Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-24

a piece is exhausted, 1t breaks on
in wheels. rockets, blue lights and serpeu-
tine demonstrations. Some would have the
organ played in almost inaudible sweet
ness, and others would have it full Of STAG
cato passages that make the audience jump
with great eyes and hair ON end, as though
by vision of the Witch of Endor And he
who tries to please all will fail in every
thing. Nevertheless. you are to admit the
fact that this contest which is going on-no
in hundreds but in thousands of the
churches of the United States to-day, is
mighty hindrance to the advancement OF
this art. In this way scores and scores Of
churches are entirely crippled as TO all In
fiuence, and the music is
DAMAGE RATHER THAN PRAISE.
Another obstacle in the advancement Of
| this art has been the erroneous notion that
| this part of the service could be conducted
| by delegation. Churches have said: ''Oh
what an easy time we shall have. This
minister will do the preaching, the choir
will do the singing, and we will have moth
/ idg to do And you know as well as that
there are great multitude of churches all
| through this land, where the people are not
| expected to sing, the whole work is done
! by delegation of four, or six, or ten persons,
| and the audience are silent. In such a
church in Syracuse, an elder persisted in
| singing, and so the choir appointed a CON-
Nlltlec 10 20 anu ask tNc squire II he WOulu
not stop. You know that in a great multi
| tude of churches, the choir are expected to
| do all the singing, and the great mass of the
people are expected to be silent, and if you
| utter your voice you are interfering. There
! they stand, the four, with opera-glass
| dangling at their side, singing Rock of
| Ages, Cleft for Me" with the same spirit
| that the night before, on the stage, they
| took their part in the Grand Duchess
OF Don Giovanni"
My Christian friends, have we right to
delegate to others the discharge of this duty
which Goa demands of us, Suppose that
four wood-thrushes should propose to do all
| the singing some bright day when
THE WOES ARE RINGING
with bird voices. 1t is decided that four
wood-thrushes shall DO all the singing of
the forest Let all other voices keep silent.
How beautifully the four MARBLE. 1t is
really fire II. ale. But how long will you
keep the forest stilll Why, Christ would
come into the forest and look up as he
looked through the olives. and he would
wave his hand and say: "Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord and,
keeping time with the stroke of innumera-
bic wings, there would be 5000 bird voices
leaping into the harmony. Suppose this
delegation Of musical performers were tired
in heaven; suppose that four choice spirits
should try to do the singing of the upper
temple. Hush, now. thrones and dominions
and principalities. David be still, though
you were 1.-The sweet singer of Israeli
Paul. keep quiet, though you have come to
that crown of rejoicing. Richard Baxter!
keep still though this is the Saints ever
lasting rest Four spirits now do all the
singing. But how long would heaven be
quiet! How long, 'Halleluiah!r would
Cry some gloritied Methodist from under
the altar. Praise the Lord'' would sing
the martyrs from among the thrones.
Thanks be unto God who giveth us the
victory!' great multitude of redeemed
SPLITS would cry. Myriads of voices COM
ing into the harmony, and the one hundred
and forty and four thousand breaking
forth into one reclamation.
STOP THAT LOUD SINGING.
Stop, Oh, no, they cannot hear me- You
might as well try TO drown the thunder of
the sky, or beat back the roar of the sea,
for every soul in heaven has resolved to do
its own singing.
Alas. that we should have tried on earth
that which they cannot do in heaven, and,
instead OF joining all our voices in the praise
of the most high God, delegating perhaps
to unconSecrated men and women this nest
solemn and most delightful service.
Now in this church we have resolved
upon the plan of conducting the music by
organ and corret We do it for two rea-
SONS: one is that by throwing the whole
responsibility upon the mass of the people.
making the great multitude the choir, we
might rouse more heartineSs. The congre-
cation coming on the Sabbath day feel that
they cannot delegate this part of the great
service to any one else, and SO they them
selves assume it. We have had glorious
congregational singing here. People have
come many miles to hear it They are not
sure about the preaching. but they can al
r,.,
heard the sound coming up like 1.-The voice
of many waters,'' but it will be done At a
better rate after awhile when we shall real
ize the height, and the depth, and the i'm
mensity of this privilege.
I forgot to state the other reason why we
adopted this plan. That is, we do not want
any choir quarrelS. You know very well
that in scores of churches there has been
perpetual contention in that direction. The
only church fight that ever occurred under
my ministry was over melodeon, in my
first settlement. Have you never been in
church on the Sabbath day. and heard the |
choir sing, and YOU said, a"That is splendid |
music" The next Sabbath you were in |
that church. and there was 10 choir at all |
Whya The leader was mad, or his assist |
ants were mad, or
THEY WERE ALL MAD TOGETHER.
Some of the choirs are made up of our best |
Christian people. Some of the warmest |
friends have ever had have stood up in |
them, Sabbath after Sabbath, conscien- !
tiously and successfully leading the praises |
of God. But the majority of the choirs |
throughout the land are not made up of |
Christian people, and three-fourths of the |
church fights originate in the organ loft. |
| AXE that back and say nine-tenths. A |
great many of on. churches are dying of |
rhoirs.
We want to rouse all our families to the |
duty of the sacred song. We want each |
family of our congregation to be a singing
school. Childish petulance. obduracy and |
would be Soothed if we had |
more singing in the household, and then our |
little ones would be prepared for the great |
on the Sabbath day, their |
voices uniting with our voices IN the praises
IF the Lord. After shower there are
scores of streams that come down the
side with voices ripping and
Silvery. pouring into one river and then
'olling in united strength to the sea- So l
would have all the families in our church
send forth the voice of prayer and praise,
pouring it into the great tide of public wor-
ship that rolls on and on to empty into the !
treat, wide heart of God. Never can we
nave our church sing as it ought until our
antilles sing rs they ought.
THERE WILL BE GREAT REVOLUTION
IN this subject in all our churches. God |
will come down by his spirit and rouse up !
he old hymns and tunes that have not been
more than half awake since the time of our !
The silent pews in the |
hurch Will break forth into music, and
when the conductor takes his place on the |
sabbath day there will be j great host of |