The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07


with the bread OF life. Open your mouths
and take it, o hungry Ehjahs!
In addition to the inspiring music OF our
own day we have glorious inheritance OF
church psalmody which has come down fra
grant with the devotions Of other genera
Eions-tunes no more worn out than they
were when our great-grandfathers climbed
ND 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 Colchester"
When they were very meditative, then the
board Westinghouse rang with south
Street" and "St. Edmond's." We're they
sane "Woodstock." Were they wrapped 10
~asi.as of the glory of the church, they sang
Zion" Were they overborne with the love
and glory of Christ, they sang. "Ariel." And
in those days there were certain tunes mar
ried to certain hymns, and they have lived
in peace great while, these two old people,
and we have no right to divorce them.
What God hath joined together let no man
put asunder." But how hard-hearted we
must be if all the sacred music OF the paSS,
and all the sacred music of the present does
not start us heavenward.
have also noticed the power OF sacred
song to soothe perturbation. You may have
come in here this morning with great
many worriments and anxieties, yet, per-
haps, in the singing Of the first hymn, you
lost all those worriments and anxienes. lou
have read in the Bible Of Saul and how ne
was sad and angry, and how the boy DaVlo
came in and playe1 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
Al r,nali an1 6iScnurSed mnSlC
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 brought
out of you.
It also arouses to action. A singing church
is always triumphant church! X conSre-
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 a father and
mother in Israel, while the vast majority are
silent. that minister of Christ who Is presid-
ing needs to have very strong constitution
if he does not get the chils. He needs not
only the grace Of God, but nerves like whale
bone. It 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. really believe that if the church
of Christ could rise up and sing as it ought
to sing, that where we have hundred souls
brought into the kingdom OF Christ there
would be thousand.
But must now speak of some OF the OBJ
nnf n
sscred music, and the first is that it has been
Impressed into the service Of superstition. l
am far from believing that music ought al
ways to be positively religious. Refined art
has opened places where music has been Sec
ularizsd, and lawfully so. The drawing
room, the musical CLUB, the orchestra, the
concert, by the qualification of pure taste,
and the production of harmless amusement
and the Improvement Of talent, have become
great forcas in the advancement OF our clvllt'
zation. Music has as much right to laugh n
Surrey gardens as it has to pray IN ST.
In the kingdom Of nature we have the GLAD
fling of the wind as we'll 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 ser.
vice of false raligions. False rehgions 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 and
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 peo-
pie singing in church never want anybody
else to hear them sing. Everybody is wait
ing for somebody else to do his duty. II we
ali sang, then the inaccuracies that are evi
dent when only a few sing would not bt
heard at all; they would be drowned out
God only asks you to do as well as you can,
and then, if 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 if 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 German school, the Italian school
and the French school Of singing. Now,
would like to add 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 easisr to preach on this than 1t Is
to practice, but sing for two reesons-arst,
because like it, and next because l want
to encourage those who do not know how.
have but very little faculty in that direction
yet am resolved to sing. God has com
manded it, and 1dare not be silent. He CALI
on the beasts, On the cattle, on the dragons
to praise Him, and we ought not be behind
the cattle and the dragona.
Another obstacle that has been in the was
OF the advancement Of this holy art has
been the fact that there has been 30 much
angry discussion on the subject of music.
There are those who would have this exer-
c1se conducted by musical instruments. In
the same church there are those who do not
like musical instruments, and so 1t Is organ
and no organ, and there is a fight. In
another church it is question whether the
music shall be conducted by a precentor or
by drilled choir. Some want q drilled
choir and some want prsceator, and there
Is light. Then there are those who would
like In the church to have the organ played
IN dull, Ifeless, droning way, while there
are others who would have it wreathed into
fantasies, branching out in jets and spangles
of sound, rolling and tossing in marvellous
convultions, as when, in pyrotechnic els.
play, after you think piece is exhausted,
it breaks out in wheels, rockets, blue lights
and serpentiae demonstrations
Some would have the organ played in al.
most inaudible sweetness, and Others would
have it full Of staccato passages that make
the audience jump, with great eyes and hair
anH q - thot1o-h nv vision ~ h.
of Endor. And he who tries to please all
will fail in everything. Nevertheless, you
are to admit the fact that tais contest which
is going on, not in hundreds, but in thou
sands of the churches of the Cnitcl States
to-day, is a mighty hindrancs to the al.