Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-05-16

OF the duuteuct, anu bnt NOiCts IOll OdCh
into the thrOats 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
flies away, says. IL could not keep Isaac
| Watts from writing that hymn, and /
could not keep Lowell Mason from com
posing the tune to which it is set, but
slnote 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" 4"
Give the long meter doxology the full
support of Christendom, and those four
lines would take the whole earth for God.
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 "Old 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 dying, one
prisoner started the "Old Hundred Dox-
ology," and then 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 ascription.
A British man-of-war, lying off for
eigp coast heard 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-
rectiou shall play, but it may be the dox-
ology which is now sounding across
Chlistendom 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 stirring history.
That glorious hymn, Stand Up fo1
Jesus" was suggested by the last words
of Dudley Tying, who was dying from
having his right arm torn off in a
thrashing machine That hymn, what
Friend We Have in Jesus" heard
through a telephone, converted an OBJ
durate soul. "Shall We Gather at the
Riverl" was a hymn first sung in ou1
Brooklyn Prospect park, at the chill
dren's May anniversary, and then started
to encircle the world. Where Is My
Wandering Boy Tonight" is song that
has saved hundreds of dissipated young
men.
Tom, the drummer boy in the army
was found crying, and an officer asked
him what was the matter! oh" he
said, 81 had a dream last night. My
sister died ten years ago, and my moth,
er never was herself again and she died
soon after. Last night | dreamt was
killed in battle, and that mother and
sister came down to meet me-" After
the next battle was over, some one
crossing the field heard voice that he
recognizef as the voice of Tom, the
drummer boy, singing "Jesus, Lover OF
My Soul" But at the end of the first
verse the voice became very feeble
and at the end of the second verse il
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
after his conversion, said, 81 had bet
ter keep silent about it," NO" sale
Wesley, ''if you had ten Thousand
tongues you had better use them fol-
Christ" And then that angel ol
hymnology penned the words;
Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
My dear Redeemers praise,
The glories of my God and king,
The triumphs of his grace.
Jesus, the name that calms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
'Tis music in the sinners ears,
'Tis life and health and peace.
While much of the modern music il
a religious doggerel, consecrated non
sense, a sacred tomfoolery, | would lik,
to see some great musician Of our tim'
lift the baton and marshal Luther
Judgment Hymn, Yarmouth, Dundee
Ariel, Brattle Street, Uxbridge, Pleyel'
Hymn, Harwell, Antioch, Mount Pts
gah and Coronation, with few regi
ments of mighty tunes made i'll our owl
time, and storm Asia, Africa and Amer
lea for the kingdom of God. But tn,
first thing to do is to drive out the duml
devil of the text from all our churches.
A PERSONAL MATTER.
Do not, however, let us lose ourselve
in generalities. Not one of us but ha
had our lives sometimes touched by tn,
evil spirit of the text-this awful dumI
devil. We had just one opportunity o
saying Christian word that might havt
led a man or woman into a Christian
life. The opportunity was fairly pu
before us. The word of invitation o.
consolation or warning came to the in
side gate of the mouth, but there i
halted. Some hindering power locked
the jaws together so that they did no
open. The tongue lay fiat and still il
the bottom of the mouth as thougl
struck with paralysis, We were mute
Though God had given us the physio
logical apparatus for speech, and oul
lungs were filled with air which, by tn,
command of our will, could have mad,
the laryngeal muscles move and the voca
organs vibrate, We were wickedly ant
fatally silent. For all time and eternity
we missed our chance.