Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-02-22
AN ACTIVE RELIGION
OUR REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON
The Life Of tho Christian Should be
one Of Great Activity Going A.
bout Ding Good AlWarys.

VOuL lux VVUU x3xWd1y6.
Brooklyn, n. Y.-Bishop Burgess
preached Sunday morning in the
Church Of the Redeemer. The occasion
was the dedication Of the beautiful
memorial organ. a gift to the church.
The bishop spoke on Church Music"
The text was from Psalm xciv:9: "He
that planted the ear. shall He not hear?
He that formed the eye, shall He not
see:' Bishop Burgess said during his
sermon:
This organ. which we dedicate to-
day. tns .the glory of God. has been
; placed Here in memory of one who was
faithful and devoted worshiper in
this church, George Parker There is
peculiar appropriateness in the gift.
for church music appealed to him with
an especial power. To make this part
Of our worship worthy Of our church's
traditions, to make it's ritual. when
ritual Of some kind was necessary
seemly and historic, he was willing to
sacrifice his time. his money, his
| strength. 1t has seemed to me that
| It would not be out of Dla ce for me to
| speak to You to-day of church music
and TO trace it's history so that we may
be better able to estimate the value Of
what must always be an adjunct to the
service. the band-maid, not the mis-
! tress. of worship.
The Bible never seeks to prove the
existence Of God. The prophets. poets.
philosophers. historians Of the Old Tes-
| lament. as we'll as the Apostles and
| Evangelists of the new, everywhere as
sume the BEING and Personality Of
| God. They do not argue for this nosi-
| CT INN nJy~ los <hnf1s
right. Only the fool. and lie only nn-
der his breath. can deny the existence
Of God. But if any argument is limited
at. it is rather this argument from de-
sign. which is to-day. after all. the ad-
vance Of modern science. considered
the most cogent of them all and which
Is struck off at white heat. as it were.
| In this glowing sentence Of the Psalm
list. ''He that nlanted the ear. shall He
| not hear? He that formed the eye.
shall He not see?'' The writer may not
have known, perhaps. As much of
human anatomy and Of the physiology
OF the brain as Professor James, he
may not have been rs Cognizant of the
| delicate structure of the eye and ear
AS one Of our modern specialists, but
the Inarvels and the beauty were be-
| fore his mind in all their power when
he wrote those words. 1t is an argl-
ment which the fool alone can set
aside. that such things DO not come by
| chance and that in the Supreme Being
something corresponding to hearing
and seeing exists, that the music which
delights the ear of man is known tC
| God and the glow OF the sunset. the
| sweet unfathomable beauty of the
world. Of the stars and of the flowers
have their existence primarily for God
The Mortified philosopher may call ou'
"anthropomorphism,' but for my part
I do not fear that rs much as the i'm
personality of pantheism or material
ism. If it is true, as Professor ShOlel
says. that the naturalist has righ
to conclude that the universe is under
the control of power in ways like unto
the mind Of man then surely we have
a right to believe that all our art. Oul
music, our architecture, our paintings
and sculpture are heard or seen by Coo
! and are pleasing Or unpleasing to Hin
according as they are or are not found
ed upon the principles Of truth. Let u!
not argue about this. Let us assume 1
now as we speak Of church music.
| We can watch their ways with Ou1
microscope. but we dare not assert tha
they do not hear commands and liv'
in a world of the source OF which WI
know nothing. So with the universe
We can plow the heavens with tn
telescope, but we know not that Wha
we call the music of the spheres has III
existence and that it is only poet
fancy which asserts that the heavens
the stars and the planets accompan,
the sons of God in their praise OF tn
| Father in Heaven.
In all civilizednations believe musl
has always had some connection witt
religion. The Greeks had no doub
carried it. as they did every art the.
| touched. to high grade nf egee!!ence