The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-29
POWER OF SACRED MUSIC
REV. A. ID. PHILPUTT, OF CENTRAL
CHRISTIAN CHURCH, TALKS OF 1T.
Song a Strong Element In Divine Serv-
fce-Some of the Great Hymns
and Their Authors.

the quartet, preceded by a brief account
of their origin. In the course Of his SER
mon Mr.. Philputt said:
THE power of music has been recognized
in all ages. 1t belongs to the savage as
well as TO the civilized man. In great
epochs like war, revolution, social and re-
ligious reformations, songs burst forth and
show their power. When action and speech
no longer suffice to express a people S
feelings, resort is had to song. Nothing
in articulate or inarticulate sound has the
power which music has. For soothing sor-
row, for driving away care, for expressing
JOY and hope ii stands pre-eminent. DR..
. Kane kept his men from mutiny ard
death In the Arctic regions by playing on
an old violin. Wellingtons Highlanders at
the battle OF Waterloo asked that playing
OF the bagpipes be stopped it made
them homesick.
But nowhere Is the power OF song more
clearly seen than in divine service. Here
the people coming in with their different
moods are to be united in divine worship.
HOW can 1T be done? Only by uniting
voice and heart In song can these raveled
edges of care be wrought up into the gar
ment or praise. Singing awakens the emo
tons of the soul. Songs which celebrate
Gods goodness. the beauties of the sane
tuary, His tender foI giving love, stir within
us holy desires This makes music the
proper service with which to begin public
worship. The fallen and the outcast are
Gai won by sweet strains of song.
hitting suicide by hearing an Easter an
them. But music to be effective must be
or the right kind. Not all singing is wor-
ship. Beecher said, There Is nothing on
earth so divine as good music and nothing
so horrid as bad music. Paul says, Sing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Passing by the Psalms. and that melo-
dious burst of inspired songs in the first
chapter of Luke, the 'Benedictus,' Mag
nificat, Glory in Excelsis,' and Nunc
Dimittis,' We come to the, middle ages A
few great hymns were produced by the
Latin church. Art Thou Weary Art Thou
Languid,' was composed by Stephen of ST.
Sabas. In 794, simple restful lyric on the
words, Come unto me and L will give you
rest The two founders of Latin hymn
ology were Hilary, bishop OF Poictiers, and
Ambrose, bishop of Milan. The latter is
credited with being the author Of the TIE
Deum Laudamus. The greatest hymn Of
the Latin church is the Dies Irae,' written
by an Italian monk, Thomas of Celano, in
the thirteenth century. 1t is a hymn to
be sung in the service for the dead The
'Stabat Mater is one OF the finest as we'll
as the most pathetic of the hymns of the
middle ages. But the hymns of this period
are gloomy and austere like the theology
out Of which they grew.
1T was not until the German reformation
under Luther that modern hymnology be-
gan. When that movement rolled In like a
tide the church burst out again into song.
Luthers great battle hymn, Elm feste
Burg list Unser Gott,' breathes forth the
brave spirit of faith which carried the
reformation to successful issue. Luther
did not write macy hymns, but those he
did write were sung all overs Germany. His
enemies said, BY his songs he has con-
quered u.s. Paul Gernardt was the great
est of German church poets, and the Ger
mans have, perhaps, the largest collec-
ton of hymns of any people, amounting it
Is said, to no less than 10000 Among Eng
fish and American hymn writers might be
mentioned first few such names as Tate
Ia oh I'd po
ter and John Mason, but these were only
prophecies of Watts and Wesley. Isaac
Watts surpassed all his predecessors in
hymnwriting. His songs are tender and
sweet. Some Of them are Joy to the
World, the Lord Is Come Thy Kingdom.
Lord. Forever Stands He Dies, the
Friend Of Sinners Dies
HYMNS OF CHARLES WESLEY.
Forty years before Watts died another
great bard arose, who in some respects
surpassed him. l refer to Charles Wesley,
seven thousand of whose hymns have come
down to US. He swept for a time every
| thing else out of the field. He was the bard
of Methodism as John Wesley was its
preacher. 1t was on the anniversary of his
| conversion that he wrote % for Thou
sand Tongues to Sing His greatest is
| perhaps that immortal hymn, Jesus. Lover
| of My Soul, Let Me TO Thy Bosom Fly.
| Beecher says of this hymn: L would rather
| have written 1t than possess all the power
| of all the kings that ever sat on thrones.
| Untold generations to come will sing that
hymn and I think it will mount up at
| last on some lip and be sung in the new
Jerusalem. DR.. Finney, of Oberlin, sung
| 1T just a few hours before his departure.
| The hymn was suggested ny a bird fly
| ing in at the window, pursued by hawk.
John Newton's How Sweet the Name of
Jesus Sounds and Glorious Things of
| Thee are Spoken have been much loved.
Among the great hymns of the present
century may be mentioned John H. New
mans Lead Kindly Light composed aft
er severe illness I'm Palermo on his re-
| turn from Rome. He was then in great
agony Of spirit and soon after went into
| the Catholic Church. Another great hymn
| is Topladys Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me-
| TOplady was a bitter Calvinist and de-
spsed the doctrines of the Wesleys. But
| Albert, of England repeated ii on his
| death bed. 1t was aimed at Methodism
because the author thought they put too
| little emphasis on the atonement. But
| cannot mention half that deserve it. There
| is Sarah F. Adams's Nearer, my God, to
| Thee, O. great poem. Charlotte Elliott who
was once a waif in the streets of New
| York wrote Just as L Am, Without One
| Plea Bowring, Unitarian, wrote In the
| Cross of Christ / Glory hymn of the
| Church UNIVERSAL; Dwight is the author OF
| Il Love Thy Kingdom, Lord and Frances
| r. Havergal L 1ave My Life for Thee
Gods singers have come from the lowly
! as we'll as from the hghborn, from men
| of different creeds, and some of our fin
| est lyrics were produced in the heat OF
| party strife but flowers have long since
| grown over the walls of sectarian divisions
| and these matchless productions of human
| genius are now the property OF the whole
| church"