Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-10-01

siding needs 10 have very strong constI-
tution IN he does not get the chills He
needs not only the grace Of God, but
nerves like whalsbDne. IL Is amazing how
some people with voice enough 20 dis
charge all their duties in the world. when
they come into the house u God have no
voice 10 discharge this duty. | really be-
lieve that IL the church of Christ could
rise up aud sing "a il ought % sing, where
we have 100 souls brought into the king
dom OF Christ there would be 1000. How
was II In olden times Calrian said
Luther conquered Us by his songs.
Bat | must now speak OF some OF the
obstacles In the way Of the Advancement OF
this sacred music, and the first is that 1t
has been impressed into the service Of satan.
| am far from believing that music ought
always 10 be positively religious. Refined
art has opened places where music has
been secularized. and lawfully -. The
drawing room, the concert, hy the gratiica-
tiOn Of pure taste and the production Of
harmless amusement and the Improvement
Of talent, have become very forces Ia the
advancement OF our civilization. Music
/ has as much right 10 laugh Ia Surrey
| gardens a it has to pray ia ST. PIul's In
| the kingdom Of nature We have tn glad
hfng Of the wind as well as 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 improve
ment OF the ear. and the voice and the
/ head, and the heart. has often been i'm
| pressed into the service OF error Tartini
1 the musical composer, dreamed one night
/ that satan snatched from his hand an
| instrument and played upon il something
/ very sweet-a dream that has often been
fulfilled in our day-the voice and the
/ instruments that ought to have been de-
/ voted to Christ captured from the church
/ and applied to the purposes Of sin.
Another obstacle has been an inOriinate
| fear Of criticism The vast majority Of
| people singing In church never want any
/ BODY else to hear them sing. Everybody
/ is waiting for somebody else to do his duty.
| II we all sang, then the inaccuracies
| that are evident when only a few sing
/ would be- drowned out. God asks You to
/ do rs well as you can, and then if you get
! the wrong pitch or keep wrong time He
will forgive any deficiency Of the ear and
! imperfection Of the voice. Angels will not
| laugh if you should lose your place in the
/ musical scale or come in at the close a bar
| behind. There are three schools OF sing
/ ing, | am told-the German school, the
/ Italian school and the French school Of
! singing. Now l would like to add fourth
school, and that is the school OF Christ.
/ The voice OF a contrite, broken heart, al
| though it may not be able to stand human
| criticism. makes better music to Gods ear
| than the most artistic performance when
/ the heart is wanting. God calls on the
| beasts. ON the cattle, on the dragons, to
praise Him, and we ought not to be behind
/ the cattle and the dragons.
Another obstacle In the advancement Of
| this art has been the erroneous notion that
! this part of the service could be conducted
by delegation. Churches have said: "Oh.
what an easy time We shall havcl The
minister will do the preaching, and the
choir will do the singing, and we will have
/ nothing to do And you know As well as
! | that there are great multitude Of
churches all through this land where the
people are not expected to sing. The
| whole work is done by a delegation of four
or six or ten persons, and the audience are
| silent In such u church in Syracuse an
old elder persisted in singing, and so the
choir appointed a committee to 90 and ask
the elder if he would not stop. You know
| that in many churches the choir are eN-
pected to do all the singing, and the great
mass Of the people RrpcXpected to be silent,
and if you utter your voice you are inter
fering. In that church they stand, the
four with opera glasses dangling at their
side, singing Rock Of ages, cleft for me, ~
with the same spirit that, the night before
on the stage, they took their part in the
| "Grande Duchesse' or Don Giovanni"
Ny Christian friends. have we a right to
delegate to others the discharge Of this
duty which God demands Of US? suppose
that four wood thrushes propose to do all
r-Hods ora rin,,iny with hir1 voicss II is
T,ai1a5 tbot fo,Sr rrnod thruehas shoII 40
oil mo .ir,inC ~ tbe forest Tet ali other
,,,,i,,s tet7n siIant How beautifully tbn
four warble 1t is really fine music. But
how long will you keep the forest still?
Why, Christ would come into that forest
"li,,os md be would wave his hand md
ga,' i'.r az nyervtbiny thot hath hrenfh
!ii., a., Tnrd" an3 tnnrip,, Tina ,rith
~ 49,, ~ i,rI,,1arabI,, ,rin,,s tb,ra
y,a,,l5 ba 5OOO bird voices leaning into Tho
"VnL" ~, G,r,nnso tbis JsiaF,atinn nf
nsiooI' narsorn,ars ware triad In baavep
$50, tbat fonr cboitn snirits ebonit tr
~ a. tSn sirring of ma nnnsr tamrie
IN u, +hrn99as ond dnrtIriors anj
Irinrinalitieer David he still thomgh
I,,, "-ara tbe sweat einrnr nj
israaIi" PAM keen nuiet thouph
.,' Io,,a ,a,,,, T., thnt arovcn ~ reioicin7,I
pjrbar5 povtnr L.ann stiIl thou0h mis- Il
IVA tGointS' EvarIastjng RastT' Four
s,,iri+s now 40 all thn singing Rut how
ILl,,, ,,,n1,I1 beovar he oniet9 How long.
( ..ua2uI,;nh, 80 ,r,,,,iI r, snr,a ,,loriGej
,InthndjSt from nnJar the altar "praise
tio LIZ, ,rnI,l1 stnr tba MARTYRS from
-, tbo thrn,,,s s.,rborI.s he INTO God
,,ho r,;,atb ne tho ,iotorvi'' rreat mutt.
t,IaH1F r,,lo,,,,.tl st;rits wonId rrv--rnvr.
49, - C'r,7 i,to tba bornGn,
and 10 ~ ooo LrnaIsin, forth into onn NO,
"inr, t, Sto,, t%"t i9nd sincip,, StNn
oh mn Tbn, oannot hear me Y6n mirbt
o. ,,,a1I INV - iron,r Tho thnndar oF t,n Oh .
80 hant hSoI, W t ~, Of thn son for a,,o.,,
sanI IN b"o,o, Las roeolvnd ~ 40 ne n,, ,
si,',i 40 sloa hot wa sbnnId boyo triod
tiop' ,,,n a. IN boot.n,,
w. .n ininin nii 80 H.
ne Az ~ ~ ast birb Ca Jaio[,ot
tmc pia.SG VI t Wv Extraordinarily n,a,
rn So pTt +biS most snlamn md most 6nIi,bt
S %Tu Ierri vn,o