The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-09-23


pgalms and hymns and spiritual songsi
and through David He cries out. ''SinE
We to God, all ye Kingdoms OF the
earth" And there are hundreds OF
other passages might name, proving 1t
is as much mans duty to sing as it is
his duty to pray. Indeed, l think there
are more commands in the Bible to sing
than there are to pray. God not only
asks for the human voice but for In
struments of music. He asks for the
cymbal, and the harp, and the trumpet
as well as the organ. And suppose
that, in the last days Of the church, the
harp, the lutte, the trumpet, and all the
instruments Of music, whether they
have been in the service of righteous
ness or sin, will be brought by their
masters and laid down at the feet of
Christ, and then sounded in the church's
triumph on her way from suffering into
glory. Praise ye the Lordp' Praise
Him with your voices. Praise Him
with stringed instruments and with or
gans. iiifNt ~ 3
l draw another argument for the i'm
portance of this exercise, from the
impressiveness Of this exercise. You
know something Of what secular music
has achieved. You know it has made
its impression on governments, upon
laws, upon literature, upon whole gen.
erations. One inspiring national air ia
worth thirty thousand men as stand
ing army. There comes time in the
battle when one bugle is worth thou
sand muskets. l have to tell you that
no nation or church can afford to
severely economic in music.
Many of you are illustrations of what
the sacred song can do. Through 1t you
were brought into the kingdom of Jesus
Christ. You stood out against the argu-
ment and the warning Of the pulpit; but
when, in the sweet words OF Isaac
Watts, or Charles Wesley, or John New
ton, or Toplady, the love of Jesus was
sung to your soul, then you surrendered
as armed castle, that could not be taken
by host, lifts its window to listen to
harp's trill There was Scotch SOL
der dying at New Orleans, and Scotch
minister came in to give him the con-
solations Of the gospel The man turned
over on his pillow, and said: Don't
talk TO me about religion" Then the
Scotch minister began 10 sing familiar
1 hymn of Scotland, that was composed
by David Dickenson, beginning with
the words:
Oh, mother, dear Jerusalem,
When shall cone to theef
He sang it to the tune of Dundee"
and everybody in Scotland knows that:
and as he began to sing the dying SOL
dier turned over on his pillow, and said
to the minister: Where did you learn
that?" "why," replied the minister,
my mother taught me that" $50 did
mine," said the dying Scotch soldier;
and the very foundation of his heart
was upturned, and then and there he
yielded himself TO Christ o, IL has an
irresistible power. Luther's sermons
have been forgotten, but his 'Judg-
ment Hymn" sings on through the ages,
and will keep on singing until the blast
of the archangePs 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 as certainly as the
birds brought food to Elijah, by the
brook 'Cherith, SO these winged har.
monies, iGod-sent are flying TO YOU
soul withthe bread Of life. Open youi
mouthssand take It, o hungry Elijahs
In addition to the inspiring music Of
our own day we have glorious in
heritance Of church psalmody which
has come down fragrant with the de
votionsof other generations-tunes nc
more worn out than they wore wher
our great-grandfathers climbed up or
them from tho church pew to glory
Dear old souls, how they used to sing
When they were cheerful, our grand
fathers;and grandmothers used TO sing
Colchester" When they were very
meditative, then the board meeting
house rang with "South Street" ant
"St Edmond's "Were they strucl
through with great tenderness, they
sang Woodstock. We're they wrapped
in visions Of the glory of the church
they sang Zion" Were they over
borne with the love and glory of Christ
they sang "Ariel" And in those day
there were certain tunes married Il
certain hymns, and they have lived II
peace asgreat while, these two old peo
pie, and we have no right TO divorc,
them. 'What God hath Joined TO
4 gether let no man put asunder." Blu
how hard-hearted we must be II al
this sacred music Of the past, and al
the sacred music OF the present does no
start heavenward
/ have also noticed the power o
sacred song TO soothe perturbation
You may have come in here thi
morning with great many worry
ments and anxieties, yet, perhaps, II
the singing Of the first hymn, you los
all those worryments and anxieties
You have read In the Bible OF Saul ant
how he was sad and angry, and how
the boy David came in and played th,
evil spirit out Of him. A Spanish kim
was melancholy. The windows wer,
all closed He sat in the darkness
Nothing could bring him forth, unit
Faraneli came and discoursed music fol
three or four days to him. On tn,
fourth day he looked up and wept, ant
rejoiced, and the windows were thrown
open, and that which all the splendori
OF the court could not do. the power o.
song accomplished II you have ankle