The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-09-13

Another characteristic must be
spirit and life. Music ought to rush
from the audience like the water from
rock-clear, bright, sparkling. If
all the other part Of the church
service is dull, do not have the
music aa;s:!! as:!!. With SO many
thrill ing things to sing about, away
with all drawling and stupidity. There
is nothing that makes me so nervous as
to sit in pulpit and look off on an au-
dience with their eyes three-fourths
closed, and their lips almost shut mum.
bling the praises Of God. During one
of my journeys | preached to an audi
ence of 900 or 5000 people, and all
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 Saviour's crowning.
In order to a proper discharge of this
duty, let US stand up, save as age OF
weakness or fatigue excuses US. Seated
in an easy pew we cannot do this duty
half so well as Shen upright we throw
our whole body into it. Let our song
be like an acclamatiol Of victory. You
have right to siug-do not surrender
your prerogative. If in the perform
ances of your duty, or the attempt at it
you should lose your place in the musi-
cal scale and be one G below when you
ought to be one G above, or you should
come in a half bar behind, we will ex-
cuse you! Still it is better to do as
Paul says and sing with the spirit and
the understanding also"
Again, I remark, church music must
be congregational. This opportunity
must be brought down within the range
of the whole audience. A song that
the worshipers cannot sing is Of no more
use to them than a sermon in Chock-
taw. What an easy kind Of church it
must be where the minister does all the
preaching and the elders all the pray
ing 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 it is almost considered a
disturbance if man let out his voice
to full compass and the people get up
on tiptoe and look over between the
spring hats and wonder what that man
is making all that noise about. In Sy-
racuse in Presbyterian church there
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 committee, made up Of
the session of the choir, had come to ask
him if he would not just please to keen
still You have right to sing. Jor'
than Edwards used to set apart whcie
days for singing. Let US wake up 70
this duty. Let US sing alone, sing in
our families, sing in our schools, sing
in our churches.
| want to arouse you to unanlmlty
in Christian song that has never yet
been exhibited. Come, now; clear
your throats and get ready for this duty,
or you will never hear the end Of this.
I never shall forget hearing French
man sing the ''Marseillaise" on the
Champs Elysees, Paris, just before the
battle Of Sedan in 1870. | never saw
such enthusiasm before or since. AS
he sang that national air, oh, how the
Frenchraen shouted! Have you ever in
an English assemblage heard a band
play God Save the Queen?" If you
have, you know something about the
enthusiasm Of national air.
Now, tell you that these songs we
sing Sabbath by Sabbath are the nation
al airs of the kingdom of heaven, and
if you do not learn to sing them here
how do you ever expect to sing the song
of Moses and the lamb? should not be
surprised at all if some of the best an
thems of heaven were made up of some
of the best songs of earth. May God
increase our reverence for Christian
psalmody and keep us from disgracing it
by our Indifference and frivolity.
When Cromwell's armv went into
battle, he stood at the head of it one
day and gave out the long meter doxol-
ogy to the tune of the "Old Hun
d1edth, and that great host, company
by company, regiment by regiment, di-
visivn by division, Joined in the doxol-
ogy:
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
And while they sang they marched,
and while they marched they fought,
and while they fought they got
the victory. Oh, men and women of
Jesus Christ, let us go into all our con-
ficss singing the praises Of God, and
then, instead of falling back, as we Of
ten do, from defeat to defeat, we will
be marching on from victory to victory.
Gloria In Excelsis'' is written over
many organs. Would that by our ar-
probation of the goodness of God, and
the mercy of Christ, and the grandeur
of heaven, we could have "Gloria In
Excelsis" written over all our souls.
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the
beginning, is now and ever shall b,
world without end. Amen
Accidents Sea.
The annual report Of Gen. Dunont,
the supervising inspector general Of
steamboat inspection, shows that the