Connecticut western news., 1899-09-07

divided into two classes and officiate,
 on different days. Can you imagine tn
 harmony when these white robed I.e
 vites, before the symbols of Gods pres
 ence, and by the smoking altars, an,
 the candlesticks that sprang upwar
 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 knoy
 how it was done? One part of tha
 great choir stood up and chanted, "Oh
 give thanks unto the Lord, for he i
 soodp Then the other part of tn
 choir, standing in some other part O
 the temple, would come in with tn
 response, For his mercy endureth for
 eyer." Then the first part would talk,
 up the song again and say, Unto hin
 who only doeth great wonders" Tn,
 other part of the choir would come il
 with overwhelming response, "For hi:
 mercy endurest forever" until In thu
 latter part of the song, the music float
 ing backward and forward, harmony
 s;rappling with harmony, every trum pet sounding, every bosom heaving, ont part of this great white robed choil
 would lift the anthem, "Oh, giv, thanks unto the God of heaven" ant the other part of the Levite choir would come in with the response, For his mercy endureth forever
 Truth In Song.
 But 1 am glad to know that al through the ages there has been great attention paid to sacred music. Am. brosius, Augustine, Gregory the Great Charlemagne gave it their mighty influence, and in our day the best mu. sical genius Is throwing itself on the sltars of God. Handel and Mozart end 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 truth in song. Luther's sermons have been forgotten, but the Judgment Hymn" he com posed is resounding yet all through Christendom.
 1 congratulate the world and the church on the advancement made in this art-the Edinburgh societies for the improvement of music, the Swiss singing societies, the Exeter hall con certs, the triennial musical convoca- ton at Dusseldorf, Germany, and Bir- mingham, England, the conservatories 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.
 Now, my friends, how are we to de- eide what Is appropriate, especially for church music? There may be q 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 organ. In other places they think these things are the invention of the devil. Some would have a musical in- strument played so loud you cannot stand it, and others would have it played so soft you cannot hear 1t. Some think a musical instrument ought to be played only in the inter- stices of worship and then with in- softness, while others are not satisfied unless there be startling contrasts and staccato passages that make the audience jump, with great eyes and hair on end, as from vision of the witch of Endor. But, while there may be great varieties of opin- ion in regard to music. 1t seems to me that the general spirit of the Word of God indicates what ought to be the great characteristics of church music.
 Adaptfveness to DeYotion.
 And I remark, in the first place, a prominent characteristic ought to be to devotion. Music that may be appropriate for concert hall, or the opera house, or the drawing room, may be inappropriate in church. Glees, madrigals, ballads may be as 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 q him drance to the worship. From such per we go away saying: What splendid execution! Did you ever hear such a soprano? Which of those solos did you like the betterY When, if we had been rightly wrought upon, we would have gone away saying: "Oh, how my soul was lifted up In the pres ence of God while they were singing that first hymn! I never had such rapturous views of Jesus Christ as my Saviour as when they were singing that last doxology."
 My friends, there Is an everlasting distinction between music as an art md music as help to devotion. Though Schumann composed 1t, though Mozart played 1t, though a Sontag. sang it, away with 1t if it does lot make the heart better and honor Christ.
 Why should we rob the programmes ,f worldly gayety when when we have 70 many appropriate songs and tunes composed in our own day, as well as hat magnificent inheritance of church osalmody which has come down fra grant with the devotiqps of other gen ,rations-tunes no more worn out than hey were when our great-grandfathers climbed up. on them from the church ,ew to glory? Dear old' souls, how hey used to sing! When they were 'heerful, our grandfathers and grand used to sing Colchester" When they were very meditative, then he boarded meeting house rang with South Street" and "St Ed Were they struck through with great tenderness, they sang Woodstock" Were they wrapped n visions of the glory of the hurch, they sang "Zion." Were hey overborne with the love and glory f Christ. they sang Ariel" And in hose days there were certain tunes married to certain hymns, and they ave lived in peace great while, these wo old people, and we have no right 0 divorce them. What God hath