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

house Of God have no voice to discharge
this duty. / really believe that II the
Church Of Christ could rise up and sing
as II ought to sing, that where we have
q hundred souls brought into the king
dom Of Christ, there would be a thou
sand. iir'
But must now speak Of some OF the
obstacles in the way Of the advance
ment Of this sacred music, and the frst
is that it has been impressed into the
service of superstition. ] am far from
believing that music ought always 70
be positively religious Refined art has
opened places where music has been
secularized, and lawfully so. The
drawing-room, the musical club, the
orchestra, the concert, by the gratidcn-
tion of pure taste, and the production
Of harmless amusement and the Inn
provemeDt of talent, have become great
forces in the advancement Of our civili-
zation. Music has as much right
to laugh in Surrey Gardens as
1t has to pray in st. Panrs In
the kingdom of nature we have
the glad fling of the wind as we'll as
the long metre psalm Of the thun-
der. But while all this is so, every OBJ
server has noticed that this art, which
God intended for the improvement OF
the ear, and the voice, and the head, ana
the heart, has often been impressed
into the service Of false religions. False
religions have depended more upon the
hymning Of their congregations than
upon the pulpit proclamation OF their
dogmas Tartini, the musical COM
poser, dreamed one night that Satan
snatched from his hand an instrument
and played upon It something very
sweet-a dream that has often been full
filed in our day, the voice and the in
struments that ought to have been de-
voted to Christ captured from the
church and applied to purposes Of
superstition.
Another obstacle has been an inor-
dinate fear of criticism. The vast ma
jority of the people, singing in church,
never want anybody else to hear them
sing Everybody is waiting for some
body else to do his duty. If we all sang
then the inaccuracies that are evident
when only few sing would not be
heard at all; they would be drowned
out. God only asks you to do as well
as you can, and then, II you get the
wrong pitch, or keep wrong time, he
will forgive any deficiency Of the ear
and imperfection of the voice. Angels
will not laugh II you should lose your
place in the musical scale, or come In at
the close bar behind. There are three
schools of singing. am told-the Ger.
man school, the Italian school, and the
French school Of singing. Now, would
like TO add fourth school, and that i
the school OF Christ The voice Of 9
contrite, broken heart although II may
not be able to stand human criticism
makes better music to Gods ear thar
the most artistic performance when tho
heart is wanting. know II is easiel
TO preach on this than 1t is to practice
but l sing for two reasons-hrst, be
cause like 1t, and next, because
want TO encourage those who do no
know how. have but very littl'
faculty In that direction, yet | am re
solved to sing. God has commanded II
and dare not be silent He calls o.
the beasts, on the cattle, ON the dragons
to praise Him, and we ought not to b
behind the cattle and the dragons.
Another obstacle that has been II
the way Of the enhancement Of this hol,
art, has been the fact that there ha
been so much angry discussion on tn
subject Of music There are those VIII
would have this exercise conducted b.
musical instruments. In the sam
church, there are those who do not lik
musical instruments, and so it is orgal
and no organ, and there is fight Il
another church, II is aquestion whethe
the music shall be conducted by pre-
centor or by drilled choir. Some wan
a drilled choir and some want precen
tor, and there Is fight Then there ar
those who would like In the church I
have the organ played in dull. life
less, droning way, while there ar
others who would have II twreathed int
fantasies, branching out in jets an
spangles of sound, rolling and tossin
in marvellous convolutions, as wher
in pyrotechnic display, after you thin
a piece is exhausted, Il breaks out |
wheels, rockets, blue lights, and sci
pentine demonstrations Some woul
have the organ played in almost maud
BILE sweetness, and others would have
full of staccato passages that make tn
audience jump, with great eyes and hal
on end, as though by a vision Of Oh
Witch of Ender. hnd he who tries I
please all will fail in everything. Ne,
ertheless, you are bo admit the fact tina
this contest which is going on, not 1
hundreds but in thousands OF tn
churches OF the United States to-day,
mighty hindrance 10 the advancemen
of this art In this way scores an
scores Of churches IRE entirely cripple
as TO all influence, and the music Is
damage rather than a praise.
Another obstacle an the advancement
! of this art has been the erroneous nc
ton that this part Of the service coul
be conducted by delegation. churche
have said: 20, what an easy time W
shall have. This minister viii do Oh
preaching, the choir win do the singing
, and we will have nothing TO do" An
you know as well as that there are
great multitude Of churches all throug
this land, where the people are not es
pected to sing, the whole work
| do,a h,r dalaoafion cf four M, six n
ten persons and the audience ar