The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-09

He sung It to the tune Of Dundee, and every
body in Scotland knows that and as he began to
sing the dying soldier turned over on his pillow
and said to the minister: "Where did you learn
that2s Why" replied the minister "my mother
taught me that" $50 did mine" said the dying
heart was upturned and then and there he
yielded himself to Christ Oh, it has an irresist-
ible power! Luyhers sermons have been forgotten,
but his Judgment Hym' sings on through the
ages, and will keep on singing until the blast OF
the archangel's trumpet shall bring about that
very day which the hymn celebrates. would
to God that those who hear me to-day would
take these songs Of salvation as messages from
heaven; for. just certainly az the birds brought
food to Elijah by the brook Cherith so these
winged harmonies, God-sent are flying to your
soul with the bread Of lfe Open your mouth
and take it. o hungry Elijah.
have also noticed the power OF sacred song
to soothe perturbation. You may have come
in here with great many worriments
and anxieties, yet perhaps in the singing
Of the first hymn you lost all those
worriments and anxieties You have read in the
Bible of Saul, and how he was sad and angry,
and how the boy David came in and played the
evil spirit out of him. A Spanish king
melancholy. The windows were all closed. He
sat in the darkness. Nothing could bring him
forth until Franeli came and discoursed music
for three or four days to him. On the fourth day
he looked up and wept and rejoiced. and the
WINDOWS were thrown Open anu budb WuiSu alA
the splendcrs of the court could not do the power
of song accomplished. If you have anxeties and
worriments try this heavenly charm upon them
Do not sit down on the bank of the hymn, but
plunge in, that the devil of care may be brought
out of you.
1t also arouses to action. Do you not know
that singing church is always a triumphant
church, If congregation is silent during the
exercises. or partially silent, it is the
silence of death. IT, when the hymn
Sc o;va fail hmm
of here and there a father and mother
in Israel while the vast majority silent, that
minister OF Christ who is presiding needs to have
a very strong constitution il he does not get the
chills. He needs not only the grace of God but
nerves like whalebone. 1t 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 that if the church IT
Christ could rise up and sing as it ought to sing
that where we have hundred souls brought
into the kingdom of Christ, there would be a
thousand. How was it in the olden time! Cafe
tan said: Luther conquered US by his songs"
But must now speak of some OF the obstacles
in the way of the advancement of this sacred
music, and the first is that it has been impressed
into the service of superstition. l am far from
believing that music ought always to be positive
iy religious. Refined art has opened places
where music has been secularized, and lawfully
so. The drawing groom, the musical club, the
orchestra. the concert. by the qualification of
pure taste and the production of harmless amuse-
ment and the Improvement of talent,
have become very forces In the advance
ment of our civilization. Music has as
much right to laugh in Surrey gardens as
it has to pray in st. Paul's. In the kingdom of
nature we have the glad fling of the wind as
we'll as the longmeter psalm Of the thunder.
But while all this is so. every observer has no.
ticed that this art which God intended for the
Improvement of the ear, and the voice, and the
head and the heart, has often been impressed
into the service of error. Tartini. the musical
composer, dreamed one night that Satan snatched
from his hand an instrument and played upon
il something very sweet-a dream that has often
been fulfilled in our day, the voice and the in
struments that ought to have been devoted to
Christ captured from the church and applied to
purposes of sin.
Another obstacle has been an inordinate fear
of criticism. The vast majority OF people sing
ing in church never want anybody else to hear
them sing Everybody is waiting for somebody
else to do his duty. IL we all sang, then the in
ACQUIRES that are evident when only a few sing
would be drowned out God asks you to do as
well as you can and chen, ii you get the wrong
pitch or keep the wrong time. He will forgive
any deficiency of the ear and imperfection of the
voices Angels Will rot laugh If you should lose
your place in the musical scale come in at the
close a bar behind. There three schools
of singing, I am told, the German school.
the Italian school and the French school
of singing. Now, l would like to add a fourth
school, and that is the school of Christ The
voice of contrite, broken heart although it
may not be able to stand human criticism, makes
better music to Gods ears than the most artistic
performance when the heart is wanting. know
it is easier to preach on this than it is to prac-
tce; but sing for two reasons--frst, because
like it, and next because l want to encourage
those who do not know how. have but very
little faculty in that direction. and no culture at
all, vet / am resolved to sing though every
note should go off like Chinese gong. God
has commanded it and dare not be silent
He calls on the beasts, on the cattle, on
the dragons to praise Him, and we ought
not to be behind the cattle and 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 or music.
There are those who would have this exercise
conducted by musical instruments In the same
church there are those who do not like musical
instruments, and so it ia organ and no organ, and
there is fight. In another church it is a ques
ton whether the music shall be conducted by
precentor or by drilled choir. Some want a
drilled choir and some want a precentOr and
there is fight. Then thsre are those who would
like in the church to have the organ played in
dull, lfeless droning way. while there are others
who would have it wreathed into fantasies
branching out in jets and spangles of sound
rolling and tossing in marvellous convolutions as
when IL pyrotechnic display you think piece is
exhausted it breaks out in wheels, rockets, blue
lights, and serpentine demonstrations Some
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sweetness and others would have it full of STAG
cato passages that make the audience jump with
great eyes aud hair on end as though by vision
of the witch of Endor; and he who tries to
please all will succeed in nothing Nevertheless
you are to admit the fact that this contest which
is going on in hundreds of the churches of the
United States to-day is mighty hindrance to
the advancement Of this art In this way scores
and scores of churches are entirely crippled as
to al influence and the music is a damage rath-
er thar a praise.
Another obstacle in the advancement of this
art has been the erroneous notion that this part
of the service could be conducted by delega
ton. Churches have said: ''Oh, what an easy
time we shall have The minister will do the
preaching and the choir will do the singing, and
we will have nothing to do" And you know as
we'll as l that there great multitude of
churches all through this land where the people
are not expected to sing. The whole work is
done by delegation of four. or six. or ten per-
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