The Newtown bee., 1902-08-01
hymn or symphony, but the satisfac- tion ona ,ratS from if iS lilxe lOnkinp at,

hymn or symphony, but the satlStac-
 tion one gets from it is like looking at
 the picture of a friend, it is not his living presence. If the living soul be
 not back of 1t and expressing through
 the externals of the art it's own deep
 emotion, it not only loses for him who
 listens it's won derful charm, it fails to
 do for the singer anl performer him : self all of which it is cap able.
 Music is the expression of hum n
 emotion, and as our emotions are
 many, so music has it's manifold char
 acters. It may express our mere an-
 lmal passions, our merely human
 emotions. The bacchanalian song, the
 sensuous air, as they awake the pas
 sions, so they are their fit expression.
 Love'and hate, and the exuberance of
 youth and animal spirits are all ex-
 pressed in tender lyric or martial song,
 or the dance. So music in itself is no
 more sacred than human nature is
 sacred. But there are deeper and higher emotions in us than these. The love of God in Christ, the sense of sin,
 the joy of forgiveness, the felt pres
 ence of God in the life, the opening
 Of eternity, the glory and beauty of
 the divine presence, these as they are
 human and fitted to our nature, so are they divine, as they are wrought in us by Gods Holy Spirit. and these, too, must have their expression. So we have sacred music. as the di- vine nature has touched our own, so into the human and this music has perfection as it's goal, and can never pass away. Music is the immor-
 tai art. For we shall use it to express our deepest joys around the throne of God.
 And so we come, with this view of sacred music, to see what St Paul's idea of such gift is and what uses it SubServeS in the public worship of Almighty God.
 It has then passed it's personal side, it's side towards the individual. It is an art to be learned, to be practised. 1t has its masters who know it's laws and who can train and practice us in its just and true performance, it's skilled vOtaries whose part it is to lead us and bring forth in us those latent emotions, of which we are not yet even conscious. Therefore in pulp lie worship, as there is need to awaken OIr love and adOra tiOn, so we need the | maSterful musician to make the organ and every instrument of music to bring | forth and express what we know not | how to express ourselves, but which | when expressed awakens an answering l chord in our hearts and lifts them up to God. And so there is need for the anthem and all that is grand and per feet in the art, in which, though our lips join not, it causes us to sing and make melody in our hearts. And 1 suppose that as there are diverSitieS of gifts, so there will ever be in Christian worship, at least so long as it is offered by imperfect men here on earth. a place for the higher music which those can alone express who have themselves developed those emotions and cultivated those powers which give them fitted expression.
 7. But this is only one function of sacred music, what might be called it's teaching or leading function. It has higher, and that is to cause us to express those emotions, which have been awakened. As the skilled musi- clan grows in depth of feeling by ex- presSion of which he feels, so every man, as the depths of his soul are stirred, wants and needs, and puts those feelings into outward expression. And further, the great emotions of the soul are the same in us all Therefore it is no belittling of the art )f the masters of sacred music to lead those who are less skilled than them selves in just and fitting expression )f those emotions of which the whole is capable So the chorus, IS we'll as the single voice, the grand ; md sacred hymns in which all can oin, are the chief purpose of sacred music Let the people praise thee. ) God. Yea, let all the people praise ,hee."
 }. And now in this view of the pur- pose of sacred music, what shall we ay is it's chief source and power. It ;an only be the cultivation of those which are to be expressed in music. 'l will sing with the spirit as : will sing with the understanding. low can one express that which is not n him: There is lack, and there must be lack, in that music which cts fOrth-We cannot say which eX- presses, for one cannot express what s not in him,-but which sets forth to which his own heart is a trangcr. Such music may be artistic, 'ut it is not real. There is no soul. , len may praise it for it's skill. But :, he truest test of all art is never the :. raise for it's author which it cvokes. :, IefOre a noble picture we do not , hink of the skill of the artist. c ,his lies on the surface. f Ve are lost in the sense sublimity or beauty which is canvas evOkes. If we think of him i t all, it is of the great soul of the il lan. When men praise a great polit- C al speech or sermon they are rarely s loved by it. The test of the states t.