Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1897-10-06

MS pillow anu SAID: Don't talk 10 me
about religion" Then the minister
began TO sing familiar hymn that
was composed by David Dickinson, be-
ginning with the words:
oh. mother dear jerusalem
When shall come TO thee.
He sang IL to the tune of Dundee.
| and everybody in Scotland knows that;
and, as he began to sing. the dying sol
der turned over on his pillow and said
to the minister, Where did YOU learn
that?' why" replied the minister,
my mother taught me that" $50 did
mine, said the dying soldier, and the
very foundation of his heart was up
turned and then and there he Welded
himself to Christ Oh, il has irresistible
/ power, Luthers sermons have been
forgotten, but his judgment hymn sings
ON through the ages and viii keep on
singing until the blasts OF the arch
angels trumpet shall bring about that
! very day which the hymn celebrates |
would to God you would take these
/ songs OF salvation as messages from
heaven; for just as certainly as the
birds brought food to Elijah by the
brook Chcrith, so these winged harmo-
MES, God-sent, are flying TO your soul
with The bread of life Open your
mouth and take it, . hungry Elijah.
have also noticed the power Of sa-
cred song TO Sooth perturbation. You
may have come in here with great
many worrimcnts and anxieties, vet
perhaps in the singing of the firt hymn
you have lost them all. You have read
in the Bible of Saul, and how he was
sad and angry, and how the boy
David came in and played the evil
spirit out of him. 4 Spanish king
was melancholy. The windows were
all closed. He sat in the dark
ness. Nothing could bring him forth
until Franeli came and discoursed mu-
sic for three or four days TO him. ON
the fourth day he looked up and wcpt
and rejoiccd, and the windows were
thrown open and that which all the
splcndors of the court could not do. the
power of song accomplished. If You
have anNieties and worriments try this
Heavenly charm upon them Do not
sit down on the bank of the hymn. but
plunge in that the devil of care NAV be
brought out of you.
1t also arouses to action. Do You not
know that single church is always
triumphant church? If II congrcga-
ton is silent during the exercise or
partially silent, it is the silence of
death. If when the hymn is given out
you hear the faint hum of here and
there father and mother in Israel.
while the vast majority are silent. that
minister of Christ who is presiding
needs to have very strong consti-
tuition if he does not get the
chills He needs not only the grace of
God but nerves like whalcbond 1t is
amazing how some people with voice
enough TO discharge all their duties in
the world, when they come into the
house of God have no voice to discharge
this duty. really believe that if the
church of Christ could rise mp and sing
as II ought TO sing, where we have a
hundred souls brought into the king
dom OF Christ there would be "a thou
sand. How was il in oldcn time? Cafe
tan said: Luther conquered us by
his songs.
But must now speak of some of the !
obstacles in the way of the advance
mcnt of this sacred music. and the first |
II that ii has been impressed into the |
service of Satan
! avn far from believing that music
ought always to be positively religious.
Refined art has opened places where
music has been secularizcd, and law
fully so. The drawing room. the con
cert, by the qualification of the pure
taste and the production of harmless
amusement and the improvement of
talent have become very forces in the
of our civilization.
Music has as much right to
laugh in surrey Gardens as it has
to pray in IT. Pauls. In the kingdom
OF nature we have the glad fling of the
wind as well a. the long meter psalm
of the thunder. But. while all this is
so, every observer has noticed that this
art, which God intended for the i'm
proyement Of the ear. and the voice.
and the head and the heart, has often
been impressed into the service of err
ror. Tartini. the musical composer,
dreamed one night that Satan snatched
from his hand an instrument and
played upon it something very sweet
a dream that has often been fulfilled in
our day, the voice and the Instruments
that ought 20 have been devoted To
Chris. captured from the church and
applied 10 the purposes of sin.
Another obstacle has been an inordi-
nate fear of criticism. The vast ma
joritr OF people singing i'm church |
never want anybody else to hear them /
sing. Everybody is waiting for some |
body else ~ do his duty II We all |
sang. then the inaccuracies that are /
evident when only few sing would be |
drowned out. God asks you 10 do a, |
well as you can, and then If YOU get |
the wrong pitch or keep wrong time !
He Will forgive any deficiency Of the /
car and imperfection Of the voices.
Angels will not laugh if you should |
lose your place in the musical |
scale or come ira at the clos. "A
bar behind. There are three schools |
Of singing. am told-thc German
school, Italian school and the French
school ~ singing Now would like
90 add a fourth school. and that Is the
school Of Christ. The voice Of con.
trite. broken heart although IL may
not be- able 10 stand human criticism,
makes better music for Gods ear than
the most artistic performance when
the heart is wanting. God call. ON the
beasts. ON the cattle ON the dragons 30
praise Him and we ought not 10 be be-