Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-09-14
right to divorce them. what God


augmented by the compositions 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. #as~
remark also that correctness ought
to be characteristic of church music,
While we all ought to take part in
this service, with perhaps few ex-
to cultivate ourselves in this sacred
art. God loves harmony and we ought
to love 1t. There is no devotion in a
howl or 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 OF 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
rock-clear, bright, sparkling. If 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 all the
music they made together did not
| equal one skylark! People do not
sleep at coronation; do not let US
sleep when we come to a Savior'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 1t. Let
our song be like an reclamation Of vic
tory. You have 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 one
c below when you ought to be one
| c above, or you should come in half
a bar behind, we will excuse you! SIN.
1t is better to do as Paul says, and
sing with the spirit and the under
standing also.'
Again, 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 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 ii
is almost considered a disturbance If
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 making
all that noise about. In Syracuse.
N. Y, in g 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, COM
mittee, made up of the session and the
choir, had come to ask him If he
would not just please to keep still!
| You have 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
| families, sing in our schools, sing in
our churches.
| / 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 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
Frenchmen shouted! Have you ever
in an English assemblage heard band
play God Save the Queen? If you
have, you know something about the
enthusiasm Of a national air. Now, l
tell you that these songs we sing Sab
bath by Sabbath are the national airs
of the kingdom Of heaven, and il 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
anthems Of heaven were made up OF
some Of the best songs of earth. May
God increase our reverence for Chris
tian psalmody, and keep us from dis
grazing it by our Indifference and friv-
olity. ... ..... .r.r..
| When Cromwell's army went into
battle he stood at the head of it one
day and gave out the long-meter dox-
ology to the tune of the "Old Hun
dredth," and that great host, company
| by company, regiment by regiment,
division by division, Joined in the dox-
ology: .... ..a. ..... h.. .-..
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"