The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-04-27

ment, of the resignation which illu-
mined anguish, and of the hope which
triumphed over death. When Haydn
in his old age heard the mighty pass
age, "Let There Be Light" from his
oratorio of "The Creation" he flung
up both his hands weeping, to heaven,
and cried; ''Not from me, not from
me, but from above all it came" II
we'll know" said Beethoven, "that
God is near to me in my art. Ever
more have l acknowledged Him."
GLOW did you FEEL" friend asked
Handel. "when you were composing
the Hallelujah Chorus?" II thought"
answered Handel.
THAT Saw all Heaven Before Me,
and the great God himself upon his
throne" And since such were the
moods in which high strains were
composed, we can the more easily I'M
cerstand why they bring Scripture
home to us with such consummate
power. While you have sung or
listened to Spohr's Gas Pants the
Hart for Cooling Streams" have you
never seemed to stoop with the
stricken deer to drink of the healing
waterss Or, as you have heard Men
delssohn's "Oh Had / the Wings of
Dove" have you never seemed to
see the dove herself lowering before
you in the lucent atmosphere, covered
with silver wings, and her feathers
like gold, rejecting the sunlight
from every waving plume? Again,
st. Paul says, Speaking to one an
other with psalms" Are not the
Psalms, those very Psalms of David
which still we sing as he wrote them
to be sung, dear to us because they
speak the universal language of the
human heart? Do they not preserve
the thrilling record of every sublime
thought, of every troubled moment,
of every fiery experience, of every
heavenly aspiration which swept
across the horizon of the poets soul?
They" says an old writer, "must have
souls very dry and tough, for whom
the sweetness and softness of that
which touched the ear does not con-
vey, as it were by stealth, the treas
ure of good things into mans mind,
from whom the melody of the Psalms
doth not sometimes draw that where
in a religious soul delighteth." The
antiphonal singing of them was Gus
tomary from the first in the Jewish
Temple. Christian tradition says
that the responsive chant was intro
duced into the early Christian church
of the East by the martyr st. Igna-
thus, in the second century, because
he so heard the angels singing to God
in Heaven. And we know that it
was introduced into the Church of
the West by st. Ambrose in the
fourth century. He was in peril of
his life from the intrigues of the
Arian Empress Justinia, and his
whole congregation thronged the
Basilica of Milan to protect him,
staying day and night in the sacred
precincts. Lest they should be ut
terly wearied out by those long vigils,
St. Ambrose taught them to beguile
the tedious hours by singing the
Psalms alternately verse by verse,
and one of those who then first heard
those Ambrosian chants and was
touched by them to tears of emotion
was the young convert, st. Augustine.
There is no part of the musical SER
vice in which there is more room for
sincerity and intelligence; no part of
the service which is rendered more
differently in different places. A
young girl once asked the teacher
how she could improve her singing
to the utmost. His answer was the
wise rule: Cultivate your heart"
I am quite sure tina. is the only rule
for moving or acceptable devotion.
The
Birth of Mere Professionalism
in the choir is the death of sincerity
in the service, but the training of in
telligence in the choir is an addition
to the significance and to the glory
of the worship. The is an old legend
that once there was very poor COM
munity of monks who had not sin
gle good voice among them, but who
determined nevertheless daily at
least to chant the "Magnificat." They
did so with manifold discord, and
were ashamed. But shortly after
novice joined them, who had lovely
voice. They thought: "Now at last
we shall have the canticle sung
worthily.' The novice with the love-
ly voice sang it, and they rejoiced.
But that evening an angel appeared