
Another reason why VIC adopted this plan.
| We do not want aNy choir quarrels. You
Enow very well that in scores of the churches
there has been perpetual contention in that
| direction. The only church fight that ever
| occurred under my ministry was over 4
melodeon In my first settlement Have YOU
| hevor beeii III church on the Sabbath day
and heard the choir sing and rou said: "rhat
| is splendid musicr' The next Sabbath you
were in the church and there was no choir at
| all, Why! The leader was mad or his assist
ants We're, or they We're all mad together.
f. Some of tie chOirs ore ira te IN OF our
| best Christian people! Some of the warmei It
friends have ever hal have stood Hp, in
them, Sabbath after Sabbath, conscentiously
and successfully leading the praises of God.
| But the majority of the choirs throughout
| the land are not made up of Christian peo-
| pie, and three-fourths Of the church iighti
originate in the or gan loft. | take that ba *,
| AMI say nine Many OF our churches
are dying of choirs.
Let us as a church give still more atten'
| tion to the music. IL a man with voice
enough to sing keeps silent during this eNer,
else, he commits crime against God and
insults the Almighty.
Music ought to ru-h from the audience like
the water from rock--clcnr. bright, spark
ling If all the other rart Of the church ser
vice is dull do not have the music dull
away with all drawing and sturility
Thero is nothing that makes me s.,
nervous rs to sit in pulpit and
look off on an audience with their
eyes thrce-fourths closed and their liIs
almost shut, mumblng the praises OF
GCd. During my recent absence preached
to large audience and all the music they
People do not sleep at coronation DO mol
let Us sleep whcr we come 10 Saviour:
crowning. In order to proper discharge Of
this duty let us stand up, save as age OF
weakness or fatigue excuse us. Seat,d in an
easy pew we cannot do this duty half so wei
rs when, upright, we throw our whole body
into it. Let our song be like an acclamatiou
of victory. You have right to sing Dc
not surrender your prerogative.
We want to rouse all our families upol
this subject. We want each family of ou1
congregation to be singing school. Child
ish pet,Ilance, obduracy and intractabilit'
would be soothed if we had more singing il
the household, and then our little ones woul'
be prepared for the great congregation ol
Sabbath day, their voices uniting with on
voices in the praises of the Lord. After
shower there are scores of stream
that come down tho mountain side wit
voices ripping and silvery, pouring int
one river and then rolling in unitst
strength to the sea. So would have all tn
families in my church send forth the voic
of prayer and praise pouring it into the grca
tide Of public worship that rolls on and on t
empty into the great, wide heart of God
Never can we have our church sing as
ought until our families sing as they ought.
There will be greatrevolution on thissut
iect in all our churches. God will come dow
by his spirit and rolse up the old hymns an:
tunes that have not been more than hal
awake since the time of our grandfath,rs
The silent pews in the church will breal
forth into p,nsir, and when the conducto
there will b, great host Of voice:
rushing into the harmony. My Chrstia
friends, If we have no taste for thi
service on earth, what will we do in Heave
where they all sing and sing forever! lie
me propheSy in regard to any one here VIII
has no delight in the worship of Heaven-i
you do not sing tho praises of God on Garth
do not believe yol will ever sing them il
glory. I would that our singing to-da
might be like the Saturday night rehearsa
for the Sabbath morning in the skies an
might begin now by tho strength and by til
help of God, to discharge duty which uon
Of us Lave fuiiy performed.
"Tet those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God;
But children of the Heavenly king
Should speak their joys abroad.
THE hill of Zion yields
A thousand sa red sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields.
Or walk the golden streets.
"Thcn let our songs aboun
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Emanu,l
ground
To fairer worlds on high"
Come now, clear your throats and &c
ready for this duty or You will never hearth
end of this never shall forget hearing
Frenchman su-irr the Marseil!asn Hymn o
the Champ Elysees, Paris, just before tn
battle of Sedan. Ineversaw such enthuS
asni before or since, as he sang that nationa
air Oh, how the Frenchmen shoutedl Hav
youever in anEnglish assemblage heard a ban
| =
you know something about the enthusiasm
of a national air. Now, | tell you that thes
songs We sing Sabbath by Sabbath are tn
national airs of Jesus Christ and of the king
dom of heaven. When Cromwell's arm
went into battle, he stood at the head OF then
one day and gave out the long metre doxo
ogy to the tune of "Old Hundred" an
that great host, company by company, regi
ment by regiment, battalion by battalion
joined in the doxology:
"Praise God from whom all blessing flow
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Prais, Father, Son and Holy Ghost"
And while they sang they marched, an
while they marched they fought, and Will
they fought they got the victory. Q, me
and women of Jesus Christ. let us go into a
our conflicts singing the praises of God, on
then, instead of falling back as we often d.
from defeat to defeat, We will be marchin
on from victory to victory