The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-10-08
THE POWER OF SONG.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Pleads for Con-
gregational Singing.
While n Great and Valuable Adjunct &C
Worhisp, There Are, Nevertheless,
Some Obstacles to Its Gem
eral Advancement.

together with recital of some of the
obstacles thereto. 1t is based on the
text:
II came even to pass, as the trumpeters anC
| singers were as one, to make one sound to b,
heard in praising and thanking the Lord.-L
| Chronicles, ", ID
The temple was done. 1t was the
very chorus of all magnificence and
pomp. Splendor crowded against
splendor. 1t was the diamond neck.
lace of the earth. From the huge
pillars crowded with leaves and flowers
and rows of pOmegranate wrought out
in FURNISHED metal, down even to the
tongs and shutters made out of pure
gold, everything was as complete as
the God-directed architect could make
it. 1t seemed as if vision from Heaven
had alighted on the mountains. The
day for dedication came. Tradition
says that there were in and around
about the temple on that day 200,
600 silver trumpets, 40, 1000 timbrels and
i 2O0,0 singers; so that all modern
demonstrations a: Dusseldorf or Bos-
ton seem nothing compared with that.
As this great sound surged up amid
the precious stones of the temple, it
|
life dashing against the amethyst of
the wall of Heaven. The sound arose,
and God, as if to show that He was
well pleased with the music which His
children make in all ages, dropped into
the midst of the temple cloud of
glory SO overpowering that the o.hciat-
ing priests were obliged to stop in the
midst of the services.
There has been much discussion as
to where music was born. think that
at the beginning, when the morning
stars sang together and all the sons of
God shouted for joy" that the earth
heard the echo. The cloud on which
the angels stood to celebrats the crea-
ton was the birthplace of song. The
stars that glitter at night are only SO
many keys of celestial pearl, on which
Gods fingers play the spheres. Inani-
mate nature is full of stringed and
wind instruments. Silence itself-per-
feet silence-is only a musical rest in
God great anthem of worship. Wind
among the leaves, insect humming in
the summer air, the rush of billow
upon the beach, the ocean far out
sounding its everlasting psalm, the
bObOlink on the edge of the forest,
the quail whistling up from the
grass, are music. While visiting Black
wells island, l heard, coming from
window of the lunatic asylum, very
sweet song. 1t was sung by one who
had lost her reason, and L have come
to believe that even the deranged and
disordered elements of nature would
L.,
ncuteness enough to listen. l suppose
that even the sounds in nature that
are discordant and repulsive make har-
mOny in Gods ear. You know that
you may come so near to an orchestra
that the sounds are painful instead of
pleasurable, and l think that we stand
SO near devastating storm and fright
full whirlwind, we can not hear that
which makes to Gods ear and the ear
of the spirits above US a music as COM
plete as it is tremendous.
propose to speak about sacred mu
sic, first showing you its Importance
and then stating some of the obstacles
to it's advancement.
l draw the first argument for the i'm
portance of sacred music from the fact
Paul He tells US to admoniSh one
another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs; through David He
cries out: "Sing We to God, all ye
kingdoms of the EARTH" And there
are hundreds of other passages | might
name, proving that it is as much a
mans duty to sing as it is his duty to
pray Indeed, l think there are
more commands in the Bible to
sing than there are to pray. God
not only asks for the human voice, bnt
for the instruments of music. He asks
for the cymbal and the harp and the
trumpet. And L suppose that in the
last days of the church the harp, the
lutte, the trumpet, and all the instru-
ments of music that have given their
chief aid to the theater and bacchanal,
will be brought by their masters and
laid down at the feet of Christ, and
then sounded in the church's triumph
on her way from suffering into glory. |
Praise Ye the Lord!7 Praise Him |
with your voices. Praise Him with |
stringed instruments and with organs. |
l draw another argument for the |
Importance of this exercise from the |
of the exercise. You |
know something of what secular mu-
sic has achieved. You know it has |
made its impression upon govern
ments, upon laws, upon literature,
upon whole generations. One inspir-
ing national air is worth 80, 900 men as |
a standing army. There comes time /
in the battle when one bugle is worth |
a thousand muskets. In the earlier
part of our civil war the government |
to economic in bands of mu-
sic, and many of them were sent home,
but the generals in the army sent /
word to Washington: You are making
a great mistake. We are falling back
and falling back. We have not enough
music" have to tell you that no ma
ton or church can afford to severely
in music.
Why should we rob the programmes
Of worldly gayety when we have so
many appropriate songs and tunes
in our own day, as well as
that magnificent inheritance of church
which has come down fra
grant with the devOtions of other gen.
erations-tunes no more worn out than
when our great-grandfathers climbed
up on them from the church pew to
glory? Dear old souls, how they used
TO sing! And in those days there were
certain tunes married to certain hymns.
and they have lived in peace a great
while, these two old people, and we
nave no right to divorce them. Born
rs we have been amid this great wealth
Of church music AUGMENTED nv the
of artists in our day, we
ought not to be tempted out of the
sphere Of Christian harmony, and try