The Brookhaven leader., 1891-10-01

IuSutS VI music, WHETHER Iney nave Otcu
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 triumph,
on her way from suffering into glory.
praise We the Lord! Praise Him with
your voices. Praise Him with stringed
instruments and with organs"
draw another argument for the i'm
portance of this exercise, from the inn
prcssiveness 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 is
worth thirty thousand men as a stand
ing army. There comes a time when in
the battle when one bugle is worth a
thousand muskets. / have to tell you
that no nation or church can afford to
severely economic in music.
Many of you are illustrations of what
sacred song can do. Through il you
were brought into the kingdom of Jesus
Christ. You stood out againt the argu-
ment and the warning of the pulpit;
but when, in the sweet words of Isaac
Watts, or Charles Wesley, 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 a host, lifts it's win
dow to listen to harp's trill. There
was Scotch soldier dying in New Or
leans, and Scotch minister came in to
give him the consultations of the Cos
pei. The man turned over on his pill
low and said: Don't talk to me about
religion" Then the Scotch minister
began to sing familiar hymn of Scot
land, that was composed by David
Dicker son, beginning with the words:
oh, mother, dear Jerusalem,
When shall come to thee?
He sang it to the tune of Dundee, :"
and everybody in Scotland knew that;
and as he began to sing the dying sol
der turned over on his pillow and said
to the minister: "Where did you learn
that?" why replied the minister,
my mother taught me that" 80 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. Oh, it has
an irresistible power. Luther's SER
mons have been forgotten, but his
Judgment Hymn" sings on through
the ages, and will keep on singing I'M
til the blast of the archangers trumpet
shall bring about that very day which
the hymn celebrates i would to God
that those who hear Inc to-day would
take these songs of salvation as mes
sagcs from Heaven; for, just as GER
tainly as the birds brought food to
Elijah. by the brook Cherith, so these
winged harmonies, God-sent, are flying
to your soul with the bread of life.
Open your mouths and take it, o hun
cry Elijahs!
In addition to the inspiring music of
our own day we have a glorious inner :
itance of church psalmody which has
come down fragrant with the devotions
of other generations-tunesn no more
worn ont than they were when our
great-grandfathers climbed up on them
from the church pew to glory? Dear
old souls, how they used to sing! When
they were cheerful, our grandfathers
and grandmothers used to sing Col
chester" When they were very medi
tativc, then the board meeting
house rang with South Street"
and "St. Edmond's." We're they
struck through with great tender
ness, they sang "Woodstock." Were
they wrapped in visions of the glory of
the churAh, they sang Zion" Were
they everborne with the love and glory
of Christ, they sang ariel" And in
those days there were certain tunes
married to certain hymns, and they
have lived in peace a great while, these
two old people, and we have no right
to divorce them. ''What God hath
joined together let no man put asun-
der" But how hard-hearted we must
be if all this sacred music of the past,
and all the the sacred music of the
present does not start us heavenward.
! have also noticed the power of
| sacred song to sooth perturbation. You
| may have come in here this morning
with a great many worriments and
| anXieties, yet, perhaps, in the singing
| of the first hymn you lost all those wor-
riments and anxieties. You have read
in the Bible of Saul and how he was
sad and angry, and how the boy David
came in and played 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 Faranell came and dis
coursed nc usic for three or four days to
him. On the fourth day he looked up
and wept, and rejoiced, and the win
dows were thrown open, and that which
all the splendors of the court could not
do, the power of song accomplished. If
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 brought out of you.
1t also arouses to action. A singing
church is always triumphant church !.
If congregation is silent during the
exercise, or partially silent, it is the
silence of death. If, when the hymn
is given out, you hear the faint hum of
here and there father and mother in
Israel, while the vast majority are
silent, that minister of Christ who is
presiding needs to have very strong
constitution if he does not get the
chills. He needs not only the grace of
God, but nerves like whalebone. 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
discharge this duty. l really believe
that if the Church of Christ could rise