Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-09-25

w nat Tod hath Joined together let no man
put asunder." But how hardihearted We
must be if all the sacred music OF the past,
and all the sacred music Of the present does
not start us heavenwarl.
have also noticel the power Of sacrel
song 10 soothe perturbation. You may have
come in here this morning with a great
many worriments and anxieties, yet per-
haps, In the singing OF the first hymn, You
lost all those worriments and anxieties. You
have read In the Bible of Saul aud how he
was sad and angry. and how the boy David
came in and .playei the evil spirit out OF
him. A Spanish king was melancholy. The
windows were all closed. He sat in the
darkness. Nothing could bring him forth
until Faraneli came anl discoursed music
three or four days TO him. On the fourth
day he looked up and wept and rejoice1, and
the windows were thrown open, and that
which all the splendors Of the court could not
do the power OF song accomplished IL you
have anxieties and wofrimsnts, try this
heavenly charm upon them. ID not sit
down on the bank of the hymn, but plunge
in, that the devil OF care may be brou yht
out of you.
1t also arouses to action. A singing church
is always triumphant church. IL congre-
CATION is silent during the exercise or par
IlHllN silent. III Is Tue Slltiltt VI ut lbu IL
when the hymn is given out you hear tn,
faint hum Of here and there a father and
mother in Israel, while the vast majority are
silent that minister of Christ who is presi-
Ing needs TO have a very strong constitution
if ne does not get the chills He needs not
only the grace of God but nerves like whale
bone II is amazing how some people, who
have voice enough to discharge all their
duties in the word, when they come into tho
house of God have no voice to discharge
this duty. really believe that If the CHURCH
of Christ could rise up and sing as 1t ought
to sing. that where we have hundred souls
brought into the kingdom OF Christ there
would be thousand.
But must now speak OF some of the OBJ
stacles in the way OF the Advancement ofthis
sacred music, and the first is that it has been
impress into the service of superstition
am far from believing that music ought al
ways to be positively religious. Refined art
has opened places where music has been Sec
ularized, and lawfully so. Tho drawing
room, the musical club, the orchestra, tho
concert, by the qualification OF pure TASTE
and the production of harmless amusement
and the improvement of talent, have become
great fcfces in the advancement OF our clvill-
cation. Music has as much right to laugh in
Surrey gardens as it has to pray in ST.
Paurs.
In the kingdom of nature we have the glad
fling Of the wind as well 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 improvement OF
the ear, and the voice. and the hea1 /, and TIA
heart. has often been impressed into the ser
vice of false religions False religions have
depended more upon the hymning OF their
congregations than upon the pulpit proclaim
alton of their dogmas. Tartini, the musical
composer. dreamed one night that Satan
Enatched from his hand an instrument an
PLAYED upon it something very sweet
dream that has often been fulfilled in our
day, the voice and the instruments that
ought to have been devoted to Christ, cap
tured from the church and applied TO pur-
poses Of superstition.
Another Obstacle has been an inoriinate
fear Of criticism. The vast majority of peo-
ple singing in church never want anybody
else to hear them sing. Everybody IS wait
iny for somebody else 20 do his duty. II we
all sang. then the inaccuracies that are evil
dent when only few sing would not be
hear at all: they would be drowned out.
God only asks YOU TO do rs well As you can,
and then, il you get the wrong pitch, or keep
wrong time, He will forgive any deficiency
of the car and imperfectiOn Of the voice
Angels will not laugh if you should lose your
place in the musical scale or come In at the
close a bar behind.
There are three schools Of singing, | an
told-the German school, the Italian school
and the French school OF singing. Now
would like TO add a fourth school, and that
is the school of Christ. The voice Of con-
trite, broken heart, although 1t may notbe
able 10 stand human criticism, makes better
III than fha most artistic
performance when the heart is wanting.
know il is easier to preach on this than It Is
to practice. but sing for two reasons-irSt
because ike il, AMI next, because want
10 encourage those who do not know how. L
have but very little faculty in that direction,
vet | am resolved 10 sing. God has COM
handed il, and Idare not be silent Hecalis
on tine beasts, on the cattle, on the dragons
to praise Him, and we ought not be behind
the cattle and the dragons.
Another obstacle that has been in the Wa
Of the advancement OK this holy arr has
been the fact that there has been 50 much
angry discussion on the subject Of music.
There are those who would have this exer-
rise conducted by musical instruments In
the same church there are those who do not
like musical instruments, AMI 50 It is gan
and NJ organ, AMI there is a fight In
another church 1t Is question whether the
music shall be con inctel b. precentor or
by a drilled choir Some want a drilleI
choir al SO ne want a preceltOr, and there
is a fight. Then there are those who wOulI
ike in the church 10 have the or gan playel
in a dull, lifeless, droniny way. while there
are others who wou have it wreathel into
fantasies, branching out in jet, and spanyles
OF sound, rolling and tossing in marvellous
convultions, as when, in pyrotechnic dis
play, after you thinS a piec, Is exhausted,
It breaks out in wheel., rocket, blue lights
and serpentine demonstrations.
Some would have the organ played in al
most inlulible sweetness AMI Others would
have it full of staccato passages that make
tho audience jump, with great eyes AMI hair
on end. as though by vision Of the Witch
of Endor. AMI he who tries t. please all
will fail in everything. Nevertheless, you
are toalmit the fact that this contest wlicl
is going on, not in bun lrelS, but in thou
sands Of tho churches of the Unitel States
to-day, is a mighty hinlrlncs to the al
vancement Of this art. In this way scoros
Of churches are entirely cripple las 10 n | IN
fuence and tho music is dana e rather
than praise.
Another obstacle in thu alvIlcsnelt OF
this art has been thu erroneous notion that
by delegation. Churches have sal !: "Oh,
what an easy time we shall have. This min
ister will do the preaching, tbs choir will do
the singing and we will have nothing to do"
And you know as well as | 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 delegation OF
four or six or ten prisons and the audience
are silent.
In such Church in Syracuse an old elder
persisted in singing, and 50 the choir APP
pointed committee to go and ask the squire
Ii he would not stop. You know that in
great multitude Of churches the choir are ex-
pected TO do all the singing, and the great
mass Of the people are expected to be silent,
and if you utter your voice you are Interior
ing There they stand, the -four, with opera
glass dang LINK at their side, singing,
Crock of Ages Cleft for Ne" with the same
spirit that the night before, on the stage,
they took their part in the "Grand Duchess
or "Don Giovanni"
Ny Christian friends. have We right to
delegate to Others tho discharg' OF this duty
which God de nand5 Of us? Suppose that
lour wood thrushes shoull propose 10 DO all
the singing some bright day when the woods
are ringing with bril- voices. IL is decided
that four wood thrushes shall do all tho