Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-09-25
REV. DIR. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divines Sun
day Sermon.
Subject, "The Importance of Music"

Subject: "The Importance of Music"
TEXT: "His brothers name iods Jubal::
he ,CdS the father Of all such as handle
the harp and orgdn."-Genesis iv., 81.
LRmech had two boys the one a herdsman
md the other musician. Jubal the
younger son, was the first organ builder.
He started the first sound that rolled from
the wondrous instrument which has had so
much TO do with tho worship of the ages.
But whit Improvement has beer made uu-
der the hands of organ builders such as
Bernhard, Sebastian Bach and George
Hogarth and Joseph Booth and Thomas
Robjohn, clear on down to George and Ell
ward Jardine of our own day. l do no.
wonder that when the first organ that we
read of as given in Isl by an emperor of the
east TO king of France, sounded forth its
full grandeur q woman tell into delirium
from which her reason was never restored,
The majesty of great organ skillfully
played is almost too much for human endur-
ance, but how much the instrument has done
in the reinforcement of divine service it
will take all time and all eternity to cele-
brate. Last April when we dedicated this
church to the service of Almighty God our
organ WAS llOl HlOIt iudl ndil uOUt. III nus
now come so near completion that this MORN
ing preach sermon dedicatory of this
mighty throne Of sacred sound. 1t greets
the eye as well as the ear. Behold this noun
tain of anthems This forest of hoSannahs!
Its history is peculiar.
The late Mr.. George Jarline recently mado
tour OF the organs of Europe. He gath
ered up in his portfolio an account of all the
eXcellenceS of the renowned instruments of
music on the other side of the Atlantic and
all the new improvements. and brought back
that portfolio to America, declaring that
Brooklyn Tabernacle should have the full al
vantage of all he had obtained, and although
he did not live TO carry out his idea his son,
Mr.. Edward Jardine, has introduced into this
great organ all those improvements and
grandeurs, and while you hear this organ
you hear all that is notable in the organs of
Lucerne and FribOurg and Harlem and St.
Paul and Westminster Abbey, and other
great organs that have enrapture1 the world
In it are banked up more harmonies
than [ can describe, and all for God
and the lighting of the soul toward
Him. Its four banks of keys, its
one hundred and ten stops AMI appliances.
its four thousand five hundred and ten pipes,
its chime of thirty-seven bells, its cathedral
diapson and pedal double diapson, its song
trumpet and night horn and vox humana,
all, all, we dedicate to God and the soul. 1t
will believe, under thedivine blessing lead
amounted thousands into the kingdom. Its
wedding marches, It's thanksgiving anthems,
its requiems will sound after all the voices
that follow it to-day shall have sung their
last song. To God the Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Ghost we dedicate it.
There has been much discussion as to
where music was born, think that at the
beginning, when the morning stars sang to-
gether, and all the suns Of Col shouted for
JOY, that the earth heard the echo The
cloud on which the angels stood to celebrate
the creation was the birthplace of song.
Inanimate nature is full of Gods strnged
and wind instruments. Silencs itself-per-
feet si.encc-is only q musical rest in Gods
great anthem of worship. Wind among the
leaves, insects hummng in the summer air,
the rush of billow upon beach, the ocean far
out sounding its everlasting psalm, the bob
olink on the edge of the forest, the quail
whistling up from the grass are music.
On Blackwell's Island | heard coming
from a window in the lunatic asylum a very
sweet song. 1t was sung by one who hal
lost her reason, and have come to believe
that even the derangel and disor1ed ele-
mcnts of nature would make music 10 our
ear, if we only had acuteneSs enough to
listen. | suppose that even the sounds in
nature that are diScOr1ant and repulsve
make harmony in Gods ear. You know
that YOU may come so near 10 an orchestra
that the sounds are painful instead OF pleas
urable, and think we stand so near deva-
stating storm AMI frightful whirlwind We
cannot hear that which makes to Coils
car and the ear of the spirits above us
music as complete as it is tremendous.
The day of judgment. which will be day
of uproar and tu'nult, | suppose will bring
no dssOnance TO the ears Of those who can
calmly listen. although it be as when some
great performer is executing b)isterous
piece of music, he sometimes breaks down
the instrument on which he plays, 50 1t may
be on that last day that the grand march OF
God, played by the fingers OF thunder AMI
earthquake and cOnfla grafton, may break
down the world upon whic the music is ex-
ecute1. Not only is inanimate nature full
of music. but God has wonderfully organized
the human voice. so that in the plainest
throat and lungs there are fourteen direct
muscles which can make over sixteen thou
sand different sounds, and there are thirty
indirect muscles which can make it has
been estimated, more than one hundred AMI
seventy-three millions OF sounds,
Now. [ say. when God has 50 constructor
the human voice, and when he has filled the
whole earth with harmony, and when he
recognized it in the ancient tempe, have
right to come 10 the conclusion that God
loved music.
propose this morning. in setting apart
This organ for sacred u.s., 70 speak about 81
cred music: first showing you its Importance
and then stating some of the obstacles to It's
advancement.
| draw the first argument for the i'm
portance of sacred music from the fact that
tiOl commanded it, Through Paul He tells
MS to admonish one another in psalms AMI
HYMNS and spiritual songs, and through
David He cries out, ''Sing ye to God all we
Kingdoms of the earth" And there are
hundreds of other passages | might name
Droving that it is as much a mans duty TO
sing as it is his duty to pray. lndee
think there are more commands IN @ blOie
t. sing than there are TO pray.
Col not only asks for the human voice but
for instruments of music. lie asks Tor 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 Righteousness or sin will be brought by
their masters and laid down at the feet OF
Christ. and then sounded in the church's
triumrh. on her way from suffering into
glory. "Praise We the Lordn Praise Hin
with vour voices. Praise Him with stringed
instruments and with organs.
draw another argument for the import
ance 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 govern
ments upon laws, upon literature, upon
whole generations One inspiring national
air is worth thirty thousand men rs
standing army. There comes time in the
battle when one bugle is worth thousand
muskets. have to tell you that no nation
or church can afford to severely economics
In music.
Many OF You are illustrations Of What
sacred song can do. Through it you were
brought into the kingdom OF Jesus Christ.
You stood out against the argu nent and the
warning of the pulpit, but when, in the
sweet words of Isaac Watts or Charles IVES
ley or John Newton or Toplady, the love OF
Jesus was sung to your soul then you sur
rendered, as armed castle that could not be
taken by host lifts its window TO listen to
harp's thrill. There was a Scotch soldier
dying in New Orleans and a Scotch minister
came in to give him the consultations Of the
Gospel. The man turned over on his pillow
and said, Don't talk TO me about religion"
Then the Scotch minister began TO sing a
g. ~