Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-10-01

Christ. You stood out against the warn
ing and the argument of the pulpit, but
when, in the sweet words Of Charles
Wesley or John Newton or Toplady, the
love Of Jesus was sung to your soul,
then you surrendered, as an armed cas-
tie that could not be taken by host
lifts its window to listen TO q harp's
trill.
There was a Scotch soldier dying in
New Orleans, and a Scotch minister
came in TO give him the consultations Of
the gospel. The man turned over on his
pillow and said, Don't talk TO me
about religion" Then the minister be-
gan to sing a familiar hymn that was
composed by David Dickinson, begin
ming with the words:
Oh, mother dear, Jerusalem,
When shall come to theeS
He sang it 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. " so did
mine" said the dying soldier, and the
very foundation of his heart was up
turned, and then and there he yielded
himself TO Christ Oh, it has an ire
sistible powerl Luther's sermons have
been forgotten, but his Judgment
Hymn" sings on through the ages and
will keep on singing until the blast Of
the archangel's trumpet shall bring
about that very day which the hymn
celebrates. | would to God that you
would take these songs Of salvation as
from heaven, for just as GER
tainly as the birds brought food to Eli
jah by the brook Cherith so these wing
ed harmonies, God sent, are flying TO
your soul with the bread Of life. Open
your mouth and take it, o hungry Eli
jahl
Soothing Music.
| have also noticed the power Of sa-
cred song to soothe perturbation. You
may have come in here with a great
many worriments and anxieties, yet
perhaps in the singing of the first hymn
YOU 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. A
Spanish king was melancholy. The
windows were all closed. He sat in
the darkness. Nothing could bring him
forth until Franeli came and discOursed
music for three or four days to him. On
the fourth day he looked up and wept
and rejoiced, and the windows were
thrown open and that which all the
Snlendors of the court could not do the
power e song accomplished. If you
have anxieties 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 may
be brought out Of you.
1t also arouses to action. Do you not
know that singing church is always a
triumphant church? If congregation
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 a
very strong constitution if he does not
get the chills. He needs not only the
grace Of God, but nerves like whalebone.
It is amazing how some people with
voice enough TO discharge all their du-
ties in the world, when they come into
the house Of God have no voice TO dis
charge this duty. l really believe that
if the church Of Christ could rise up
and sing as it ought to sing, where we
have 100 souls brought into the king
dom Of Christ there would be 1000.
How was it in olden timer CaJetan
said. Luther conquered US by his
songs. "
But must now speak Of some Of the
obstacles in the way Of the advancement
of this sacred music, and the first is
that it has been impressed into the sery-
ice of satan. | am far from believing
that music ought always to be positive
" religious. Refined art has opened
places where music has been secular
lied, and lawfully So The drawing
room, the concert, by the gratitica-
tion of pure taste and the produc-
ton Of harmless amusement and the
Improvement of talent, have become
very forces in the advancement OF cur
Music has rs much right
10 laugh in Surrey gardens rs Ii has to
pray in ST. Paul : In the kindgom OF
nature we have the glad fling Of the
wind as well as the long meter psalm Of
the thunder But, while all tlis l. so,
every observer has noticed that this art.
which God intended for the improve
inent Of the ear, and the voice, and the
head. and the heart, has often been i'm
pressed into the service Of error Tar
TIM, the musical composer, dreamed
one night that satan snatched from his
hand an instrument and played upon 1t
something very sweet-a dream that
has often been fulfilled in our day-the
voice and the instruments that ought to
have been devoted TO Christ captured
from the church and applied to the pur-
poses Of sin.
Fear of Criticism.
Another obstacle has been an inordi-
nate fear of criticism. The vast majority
of people singing in church never want
ANYBODY else to hear them sing. Every
body is waiting for somebody else TO do
his duty. If we all sang, then the mac
curacies that are evident when only
few sing would be drowned out God
asks You to do as well as you can, and
then if you get the wrong pitch or keep
wrong time he will forgive any de-
ficiency 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 be-
hind. 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 a
fourth school, and that is the school Oh
Christ The voice of contrite, broken