The Penn's Grove record., 1899-09-08
Let those refuse to 81 ng
Who never knew u God,
But Oh ldren of the heavenly King
Should speak their Joys abroad.

But children of the heavenly King
Should speak their Joys abroad.
Music seems to lave been born in the
soul of the natural world. The omnipo-
tent voice with which God commanded the
world Into being seems to linger yet with
Its majesty and sweetness, and YOU hear 1t
in the grainleld, In the swoop OF the wind
amid the mounts n businesses, in the
canary's MARBLE and the thunder shock, in
the brooks tinkle and the oceans paean.
There are soft cadences in nature, and
loudno some of which We cannot hear
at all, n sers that are SO terrific that
We cannot as. ecinte them.
The animalcule nave their music, and
the spicula of hay and the globule OF water
are as certainly resonant with the voice of
God as the highest heavens in which the
armies Of the redeemed celebrate their
victories. When the breath OF the n1syer
strikes the air and the wing of the FREELY
cleaves 1t, there Is sound and there Is mel
ody. Aud, as to those utteranees of nature
which seem harsh and overwhelming, 1t Is
as when you stand in the midst of a great
orchestra and the sound almost rends your
ear because you are too near to catch the
blending OF the music. So, my friends, we
Etand too near the de~solating storm and
the frightful whirlwind to catch the blend
Ing OF the music; but when that music
rises to where God is, and the Invisible
being who float above US, then 1 suppose
the harmony is as sweet as it is tremen-
Gous. In the judgment day, that day
II tumult and terror, there will be no
~dlssonance to those who can appreciate
the music. 1t will be as when some
times n great organist, in executing
some great piece, breaks down the in
strument upon which he Is playing the
music. So when the great march OF the
judgment day is played under the hand OF
puFthUnnkQ mud Cfnrnl md nDnaOrntIn
the world itself will break down with the
music that Is played on 1t. The fact is, We
are al, deaf, or we should understand hat
the whole universe Is but one harmony
the stars OF the night only the ivory keys
OF a great instrument on which Gods I'm
gers play the music of the spheres.
Music seems dependent on the law OF
acoustics and mathematics, and yet where
these laws are understood at all the art is
practiced. There are to-day 500 musical
journals in China. Two thousand years be-
fore Christ the Egyptians practiced the art.
Pythagoras learned 1t. Lasus OF Hermoine
wrote essays on 1t. Plato and Aristotle in
troduced it into their schools. But l have
not much interest in that. My chief inter-
est is In the music Of the Bible.
The Bible. like a great harp with innu.
merable strings, swept by the fingers of in
spifation, trembles with it. So far back as
the fourth chapter OF Genesis you And the
first organist and harper-Jubal. So far
back az the thirty-frst chapter of Genesis
YOU find the first choir. All up and down
the Bible you find sacred music-at we'd
dings, at inauguratlons, at the treadlng OF
the wine press. The Hebrews understood
how to make musical signs above the mus
ical text. When the Jews came from their
distant homes to the great festivals at
Jerusalem, they brought harp AID timbrel
and trumpet and poured along the great
Iudapnn btDhyyQva n river nf h rTnnny II n.
til In and around the temple the wealth OF
a nations song and gladness had accumu
lated. In our day we have O division OF
labor in music, aud we have one man to
make the hymn, another nun to make thu
tune, another man to play 1t on the piano
Bible lines. Miriam, the sister OF Moses,
after the passage OF the Red Sea, composed
n doxology, set 1t to music, clapped it on a
cymbal and at the same time sang 1t.
David, the psalmist, was at the same time
poet, musical composer, harpist and singer,
and the majority of his rhythm goes vi
blratinG through all the ages.
There were in Bible times stringed in
ssruments-a harp of three strings played
by fret and bow; q harp of ten strings,
responding only to the fingers of the per-
former. Then there wasthe crooked trum-
pet, fashioned out OF the horn OF the OK or
the am. Then there were the sistrun and
the cymbals, clapped in the dance or
beaten in the march. There were 1000
Levltes, the best men OF the country,
whose only business 1t was to look after
the. music OF the temple. These 1000 Levites
were divided into two classes and officl-
ated on different days. Can you imagine
the harmony when these white robed L.
vites, before the symbols OF Gods pres
ence, and by the smoking affairs, and the
eandlestlcks that sprang upward and
branched out like trees OF gold, and under
the wings OF the cherubim, chanted the
One Hundred aud Thirty-sixth Psalm
of David? Do you know how it
was done. One part of that great
choir stood up and chanted, "Oh.
give thanks unto the Lord, for Heis goodl"
Then the other part OF the choir, standing
In some other part of the temple, would
come in with tho response, "For His mercy
endureth forever" Then the first part
would take up the son again and say,
unto Him who only doeth great Won
ders." 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 floating
backward and forward, harmony graphing
with harmony, every trumpet sounding,
every bosom heaving, one part OF this
great white robed choir would lit the
anthem. "Oh, give thanks unto the God of
heaven, " and the other part OF the Levlte
CuOlI NOu1u cpmt III WIN tue rSSpoHsts
'For His mercy endureth forever"
But | am glad to know that all through
the ages there has been great attention
paid to sacred music. Ambrosius, Angus
tine, Gregory the Great, Chariemagnecave
1t their mighty influence, and In our day
The best musical genius Is throwing itself
on the affairs of Godl Handel and Mozart
aud Bach aud Durante and Wolf and
scores OF other men and women have given
The best part Of their genius to clutch
music. A truth in words is not half so
mighty as a truth in song. Luther's SER
mons have been forgotten, but the "Judg-