The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-10-12
BENTON. LOUISIANA THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1899.

II, 1899.
duced it into their schools, but Lsve
not much interest in that. My chief in
terest is in the music of the Bible.
The Bible, like a great harp with in
Vulnerable strings, swept by the fingers
of inspiration, trembles with it. So far
back as the fourth chapter of Genesis
you find the first organist and harper
Jubal. So far back as the thirty-first
chapter of Genesis you find the first
choir. All up and down the Bible you
find sacred music-at weddings, at in
augurations, at the treading OF the wine
press. The Hebrews understood how to
make musical signs above the musical
text. When the Jews came from their
distant homes to the great festivals at
Jerusalem, they brought harp and tim
brel and trumpet and poured along the
great Judean highways a river Of har-
mony until in and around the temple the
wealth of nations song and gladness
had accumulated. In our day we have
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 1t.
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
instrumental harp of three strings
playing by fret and bow, a harp of ten
strings resounding 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 1900 Levites, 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 Levites, before
the symbols OF Gods presence and BY
the smoking affairs and the candlestick'
that sprang upward and branched ou
like trees of gold and under the wing
of the cherubim, chanted the On
Hundred and Thirty-sixth Psalm o
David? Do you know how it was done
One part of that great choir stood vi
and chanted: "Oh, give thanks unto th'
Lord, for He is good!" Then the othe1
part of the choir, standing in SOM
other part of the temple, would come il
with the response: "For His mercy en-
ldureth forever" Then the first par
would take up the song again and say
unto him who only doeth great won
ders." The other part of the choi
would come in with overwhelming re
lsponse: For His mercy endureth for
ever" until in the latter part of tn
song, the music floating backward ant
forward, harmony graphing with har
mony, every trumpet sounding, ever.
bosom heaving, one part of this grea
white robed choir would lift the an
them: "Oh, give thanks unto the Co
Of Heaven!" and the other part of tn
Levite choir would come in with the re
sponse: For His mercy endureth fol
ever"
But lam glad to know that all througl
the ages there has been great attentio
paid to sacred music. Ambrosiu:
Augustine, Gregory the Great, Charlie
magne, gave it their mighty influence
and in our day the best musical geniu
is throwing itself on the affairs of Goo
Handel and Mozart and Bach and Dr
rante and Wolf and scores of othe
men and women have given the bes
part of their genius to church music
A truth in words is not half so might
as truth in song. Luther's sermon
have been forgotten, but the "Judgme,
Hymn" he composed is resounding "
all through Christendom.
I congratulate the world and ii
church on the advancement made in tn
art-the Edinburgh societies for ti
improvement of music, the Swiss SIM
; ling societies, the Exeter hall concert
the triennial musical convocafion /;
Dusseldorf, Germany, and Birmingham
England, the controversies of music
Munich and Leipsic, the Handel an
!, Haydn and Harmonic and Mozart s.
cieties of this country, the academies
music in New York, Brooklyn, Bosto
Charleston, New Orleans, Chicago an
every city which has any enterprise.
Now, friends, how are we to decit
/ what is appropriate, especially fl
. church music? There may be a gre;
). many differences of opinion. In son
I of the churches they prefer train.
. choir; in others they prefer the mel
\ deon, the harp, the cornet, the orga1
}. in other places they think these thin,
! are the invention of the devil. Son
: would have a musical instrume
PLAYED SO loud you cannot stand it, al
4 others would have it played SO soft y,
o cannot hear it. Some think a music