Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-09-14
|TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"MUsIciN WORSHIP" SUNDAYS
SUBJECT.
Nehemiah Z: 81: And They Had Two
Hundred Forty and Five Singing Men
and Singing women"--Children of the
Heavenly King. t1&

H Copyright 1899 by Louis Klopsch)
The best music has been rendered
under trouble. The first duet that |
know anything of was given by Paul
and Silas when they sang praises to
God and the prisoners heard them. The
Scotch covenanters, bounded by the
dogs Of persecution, sang the psalms of
David with more spirit than they have
ever since been rendered The captiyes
IN the text had music left in them, and
l declare that if they could find, amid
all their trials. two hundred and forty
and i've singing men and singing wom-
en-, then in this day of gospel sunlight
and free from all persecution there
ought to be a great multitude of men
and women willing to sing the praises
CT God. All cur churches need arousal
OF this subject. Those who can sing
must throw their souls into the exer-
else, cd these w&o cannot sing must
Iearn hcw, AID it shall be heart to
heart, voice to voice, hymn to hymn,
anthem to anthem, and the music shall
swell tr@i.a~.. with thanksgiving and
trelulc@~S With pardon. >.. .....
Have you ever noticed the construc-
ton of the human throat as indicative
Of what God means us to do with it?
In only an ordinary throat and lungs
there are fourteen direct muscles and
thirty indirect muscles that can pro-
duce very great variety of sounds.
What does that mean? 1t means that
you should sing! Do you suppose that
God, who gives us such a musical in
strument as that. intends us to keep
1t shut? Suppose some great tyrant
should get possession of the musical
instruments Of the world, and should
lock up the organ of Westminster Alb
hey, and the organ Of Lucerne, and the
organ at HARLEM, and the organ at
Freiburg, and all the other great mu-
Steal instruments Of the world-you
would call such man as that a mon
ster; and yet you are more wicked If,
with the human voice, a musical in
strument of more wonderful adapta-
ton than all the musical instruments
that man ever created, you shut it
aSdllloI Iuc III disc VI HOu-
Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God;
But children of the Heavenly King
Should speak their joys abroad"
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 convocation
at Dusseldorf, Germany, and Birming-
ham, England; the Conservatives of
music at Munich and Leipsic, the Han
del and Haydn and Harmonic and Mo-
Fart societies of this country, the acad-
emies of music in New York, Brooklyn,
Boston, Charleston, New Orleans, Chi
cago, and every city which has any en-
terprise.
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 pre-
centor. In some places they prefer the
melodeon, the harp, the cornet; in
other places they think these things
are the invention of the devil. Some
would have musical instrument
played so loud you cannot stand it, and
others would have it played so soft you
cannot hear it. Some think a musical
instrument ought to be played only in
the interstices of worship, and then
with indescribable softness, while
others are not satisfied unless there be
startling contrasts and staccato pas
sages that make the audience jump,
with great eyes and hair on enc, las from
a vision of the Witch of Endor. But,
while there may be great varieties of
opinion 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.
And I remark, in the first place, a
prominent characteristic ought to be
adaptiveness 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
innocent as psalms in their places.
But church music has only one de-
sign, and that Is devotion, and that
which comes from the toss, the swing
and the display of an opera house is
a hindrance to the worship. From
such performances we go away say
ing: What splendid execution" Did
you ever hear such a soprano?"
Which of those solos did you like
the better?" When, If he had been
rightly wrought upon, we would have
gone away saying: ooh, how my soul
was lifted up in the presence of God
while they were singing that first
hymn Il never had such rapturous
views of Jesus Christ as my Savior as
when they were singing that last dox-
ology." ...'..... ,..
My friends, there is an everlasting
distinction between music as an art
and music as help to devotion.
Though a Schumann composed it,
though Mozart played it, though a
Sontag sang it, away with it # it
does not make the heart better and
honor Christ. Why should we rob the
programmes of worldly gaiety when
we have so many appropriate songs
and tunes composed in our own day,
as we'll as that magnificent Inheritance
Of church psalmody which has come
down fragrant with the devotions OF
other generations-tunes no more worn
out than they were when our great
grandfathers climbed up on them from
the church pew to glory? Dear old
hon, fhau ,,cad IN cipoo Uvbap