Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-05-18

Ah0HAnA NAAnN tuE utAAA a klOul u
boys sing to him while eating at the table
taught the boys a plaintive song In which
the people lamented their bad behavior
and the king, under the pathos Of the music
cried out; The city Of Antioch is for
given" The rage Of Achilles was assuaged
by harp. Asclepiades swayed rebellious
multitudes by harp.
After the battle of Yorktown, when o
musician was to suffer amputation, and be
fore the days Of anesthetics, the wounded
artist called for a musical instrument and
lost not note during the 20 minutes Of
amputation- Filippo Palma, the great mu
sician, confronted by an angry creditor,
played SO enchantingly before him that the
creditor forgaye the debt and gave the debt
or 10 guineas more to appease other cred
itors. An eminent physician Of olden time
contended (of course, carrying our theory
too fari that all ailments of the world could
be cured by music. The medical journals
never report their recoveries by tbs mode.
Bus in what twilight hour has many a
saint of God solaced a heartache with
hymn hummed or sung or playedi Jerome
Of Prague sang while burning at the stake.
Over what keys Of piano or organ conso
lation has walkedl Yea, in church one
hymn has rolled peace over thousand OF
the worried, perplexed and agonized. While
there are hymns and tunes ready for the
jubilant, there Is a rich hymnology for the
suffering-"Naomi" and "Eventide" and
Autumn Leaves" and "Come, Ye Discon-
solate," and whole portfolios and hbrettos
of tears set to music.
All the wonderful triumphs of surgery
and all the new modes Of successful treat
ment of physical and mental disorders are
discussed in medical conventions and spread
abroad in medical books, and it is high
time that some of the millions of souls that
have been medicated by music, vocal and
instrumental, let the world know what
power there is in sweet sound, whether roll
ing from lip or leaping from frightened
chord or ascending from ivory key. Music
is a universal language At the foot Of the
Tower of Babel language was split into
fragments never to be again put together,
but one thing was not hurt, and that is
music, and it is the same all the world over
Last summer in Russia at a watering
place we were greeted as we entered great
auditorium which was filled with thousands
of Russians, whose language could not un-
derstand any more than they could under
stand mine. But after the grand band had,
out of compliment to us. played our two
great American airs stepped on the plat
form and said to the bandmaster, Russian
airl Russian airl'' and then he tapped with
his baton on the music rack, and with a
splendor and majesty of power that almost
made us quail the full band poured forth
their national anthem. They understood our
American music, and we understood their
Russian music. 1t is universal language
and so good for universal cure.
should not wonder if in the day Of iudg
ment it should be found out that mora
souls have been saved by music than by
preaching. l should not wonder if, out Of
the IA, 900 ransomed souls that John fore
saw before the throne of God, at least 130,
600 had been saved by sweet song. Why
does not the church on earth take the
Sint? Heaven is the great musical center
ofthe universe, the place of doxologies and
trumpets and harps, and in preparation for
that place we ought to make more ofmusic
on earth.
The band of music at Waterloo played
the retreat of the Forty-second Highland
ers back to their places, and saIred music
has returned many faltering host of God
into the Christian conflict with as much de
termination and dash as Tennyson's 'SiS
Hundred" Who can tell what has been
accomplished by Charles Wesley's 7,00(
hymns, or by the congregational singing oi
his time, which could be heard two miles
Off When my dear friend Dio Lewis
(gone to rest all too soon) conducted cam
paign against drunkenness at the west, an6
marshaled thousands of the noblest womer
of the land in that magnificent campaign
and whole neighborhoods and villages and
cities shut up their grog shops, do you
know the chief weapon used9 1t was the
song:
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee.
They sang it at the door of hundreds NJ
liquor saloons which had been open fol
years, and either at the first charge of the
campaign or the second the saloon shut up
At the first verse of Nearer, My God, te
Thee" the liquor dealers laughed; at the
second verse they looked solemn; at the
third verse they began to cry, and at thu
fourth verse they got down on their knees
You say they opened their saloons again
Yes, some of them did. But it is great
thing to have hell shut up if only for :
week. Give full swing to a good gospe
hymn, and it would take the whole worlt
| for Godl
But when in my text see Saul declining
| this medicine of rhythm and cadence an(
actually hurting a javelin at the heart O
| David, the harpist, bethink myself of th,
fact that sin would like to kill sacred music
| We are not told what tune David was play
| ing on the harp that day, but from tn
| character of the man we know it was not
| crazy madrigal, or senseless ditty, or ;
sweep of strings suggestive of the melo
| drama, but elevated music, God given mu
sic, inspired music religious music, who'll
heaven of it encamped under harp string
| No wonder that wicked Saul hated it an(
could not abide the sound and with all hi
might hurled an instrument of death at it.
know there are styles of music that sill
admires, and you hear it as you pass tn
casino or the dance hall, and the devil ha
stolen most of the fiddles, though am glat
the Ole Bulls have snatched up the charmed
strings from their dissertation; but it is
fact that sin has javelin for sacred sounds
In many churches the javelin Of criticism
| HAS hllltu UuC LAuSlC, JdFOlih AuhS lOl
organ loft or from adjoining pew of tn
supersensitive. Saul's javelin aimed a
David's harp. Thousands of people 81
afraid they may not sing scientifically the,
will not sing at all or sing with such lov
tone that no one hears them.
In many church the javelin of criticism
has crippled the harp of worship. If sataI
could silence all the Sunday school song
and the hymns of Christian worship h
would gain his greatest achievement. Whel
she millennial song shall rise land it is be
ing made ready, there will be such rol
If voices, such concentrated power o
stringed and wind instruments, such majes
ty, such unanimity, such continental ant
hemisphere and planetary acclamation
that it will be impossible to know wher
earth stops and heaven begins. Roll Oh
roll in, roll up, thou millennial harmony!
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