, 1886-05-09

u tue ADVANCEMENT OF lhl5 molly ART ms neen
80 much angry discnssiln on the subject OF
music. There are those who would havf
this exercise conducted by musical instru-
menis In The same church there arc those
vino do not like musical instruments, and SC
II is organ and no organ, and there is q
fight In another church it Is a question
whether the music shall be conducted by a
prccsntor or by a drilled choir. Some want
a drilled choir and soms want a precentor,
and there Is a fight Then there are those who
would liks in tho church to have the organ
played in a duh. lifeless, droning way, while
there are others who would have 1t wrcathed
into inntastics, branching out in jets and
spnngles Of sound. roll ny and tossing In
marvellous convolutions, as when in pyrotech'
mic display you think a piece IA exhausted II
breaks out in wheels, rockets, blue lights and
serperiine. demonstrations Some would
have the organ played in almost inauiible
sweetness, and others would have II
full Of staccato passages that make
tho nulenre jump with great eyes
and hair on end, ms though by n
vifioa IL tho witch of Endor; and he who
ir * to please all will succeed in nothing.
Nevertheless, YOU are to admit the fact that
This contest which is going on II hundreds OF
the churches Of the United St1tes to-day is q
mighty hin trance to the advancement of this
Ar. In this way sores and scores of
churches arc entirely crippled as 10 all in.
luancc, and the music 4, n damage rather
than a praise.
Anoth r obstacle in the advertisement Of
this art has been the %erroneou notion that
this part oil tho service could BE- conducted
by n delegation Churches have said: ''Oh.
what an easy time we shall have. The min
ist r will do the preaching and the choir viii
10 tIa .fpnfpfr ,,I .r. ,.rfI h., r,alfOr 20
do And you know as VIII as l that there
nre n great mul itude of churches all
through this land where the people are not
expected to sing. The whole work is done by
deieg-t'ol Of Our or six or ten persons and
the nulisnrn nre silent In such n church, in
Syr1cur', an oder persisted in singing and
so tue caolr appointed n committee &c
70 an ask fTn squire if h would not stop
You know Tint in a great multitude OF
churches the choir are expected TO do all the
singing and the great masses Of the people
are expected TO be silent, and il you utter
your voice you are interfering. There they
stand, the four, with orera glass dangling at
their side, singing. Rock OF Ages, cleft for
me" with the sans spirit that the night be
fore, on the stage. they took their part in the
Grand Duchess or Don G. ovnnni-
AIy Christian friends have we n right tc
ia " At' lit aAnEAAAi ~ " AhlN auAl
which Col demands of usi Suppose that
four wool thrushes propose to do all the
singing some bright day when the woods
are ringing with bird voices, 1t is decided
that four wood thrushes shall do all the sing
ing Of the forest. LIT all other voices keet
silent. How beautifully the four warblel II
Is really fine music. But how long will you
keep tn forest stilli Why, Christ would come
into tlnt forest and look up as he looked
through the olives. and he would wave his
hand and say: Let everything that hath
breath praise the Lord; . and keepin, time
With the stroke Of iunumerable wings thsrs'
would be five thousand bird voices leaping
into the harmony. Suppose this delegation
of musical performers were tried in heaven.
suppose that four choice spirits should try
to do the singing Of the upper temple.
Hush now. thrones and dominions and
principalitiea David, be still, though you
were the sweet singer of Israeli Paul,
keep quiet, though you have come to that
crown Of rejoicing. Richard Baxter, keeI
still, though this is the Saints Everlasting
Rest -Four spirits now do all the singing.
But how long would heaven To quieti How
longl 'Hallelujahl" would cry some
glorif d Methodist from under the
altar. Praise the Lordi' would sing the
martyrs from among the thrones. Thanks be
unto God who giveih us the victoryi' a
great multitude Of redeemed spirits would
c~ry-myriads Of voices coming into the
harmony and the one hundre and forty and
four thousand breaking forth into one accln-
nation. Stop that loud singingi Stopl o.,
no; they cannot hear me. You night "a
well try to drown the thunder OF the sky or
beat back the roar Of the sea, for every soul
in heaven has resolved to do its own singing
Alas that we should have tried on earth
that which they cannot do in heaven, and
instead OF joining all our voices in the praise
Of the most high God delegating, perhaps to
unconsecrated men and women, this most
solemn md most delightful s~ervicel
Now, in this church, we nave resolved
upon the plan Of conducting the music by o
precentor. We do il for two reasons; one
is that by throwing the whole responsibility
upon the mass Of the people, making the
great multitude the choir, we might
rouse more heartiness. The congrega-
tion coming on the Sabbath day feel
that they cannot delegate this part of
the great service to any ono else,
and so they themselves assume it. We
nave glorious congregational singing here.
Peop'e have come many miles TO hear 1t.
They arc no. sure about the preaching. but
they can always depend on tho singing. We
nave heard the sound coming up like ''the
voice Of many waters but it will be done at
a better rae after a while, when We shall re-
alizs the height and the depth AMI tn, inn
mensity Of this privilege.
Another reason why we adopted this plan.
We do not want any choir q~uarrelS You
know very well that in scores OF the churches
there has been perpetual con ention in that
direction The only church fight that ever
occurred under my mini,try was over a
melodeon in my first settlement Havs you
never been in church ON the sabbath day
and heard the choir sing AMI you said; That
is splendid music The next Sabbath you
were in the church AMI thers was no choir
at all Whyf The Leader was mad or his
assistants were mad or they were ali
mad { gethor. Some of the choirs are
male up Of our best Christian peo-
plcl Some OF the vnrmest friends / have
ever had have stood NJ in them, Sabbath
after Sabbath, conscientiously and success
fully leading the praises OF God But the
m jpriiy OF the choirs Throughout the lind
are not made up OF Christian people, an
IA G -iourths OF the church fights originate
In the organ loft take that back and say
nile-tenlhs Many OF our churches are dying
Of choirs
Lot us as a church give still more attention
to the mu ic. II q man with voice enough tc
sng keep silent during this exercise, he com
mit~ a crime against God and insults tht
Almighty.
Music OUGHT to rush from the au licnce
like tho water from a rock-clear. bright,
sparkling II ali the other part OF the church
service l. dull. do not have the music dull
With so many thrilling things to sing about.
away with all drawing and Stupidity There
Is no hing that makes me 50 nervous as to sit
in a pulpit and look of on an audience with
their eyes three-fourth, closed and their
lps almost shut, mumhllng the praises OF
God During my recent absence | preached
To a large audience and al thu music they
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