The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-10-04
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. CHARLES EDWARD LOCKE.
Subject Music and Culture.

+. Church, preached Sunday Oh "Mu'
sic as q Factor in Culture" He took
his text from Psalms ell: praise
ye lhe Lord" DR.. Locke said:
From that moment in the creation
when the morning stars sang togetn-
er and the brooks went singing down
the hillsides Of Eden, and the birds
made glad the dawn Of time with their
thrilling melodies, music has had an
indisputable place in the world.
The study Of music is liberal edu-
cation. Music, like poetry, makes its
appeal to the noblest instincts of the
soul. 1t is said that the inhabitants
of Cynette, who sighted music, were
the crnellest of all the Cracks aud no
other town was So immersed in lux
uries and debauchery.
Christianity was born with song
OIL: its lips. Mary sang in thrilling
measures of the Magniticat; the angels
sang in their tumultuous hallelujah
chorus; and the shepherds sang i'll
piaintiva strains of quit ecstasy. And
the world has been singing ever snce.
Paganism does not sing; it laments.
Pagodas and mosques do not tighten
their sombre interiors with music,
but every Christian church, however
humble, is conservatory of sweetest
| melodies.
| Music is both a science and an art.
AS an art it does not, as do painting
and sculpture, occupy itself in repro
ducing nature-for it is itself part
! of nature, and seeks to reveal itself.
The Egyptians first eXcelled in music,
but great strides were made by the
Greeks under Pythagoras. The word
music is derived from a Greek term,
which includes all the Tearing Of the
Muses.. Of all the fine ar.s, music is
the most comprehensive. The majes-
~ of the architect, the pictures of the
artist, the rhythm Of the poet and the
themes of all these belong to the mt
sician whether he sits at the instru-
ment or pours out his soul in vocal
melodies. The fable tells that Mer-
curry stretched strings of GrieG skin
! arross a shell, and, striking them with
his fingers, invented the tyre. The
| bow as a musical instrument was prob
ably first used by the warrior, who.
as he described his successes in bat
| TIE, U LIS ~" =
1t was later discovered that the bow,
| when drawn across certain hollow OBJ
/ jects, produced pleasing sounds
| thence the lutte and the violin. Music
has been called the universal language.
| and truly it is q means of communi-
! cation between all souls, whatever
cline may have given them bir!-. 1t
| IS the most responsive of all the arts
the most human. 1t more nearly
breathes and sees and feels. 1t pos
Sesses all the varying hues Of the
soul. The music Of the siren would
| allure Ulysses to his death and the
| monotonous tones Of the bell buoy di-
! rect the imperiled mariner to safety
Tumultuous music is the completest
expression of happy souls on festa
| days: and tender, sombre strains in-
terpret the language of sad hearts
| when nation morrns for its martyred
heroes. GlaL hallelujah, or peniten-
| tial psalm, expresses the contrasting
| emotions Of the soul.
Music was defined by our own Sid
| ney Lanier as love in search of q
word" There is an inexpressiblp
something in the heart of man which
seeks to define itself in speech. but.
failing in this, music flies to his re
lief and in melody he pours out his i'm.
prisoned soul. Music is the language
of the over-soul; it is the soul pro-
longing. or projecting itself. The, high.
est music cannot be expressed in
words. This is the explanation of the
angers advent anthem and OF all mll-
sic in worship. The deeper the soul:
life the more is one conscious of feel
ings beyond the limitations OF articu-
late utterance. In the attempt Of the
finite soul to praise and glory the In
finite. all earthly devices of language
utterly fail, and music only, which
is an adjunct Of the infnities, ell
ables man to sing what lie can never
express, his alteration and gratitude
to his great God and King. Conse.
queLtly. whenever religion is the SIN
cerest, then music will be the purest.
Music is the echo of Gods voice in
the soul of man. Without that echo
mans soul Is cavernous abyss, filled
with specters of despair.
Music is q gift of God. Like all thr
sciences. it is a radiation of divine
truth. Pythagoras taught close af.
finity between music and astronomy
He was right so far as he went, but
music leads men up to the perpetual
throne Of glory, OF which stars and
consultations are but glittering scin-
Iillations. st. Cecilia, receiving her
music from angel vsitants, tells the
secret Of the musicians power. Great
musicians are born, not made. Their
extraordinary genius is an endoW-
ment manifesting itself in phemone.
nal ways in childhood, as in the cases
of Mozart, Liszt and Christine Nils
son.
The divinity of music further ap.
pears in the fact that the greatest mu.
sicians have been good men; and to
develop the mighty impulses which
they have felt in their souls the great
musicians have chosen lofty divine
themes. This was true of Jubal and
lob, of David with his harp, and Sol
ONION with his sweet songs. 1t was
true Of Beethoven. whose soulful SON.
atas have won for him genuine
priesthood Of the emotions; and of
Bach, whose elaborate fugues have
oeeu liheHeu ~ 1Otlllc temples III tnclf
intricate details. 1t was true OF Nell
delssohn, who, in thirty-eight years.
filled the souls of neil with musical
pictures; and Of Batiste and Schu-
mann; and of Chopin in lis nocturnes;
and of wicrd if not unearthly pag-
amin, with his miraculous Stradivar-
JUS. 1t vas true of Mozart, whose tnir-
ty-fve years gave the world such treas
ures from the Infinite that be is truly
eXhaustless; and of List, who dying
as late as 1856, seems to belong to