The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-09-08

~ AA0 ~ &A@ ~~
crooked trumpet, fashioned ont OF the
horn Of the OK or the ram Then there
We're the sistrum and the cymbals,
| ciapped in the dance or beaten in the
| march. There were 1000 Levites, the
best men OF the country, whose only
| business ii was to Iook after the music
| Of the temple. These 1000 Levites were
| divided into two classes and officiated
| on different days. Can you imagine the
harmony when these white robed Le-
| vites, before the symbols OF Gods pres
| ence, and by the smoking affairs, n
the candlesticks that sprang upward
| and branched out like trees of gold,
| and under the wings Of the cherubim,
chanted the One Hundred and Thirty
| sixth Psalm OF David? Do you know
how 1t was done? One part of that
great choir stood up and chanted, "Oh,
give thanks unto the Lord. for He is
good" Then the other part Of the
choir, standing in some other part Of
the temple. would come in with the
response. For His mercy endureth for
ever" Then the first part would take
up the song again and say, Unto Him
who only doeth great wonders" The
| other part Of the choir would come in
: with overwhelming response, For His
mercy endureth forever" until in the
latter part Of the song, the music float
ing backward and forward. harmony
graphing with harmony, every trum-
pet sounding, every bosom heaving, one
part of this great white robed choir
would lift the anthem, "Oh, give
thanks unto the God of heaven and
the other part Of the Levite choir would
come in with the response, For His
mercy endureth forever"
! TRUTH IN SONG.
But I am glad to know that all
through the ages there has been great
, 9fTanfinn n1i6 tn coarp6 music I'M
b%rosius, Augustine, Gregory the Great,
Charlemagne gave it their mighty
influence. and in our day the best mu-
steal genius is throwing itself on the
affairs of God, Handel and Mozart
and Bach and Durante and Wolf and
scores Of other men and women have
given the best part Of their genius to
church music. A truth in words is not
half so mighty as a truth in song.
! Luther's ermOn have been forgotten,
but the Judgment Hymn" ne COM
posed is re sounding yet all through
Christendom.
l congratulate the world and the
church on the advancement made in
this art-the Edinburg societies for
the Improvement of music, the Swiss
singing societies, the Exeter hall con-
certs, the %triennial musical
ton at Dusseldorf, Germany, n Bir-
! mingham, England, the Conservatives
of music at Munich and Leipsic, the
Handel and Haydn and Harmonic and
Mozart societies of this country, the
academies of music in New York,
Brooklyn, Boston, Charleston, New
Orleans, Chicago and every city which
has any enterprise.
eide what is appropriate, especially
for church music? There may be a
great many differences of opinion. In
some of the churches they prefer a
, trained choir; in others. the old style
, precentor. In some places they prefer
the melOdeon, the harp, the cornet, the
ryan. In other places they think
these things are the invention Of the
devil. Some would " a musical in
strument played so loud you cannot
stand it, Ii others would have it
played so soft you annot hear IL.
Some Think a musical instrument
ought to be played only in the inter-
stices of worship and then with in
describable softness, while others are
not satisfied unless there be startling
contrasts n staccato passages thai
make the audience jump, with great
eyes and hair on end, as from a vision
of the witch of Endor. But, while
there may be great varieties of opin-
ion in regard to music, it seems to me
that the general spirit of the Word of
God indicates what ought to be the
great characteristics of church music.
ADAPTIvENESS TO DEVOTION.
And 1 remark, in the first place, a
prominent characteristic ought to be
adaptiveness to devotion. Music that
may be appropriate for a concert hall
or the opera house. or the drawing
room, may be inappropriate in church
Glees, madrigals, ballads may be as
innocent as psalms in their places
But church music has only one design
and that is devotion, and that which
comes with the toss, the swing and the
display of an opera house is a hin.
drance to the worship. From such per.
formances We go away saying: "Whar
splendid execution. Did o ever heal
such a soprano? Which of those solo.
did you like the better?" When, if WI
had been rightly wrought upon, W.
would have gone way saying: "Oh
how my sou was lifted up in the pres
sence of God while they were singin.
that first hymn! I never had sucl
~rapturous views of Jesus Christ as m,
that last doxology."
My friends, there is an e%verlastin,
distinction between music as an ar
and music as a help to devotion
Though a Schumann composed it
though a Mozart played it, though
Sontag sang it, away with it if it doe
not make the heart better and homo
Christ.
Why should we rob the programme
of worldly gayety when we hav
so nan appropriate songs and tune
composed in u own day, as we'll a
that magnificent inheritance Of churc
psalmody which has come down fra
grant with the devotions of other gen
erations-tunes no more worn out tina
they were when our great-grandfather
climbed up on them from their churc
pew to glory? Dear old souls, no,
they used to sing! When they wer
cheerful, our grandfathers and grand
mothers used to sing Colchester.
When they were very meditative, the
the boarded meeting house ran
with South Street" and "St. Ed
mund's." Were they struck throug
with great tenderness, they san
Woodstock" Were they wrappe
in visions of the glory of tn
church, they sang Zion" Wer
they overborne with the love and glor
{ of Christ, they sang Ariel" And /
those days there were certain tune
= married to certain hymns, and the
l have lived in a. a great while, thes
! two old people, and we have no rigf
t to divorce them. What God hat