The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-05-20


Of the audience. and the voices roll back
into the Threats from which they started
and only here and there anything is heard,
and nine-tenths Of the holy power is
destroyed and the dumb devil, as he
fires away, says, II could not keep Isaac
Waits from writing that HYMN. and |
could not keep Lowell Mason from com
posing the tune to which it is set. but
smote into silence or half silence the lips
from which it would have spread abroad
TO bless neighborhoods and cities. and
then mount the wide open heavens. .
Give the long meter doxology the full
support Of Christendom and those four
lines would take the whole earth for Gsd.
THE POWER OF SONG.
During the cotton famine in Lanca-
shire, England, when the suffering was
something terrific. as the first wagon
load of cotton rolled in, the starving
people unlocked the horses and drew
the load themselves, singing, until all
Lancashire joined in with triumphant
voices, their cheeks sopping with tears,
praise God from whom all blessings
flow" When Commodore Perry, with
his warship the Mississippi. lay off the
coast of Japan, he bombarded the shores
with odd Hundred" played by. the
marine band. Glorious ''Old Hundred"
composed by William Franc, of Ger
many. In war prison at ten o'clock
at night, the poor fellows far from home
and wounded and sick and dyingo one
prisoner started the "Old Hundred Dox-
ology, and then a score Of voices joined,
then all the prisoners on all the floors
took up the acclaim until the building,
from foundation to topstone, fairly
quaked with the melodious Inscription.
a British man-of-war, fling off for.
eign coast, heard a voice singing that
doxology, and Immediately guessed and
guessed Alright, that there was an Eng
lishman in captivity to the Mohamme-
dams; and in the small boats the sailors
rowed to shore and burst into a guard
house and set the captive free. | don't
know what tune the trumpets of resur-
rection shall play, but it may be the dox-
ology which is now sounding across
Christendom How much more hearty
we would be in our songs, and how
easily we could drive back the dumb
devil from all our worshiping assem-
blages, if we could realize that nearly
all our hymns have a stirring history.
That glorious hymn, "Stand Up for
Jesus" was suggested by the last words
of Dudley Tying, who was dying from
having his right arm torn off n a
machine. That hymn, What
a Friend We Have in Jesus" heard
telephone, converted an OBJ
durate soul. Shall We Gather at the
River?' was a hymn first sung in our
Prospect park, at the chill
dren's May anniversary, and then started
to encircle the world. where Is My
Boy Tonight" is a song that
has saved hundreds of dissipated young
men.
Tom, me drummer boy in the army,
was found crying, and an officer asked
him what was the matter! oh he
said, Il had dream last night. My
sister died ten years ago, and my, yuoth-
or never was herself again and s*Ntt7ied
soon after. Last night | dreamt | was
killed in battle, and that mother and
sister came down to meet me-" After
lhe next battle was over, some one
the field heard voice that he
recognized as the voice of Tom, the
hummer boy, singing Jesus, Lover of
My Soul" But at the end of the first
verse the voice became very feeble,
md at the end of the second verse it
stopped, and they went up and found
Tom, the drummer boy, leaning against
| stump and dead.
That hymn, "Oh, for a Thousand
Tongues to Sing" was suggested tc
Charles Wesley by Peter Boiler, who,
lfter his conversion, said, Il had bet
er keep silent about it." NO" said |
Wesley, IF you had ten thousand
ongues you had better use them fo1
Jhrist. And then that angel o:
lymnolOgy penned the words
Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
My dear Redeemer's praise,
The gories of my God and king,
The triumphs of his grace.
Jesus the name that Gains our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
'Iis music in the sinners ears,
It's life and health and peace.
While much of the modern music is
religious doggerel, a consecrated non
ense, a sacred tomfoolery, | would like
o see some great musician of our time
lift the baton and marshal Luther's
Judgment Hymn, Yarmouth, Dundee,
Ariel, Brattle Street, Uxbridge, Pleyel's
lynn, Harwell, Antioch, Mount Pts
ah and Coronation, with a few regi-
nents of mighty tunes made in our own
ime, and storm Asia, Africa and Amer
ga for the kingdom of God. But the
rst thing 70 do is to drive out the dumb
evil of the text from all our churches.
A PERSONAL MATTER.
Do not, however, let us lose ourselves
a generalities. Not one of us but has
ad our lives sometimes touched by the
vii spirit of the text-this awful dumb
evil. We had just one opportunity of
aging Christian word that might have
ID man or woman into a Christian
fe. The opportunity was fairly put
efore us. The word of invitation or
onsolation or warning came to the in
de gate of the mouth, but there it
allied. Some hindering power locked
ne jaws together so that they did not