Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1891-10-01
On mother, dear Jerusalem.
When shall | come to theeY

| ~ NiNi llluetF btll Ll3Q DEOUcl
soldier; and the very foundation Of his heart
was upturned, and then and thers he Yields
himself to Christ Oh, it has an irresistible
| power. Luther's sermons have bean forgot
| ten, but his Judgment HYMN sings on
through the ages, and will keep on singing
until the blast of the archangals 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 heayen for
Just as certainly as the birds brought food to
| Elijah by the brook Cherith so these wiuvel
nafmonles, God sent, are flying to your soul
with the bread of life. Open your mouths
| and takeit 0 hungry Ehjahsl
In addition to the inspiring music OF our
own day we have glorious inheritance OF
church psaimody which has come down fra
grant with the deYosions of other genera
tols-tunes no more worn out than taey
were when our great-grandfathers climbed
up on them from thu church pew to glory
Dear old souls, how they used to singl When
they were cheerful, our gran1fathsrs AID
granimothsrs used to sing "Colchestsr.p
When they wsre, very meiitative then tho
board Westinghouse rang with IS )uth
Street" aud ''5U. EdmonTs" Wera taey
strucI through vita great tsn lerne3s they
sang Woodstock" Were they wrapped in
visions of the glory Of the church. they sang
Zion" Were they overborns with the love
and glory of Christ they sang Ariel" Aud
In those days there were certain tunes mar
RED to certain hym1s, AMI they have liysi
In peace great while, tass7 two old people
and we have no right to divorces them
What God hath joined 10 gethsr let no mau
put asunder." But how harl-heartel we
must be il ali the sacred music of the past,
and all the sacred music OF the present does
not start us hsayenwarI
| have also notice the power of sacrel
To t,a hot
come IN here this morning with great
many worriments and auxieties yet, per-
haps In the singing OF the first hymn, you
lost all those worriments and auxieties You
have read in the Bible of Saul and how he
was sad and angry and how the boy David
came in aud playei the evil spirit out OF
him Spanish king was melancholy. The
windows were all closed He sat in the
darkness. Nothing could bring him forth
until Faraneli came and discoursed music
three or four days to him On the fourth
day he looked up and wept and rejoiced, and
the windows were thrown open, and that
which all the splendors of the court could not
do the power of song accomplished Ii you
have anxieties and worriments. try this
heavenly charm upon them. Do not sit
down on the bank of the hymn, but plunge
In, that the devil of care may be brou ght
out of you.
1t also arouses to action. A singing church
is always triumphant church, II a e5ngre.
cation is silent during the exercise or par.
TALLY silent, it is the silence of death Ii
when the hymn is given out, you hear the
faint hum of here and there father and
mother in Israel. while the vast ma iority are
silent, that minister of Christ who is presid-
ing needs to have very strong constitution
if he does not get the chlls He needs not
only the grace of God but nerves like whale
bone. 1t is amazing how some people, who
have voice enough to discharge all their
duties in the world, when they come into the
house Of God have no voice to dischar re
this duty. | really believe that if the church
of Christ could rise up and sing as it ought
to sing that where we have hundred sSuls
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 of this
sacred music, and the first is that it has been
impressed into the service of superstition
am far from believing that music ought al
ways to bs positively religious. Refined art
has opened places where music has been sec
ularizsd, and lawfully so. The drawing
| room, the musical ciub the orchestra, ths
concert, by the qualification of pure taste,
and the production of harmless amusement.
and the improvement of talent, have become
great forces i'll tne advancemento OF our civili-
cation. Music has as much right to laugh in
Surrey gardens as it has to pray in st
Paul's.
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 head, and the
heart has often been impressed into the sel,-
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
snatched from his hand an instrument an
played upon it something very sweet
| dream that has often been fulfilled in oul
| 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 inordinate
! fear of criticism The vast majority OF pao-
pie singing in church never want anybody
else to hear them sing. Everybody is wait
| ing for somebody else to do his duty. 1t we
\ all sang, then the inaccuracies that are evil
dent 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,
I and then, if you get the wrong pitch, or keeE
wrong time, He viii forgive any deficiency
of the ear and imperfection of the voice.
Angels win 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
! toldztae German school, the Italian school
and the French school OF singing Now, |
would like to add u fourth school, and that
is the school of Christ The voice OF con
trite, broken heart, although it may not be
able to stand human criticism, makes better
music to Gods ear than the most artistic
performance when the heart is wanting
know it is easier to preach on this than it is
to practice, but | sing for two reasons--iirst,
because like it, and next, because | want
to encourage those who do not know how. |
have but very little faculty in that direction,
yet am resolved to sing, God has coai
manded it, and ldafe not be silent He call,
on the beasts, on the cattle, ON the dragons
to praise Him, and we ought not be behind
4 the cattle aud the dragons
I Another obstacle that has been in the way
of the advancement of this holy art hrs
been the fact that there has been SO muca
augry discussion on the subject of music.
j There are those who would have this exei'
cise conducted by musical Instruments la
the same church there are those who do MOI
and no organ, and there is fight In
\ another church it is question whether the
music shall be condncted by preeentor or
| by drilled choir. Some want a drilled
choir aud some want presenter, and thera
! is a fight. Then there are those who would
| like in the church to have the organ played
| ina dull, lifeess, droning way, while there
are others who would have it wreathei into