The Yale expositor., 1899-09-15

tative then the boarded meeting housa
rang with South Street" and est. Ed
munds." 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" And in
those days there were certain tunes
married to certain hymns, and they
have lived in peace a great while,
these two old people, and we have no
right to divorce them. What God
hath Joined together let no man put
asunder." Born as we have been amid
this great wealth of church music,
augmented by the IMPOSITION of art
lists in our own day, we ought not to
be tempted out of the sphere Of Chris
tian harmony and try to seek uncon-
secrated sounds. 1t is absurd for a
millionaire to steal.
remark also that correctness ought
to be a characteristic of church music.
While we all ought to take part in
this service, with perhaps a few ex-
captions, 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 n
howl or a yelp. In this day. when
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 CT the European ca
thedrals the choir assemblies every
morning and every afternoon Of every
day the whole year to perfect them
selves in this art. and shall we be-
grudge the half-hour we spend Friday
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 a
rock-clear, bright, sparkling. II 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 look
off on an audience with their eyes
three-fourths closed, and their lips al
most shut, mumbling the praises Of
God. During one of my journeys l
preached to an audience of two or
three thousand people, and ell the
music they made together did not
equal one skylark! People do not
sleep at a coronation; do not let us
sleep when we come to a Sayior's
| browning.
In order to a 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 do
this duty half so we'll 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; do
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 cle
C above, or you should come in half
a bar behind. we will excuse YOU S i'll.
it is better to do as Paul says, and
sing with the spirit and the under
standing also"
Again, l remark cnurch music must
be congregational. This opportunity
must be brought down within the
range of the whole audience. A song
that the worsh pers cannot sing is OF
no more use to them than a sermon
in Choctaw. What an easy kind of
church it must be where the minister
does all the preaching and the elders
all the praying and the choir all the
| singing! There are but very few
churches where there are two hundred
and forty and five singing men and
singing women" In some churches il
is almost considered a disturbance ii
a man let out his voice to full COM
pass. and the people get up on tiptoe
and look over between the spring hats
and wonder what that man is max ne
all that noise about In Syracuse,
| n. Y, in a Presbyterian church. tn re-
was one member who came to me
when | was the pastor of another
church in that city. and told me 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 II he
would not just please to keep still!
You have a right to sing. Jonathan
Edwards used to set apart whole days
for singing Let us wake up to this
duty. Let us sing alone. sing in our
| famil es, sing in our schools, sing in
our churches.
i 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
l 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
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