Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-21
. familiar hymn ofscotland that
poseo oy David Dickinson, beginning with
mother. dear Jerusalem. :.
When shall I come to thees

When shall l come to thees
He sung it to the tune Of nunaa. 49,.
very body in Scotland knows that: and
az no began to sing the dying soldier
turned over on his pillow and said 70 th.
minister: W sne
Where did you learn thatl"
why" replied the minister, inv moth.
or taught me that"
80 aid mine," said the dying Scotch
soldier; and the very foundation If III.
heart was upturned. and then and tbers
he yielded himself to Christ.
Oh, it is an irresistible powerl Iutho,.,s
sermons have been : forgotten. Init b;s
Judgment Hymn" sings on through the
ages, will keep on singing until the
oiast OF the archangel's trumpet shall
BRING about that very day which he
hymn celebrates. I would to God that
those who hear me to-day would take
these songs of salvation as messages from
heaven; FOR, just as certainly as 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 life. Open your mouth and take
1t, 0 hungry Elijah!
But l must now speak of some Of the oh.
stacies in the way of the Advancement of
this sacred music; and the first is, that it
has been impressed into the service of su.
'perstition. I am far from believing thut
music ought always to be positively
religious. Refined art has opened places
where music has been s%ecularized and
lawfully 80. The drawing.room, the
musical club, the orchestra, the con.
cert, by the qualification Of pure taste
n the production of harmless amuse-
ment and the Improvement of talent, have
become very forces in the advancement 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 long-meter psalm
OF the thunder. But while all this is
SO, every observer has noticed that this
art, which God intended for the i'm
provement of the ear and the voice and
the head and the heart, has often been
impressed into the service of error. Tar.
TIM, the musical composer, dreamed one
night chat Satan snatched from his hand
an instrument and played upon it some-
thing very sweet-a dream that has often
been fulfilled in our day, the voice and
the Instruments, that ought to have been
devoted to Christ, captured from the
Church and applied to purposes of sin.
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 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 is organ and no or
gam, and there is a fight. In another
church it is a question whether the music
shall be conducted by a precentor or by a
drilled choir. Some wan a drilled choir
some want a precentor, and there is a
fight. Then there are those who would
like in the church to have the organ
played in a dull, ~lifeless dron-
ing way, while there are 9th
ers who would have it wreathed
into fantasies, branching out into Jets
and spangles of sound, rolling and tossing
in marvellous convolutions, as when in py-
rotechnic display you think a piece is ex-
hausted it breaks out in wheels, rockets,
blue lights and serpentine demonstrations.
Some would have the organ played in
almost inaudible sweetness, and others
would lave it full of staccato passages
that make the audience jump with great
eyes and hair on end as though by q
vision Of the witch of Endor, and he who
tries to please all will succeed in nothing.
Nevertheless, . are to admit the fact
chat the contest which is going on in hum
dreds of churches of the United States to.
day is a mighty hinderance to the adj
vancement of this art. In this way scores
n scores of churches are entirely Grip
pied as to all influence, and the music is a
damage rather than a praise.
Another obstacle in the advancement of
this art has been the notion that
this part of the service could be con-
Quoted by a delegation. 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 I that there are
a great multitude of churches all through
this land where the people are not
expected to sing. The whole work is
done by a delegation of four or six or
ten persons and the audience are
silent. In such a church in Syracuse an
old elder persisted in such singing, aad
so the choir appointed a committee to go
and ask the Squire if he would not stop.
You know that in a great multitude of
churches the choir are expected, and do,
all the singing and the great mass of peo-
pie are expected to be SILENT. and if you
utter your voice you areinterfering. There
they stand, the four, with opera glass
dangling at their side singing, crock of
Ages Cleft for Me" with the same spirit
that the night before on the stage they
took their part in the "Grand Duchess' or
"Don Giovanni" ~
My Christian friends, lave we a right to
delegate to others the discharge of this
duty which God demands of us? Suppose
that four woodthrushes propose to do all
the singing some bright day when the
woods are ringing with bird voices. 1t is
decided that four woodthrushes shall do
all the singing of the forest. Let all other
voices keep silent. How beautifully the
four warbled! 1t is really fine music. But
how long will you keep the forest still?
Why, Christ would come into hat forest
and look up as he looked through the
ua,1J 1ro-a hic hand aud