The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1899-09-15

Were they struck through
with great tenderness, they sang
Woodstock" Were they wrapped IN
visions of the glory Of the church,
they sang Zion" Were they over
borne with the love and glory OF
Christ, they sang Ariel" Ana IN
those days there were certain tunes
married to certain hymns, and they
have lived in peace a great wnile'
these two old people, and we have no
right to divorce them. what Gou
hath Joined together let no man put
asunder" Born as we have been amlu
this great wealth of church music
augmented by the compositions OF art
lists in our own day, we ought not 10
be tempted out of the sphere OF Chris
tan harmony and try to seek uncoh-
secrated sounds. 1t is absurd TOT
millionaire to steal
I remark also that correctness ought |
to be a characteristic of church music
While we all ought to take part IN
this service, with perhaps few ex-
ceptions, we ought at the same time
to cultivate ourselves in this sacred
art. God loves harmony and we ought
to love it. There is no devotion in a
howl or a yelp. In this day, Wheh
there are so many opportunities OF
high culture in this sacred art, de-
clare that those parents are guilty OF
neglect who let their sons and daugh-
tiers grow up knowing nothing about
music. In some Of the European ca
thedrals the choir assemblies every
morning and every afternoon OF every
day the whole year to perfect then-
selves in this art, and shall we pc
grudge the half-hour we spend FHday
nights in the rehearsal of sacred song
for the Sabbath?
Another characteristic must be spirit
| and life. Music ought to rush from
| the audience like the water from
rock-clear, bright, sparkling. III all
the other part of the church service Is
dull. do not have the music dull. with
so many thrilling things to sing ABOUT
away with all drawing and stupidity.
There is nothing that makes me SO
nervous as to sit in pulpit and looR
off on an audience with their eyes
three-fourths closed, and their lips al
most shut, mumbling the praises CT
God. During one OF my Journeys l
preached to an audience of two or
three thousand people, and all the
music they made together dld noF
equal one skylark! People 90 not
sleep at a coronation; do not let us
sleep when we come to a SavloTs
crowniDg.
in order to proper discharge OF
this duty, let us stand up, save as age
! or weakness or fatigue excuse us.
Seated in an easy pew we cannot 90
this duty half so well as when upright
we throw our whole body into it. Let
our song be like an reclamation OF vic
tory. You have a right to sing; 90
not surrender your prerogative. If IN
the performance of your duty, or the
attempt at it, you should lose your
place in the musical scale and be enc
C below when you ought to be cne
C above, or you should come in hail
a bar behind, we will excuse you! Ill
it is better to do as Paul says, ana
sing with the spirit and the under
standing also"
Again, I remark church music mus
be congregational. This opportunity
! must be brought down within thf
range of the whole audience, A sons
that the worshipers cannot sirg is =.
no more use to them than a sermon
in ~Chc.ctaw, What en- easy kind Of
church it must be where the minister
does all the preaching and the elders
all the praying and the choir all thl
+inging! There are but very few
churches where there are two hundred
and forty ard five singing men ard
singing women" In some churches il
is almost considered a disturbance il
man let out his voice to full COM
pass, and the people get up on tiptoe
and look over betpeeh the spring hats
and wonder what shat man is making
all that noise atf6ut In Syracuse,
n. Y, in a Presby' srian church, thsra
was one member who came to me
when was the pastor of another
| cnurCn III ludL CITY, anu IOlu NE HIS
trouble-how that as he persisted in
singing on the Sabbath day, a COM
mittee, made up of the session and the
choir had come to ask him If he
would not Just please to keep still!
You have right to sing Jonathan
Edwards used to set apart whole days
for singing. Let lis wake up to this
duty. Let us sing alone. sing in our
families, sing in our schools, sing in
our churches.
/ want to rouse you to unanimity
in Christian song that has never yet
been exhibited. Come, now, clear your
threats and get ready for this duty, or
you will never hear the end of this.
never shall forget hearing a French
man sing the "Marseillaise" on the
Champs Elysees, Paris, just before the
battle of Sedan in 1870. l never saw
such enthusiasm before or since. As
he sang that national air, oh, how the
Frenchmen shouted! Have you ever
in an English assemblage heard band