Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-09-04

Jerusalem, they brought harp and
! timbrel and trumpet and poured along
| the es.,at Judaean highways river of
! harmony until in and around the tenn
! pie the wealth Of a nations song and
| gladness had accumulated. In our day
| we have a division of labor in music,
! and we have one man to make the
hymn, another man to make the tune,
| another man to play it on the piano
| and another man to sing it. Not so in
| Bible times. Miriam, the sister of
Moses, after the passage of the Red
sea, composed a doXology, set it to
| music, clapped it on a cymbal and at
the same time sang it. David. the
psalmist, was at the same time poet,
musical composer, harpist and singer,
and the majority Of his rhythm goes
vibrating through all the ages.
There were in Bible times stringed
Instruments harp of three strings
played by fret and bow; q harp of ten
strings, responding only to the fingers
of the performer. Then there was the
crooked trumpet, fashioned out Of the
horn of the OK or the ram. Then there
were the sistrum and the cymbals,
clapped in the dance or beaten in the
march. There were 1000 Leyites, the
best men of the country, whose only
business it was to look 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 Lee
vites, before the symbols of Gods pres
ence, and by the smoking affairs, and
20 hot oy.1
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 it was done? One part of that
great choir stood up and chanted, ooh,
give thanks unto the Lord, for he is
goodr' 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 endurest forever" until in the
latter part of the song, the music float
graphing with harmony, every trum-
pet sounding, every bosom heaving, one
part of this great white robed choir
would lift the anthem, ooh, 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 l am glad to know that all
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-
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 q truth in song.
Luther's sermons have been forgotten,
but the Judgment Hymn" he COM
posed is resounding yet all through
ChriStendOm.
I 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 Biz
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.
Now, my friends, how are we to de-
eide what is appropriate, especially
for church music? There may be a
great many differences Of opinion. In
some of the churches they prefer
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 q 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 and staccato passages that
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 l remark, in the first place,