Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-10-20

instrument making rude music blest of
God, to the demolition of that wicked
place which had for centuries defied
the Almighty And | said, if all this
was by the blessing of God on poor
music, what mightier things could be
done by the blessing of God on good
music, skillful music, Gospel music
If all the good that has already been
done by music were subtracted from
the world, believe three -fourths of
its religion would be gone. The lula
bys of mothers which keep sounding
on, though the lips that sang them
forty years ago became ashes; the old
hymns in log cabin churches and coun-
try meeting houses, and psalms in
Rouse's version in Scotch kinks; the
anthem in English cathedrals; the roll
of organs that will never let Handel or
Haydn or Beethoven die; the thrum of
harps, the sweep of the bow across
bass viols, the song of Sabbath schools
storming the heavens, the doxology of
great assemblages-why, thousand
Jerichos of sin have by them all been
brought down.
THE POWER OF MUSIC.
Seated by the warmth of our camp
fires that evening of Dec 6, amid the
bricks and debris of Jericho, and think
ing what poor music has done, and
what mightier things could be accom-
pIished by the blessings of God on good
music, I said to myself: Ministers have
been doing grand work, and sermons
have been blessed, but would it not be
well for us to put more emphasis on
music? Oh, for a campaign of 'Old
Hundredp Oh, for a brigade of Mount
Pisgahs Oh, for cavalry charge of
"Coronationsl" Oh, for an army of An
tiochs and st. Martins and Ariels Oh,
for enough orchestral batons lifted to
marshal all nationsi As Jericho was
surrounded by poor music for seven
days, and was conquered, so let our
earth be surrounded seven days by
good gospel music, and the round
planet will all be taken for God. Not
a wall of opposition, not throne of
tyranny, not a palace of sin, not an en-
terprise of unrighteousness could stand
the mighty throb of such atmospheric
pulsation. Musicl 1t sounded at the |
laying of creations corner stone when
the morning stars sang together. Mu-
sicl 1t will be the last reverberation
when the archangel's trumpet shall !
wake the dead Musicl Let its full |
power be now tested to comfort and
bless and arouse and save.
While our evening meal is being pre-
70 L ont for n
moment to the Fountain of Elisha"
the one into which the prophet threw
the salt because the waters were poi
sonous and bitter, and loi they be- |
came sweet and healthy, and ever |
since, with gurgle and laughter, they |
have rushed down the hill and leaped |
from the rocks, the only cheerful OBJ |
ject in all that region being these wa
tiers.
Now on this plain of Jericho the sun
is setting, making the mountains look
like balustrades and battlements of |
amber and maroon and gold; and the
moon, Just above the crests, seems to
be a. window of heaven through which
mmortals might be looking down upon
sit beside the camp fire at the door of
my tent, their low conversation in
strange language all night long a sooth-
ing rather than an interruption. l had
q dream that night never to be forgot
ten, that dream amid the complete
ruins of Jericho. It's past grandeur re-
turned, and 1 saw the city as it was
when Mark Antony gave it to Cleo
patra and Herod bought it from her.
And l heard the hoofs of its swift
steeds, and the rumbling of its chariots
and the shouts of excited spectators in
its amphitheatre.
A LOVELY REGION.
And there was white marble amid
green groves of palm and balsam; cold
stone warmed with sculptured foliage
hard pillars cut into soft lace; Iliads
and Odysseys in granite; basalt jet as
The night, mounted by carbuncle fam
ing as the morning; upholstery dyed as
though dipped in the blood of battle
fields; robes incrusted with diamonds;
mosaics white as sea foam flashed on
by auroras; gayeties which the sun
saw by day rivaled by revels the moon
saw by night; blasphemy built against
5he sky; ceilings stellar as the mid
night heavens; grandeurs turreted,
and intercolumnar; wicked
1ess so appalling that established vocab-
llary fails, and we must make an adj
ective and call it Herodic.
The region round about the city
walls seemed to me white with cotton
such as Thenius describes as once