And now His blessed word,

A sacred pledge, is left to dying man,

That at His second coming in His power,

Music shall still be with Him, and her voice

Sound through the tombs, and wake the dead to life.—Gould.

MUSIC.-The Attractiveness of

As music constituted so important a part of the worship of the Temple, it is evident that the early Christians would be by no means indifferent to the nature of the music they had in their Churches; and as it was so important a part of the worship of the heathen gods, and contributed so much to maintain the influence of heathenism, it is not unlikely that the early Christians would feel the importance of making their music attractive, and also tributary to the support of religion. If there is attractive music at the banquet, and in the theatre, contributing to the maintenance of amusements where God is forgotten, assuredly the music of the sanctuary should not be such as to disgust those of pure and refined taste.-A. Barnes.

MUSIC.-Celestial

Look, how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold!

There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,

But in his motion like an angel sings,

Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim ;—

Such harmony is in immortal souls;

But while this muddy vesture of decay

Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.-Shakspeare.

MUSIC.-Church

In Church music, curiosity and ostentation of art, wanton or light, or unsuitable harmony, such as only pleaseth the ear, and doth not naturally serve to the very kind and degree of those impressions which the matter that goeth with it leaveth, or is apt to leave, in men's minds, doth rather blemish and disgrace that we do, than add either beauty or furtherance unto it. On the other side, these faults prevented, the force and efficacy of the thing itself, when it drowneth not utterly, but fitly suiteth with matter altogether sounding to the praise of God, is in truth most admirable, and doth much edify, if not the understanding, because it teacheth not, yet surely the affection, because therein it worketh much. They must have hearts very dry and very insensible, from whom the melody of psalms doth not sometime draw that wherein a mind religiously affected delighteth.— Hooker.

Sweetest of sweets, I thank you! when displeasure
Did through my body wound my mind,

You took me thence, and in your house of pleasure
A dainty lodging me assigned.

Now I in you without a body move

Rising and falling with your wings;

We both together sweetly live and love,

Yet say sometimes-" God help poor kings!"

Comfort, I'll die! for if you post from me,
Sure I shall do so, and much more;

But if I travel in your company,

You know the way to heaven's door.—G. Herbert.

MUSIC.-The Cultivation of

Honour and blessing be upon the head of him who consecrates superior musical powers to the service of that God from whom they are derived, and to the promotion of that religion which is the only foundation of our present and future happiness! It was for this the Author of our being made man susceptible of the most refined and exquisite pleasure from musical sounds, and, as it were, attuned his frame to harmony, that delight and duty might go hand in hand. He chose that the sublimest and most affecting sentiments of piety and charity should be excited not by articulate language only, but also by musical modulation, and the sweet accord of sacred sounds. Hence, to cultivate and improve the taste for sacred music is but to discharge a debt of gratitude to Him who has inspired that taste-to correspond with His gracious purpose who designed this holy and delightful exercise to be a preparation for the still diviner harmonies of another and a better state of being.-Eden.

MUSIC-The Effects of

That there is a great difference of one kind of music from another, we need no proof but our own experience, inasmuch as we are at the hearing of some more inclined unto sorrow and heaviness, of some more mollified and softened in mind; one kind apter to stay and settle us, another to move and stir our affections; there is that draweth to a marvellous grave and sober mediocrity, there is also that carrieth as it were into ecstacies, filling the mind with heavenly joy, and for the time in a manner severing it from the body. So that, although we lay altogether aside the consideration of ditty or matter, the very harmony of sounds being framed in due sort, and carried from the ear to the spiritual faculties of our souls, is, by a native puissance and efficacy greatly available to bring to a perfect temper whatsoever is there troubled, apt as well to quicken the spirits as to allay that which is too eager, sovereign against melancholy and despair, forcible to draw forth tears of devotion, if the mind be such as can yield them, and able both to move and moderate all affections.-Hooker.

MUSIC.-The Elevating Influence of

Borne on the swelling notes, our souls aspire,
While solemn airs improve the sacred fire,
And angels lean from heaven to hear!-Pope.

MUSIC.-The Ethereality of

The ethereality of music is doubtless one of the reasons why we so willingly believe that creatures of a higher order than ourselves are especially given to song, and accept, as most credible, the declaration that immortal beings find the only sufficient expression of their emotions in praise. It was a splendid theory of the ancient Pagan sages that the whole visible heavens were melodious with a music which gifted ears were privileged to hear, when star sang to star, and constellations rejoiced together. And it is a still grander belief of modern Christian men-that within the invisible heavens angels that excel in strength, and undying human spirits, never cease their immortal song.—Professor G. Wilson

MUSIC.-The First Instrument of

When Jubal struck the chorded shell,

His listening brethren thronged around,

And wondering, on their faces fell,

To worship that celestial sound:

Less than a God they thought there could not dwell
Within the hollow of that shell,

That spoke so sweetly and so well.-Dryden.

MUSIC.-The Gift of

It is one of the fairest and most glorious gifts of God, to which Satan is a bitter enemy; for it removes from the heart the weight of sorrow and the fascination of evil thoughts-Luther.

MUSIC. Good and Poor

All good music is sacred, and all poor music is execrably unsacred.-H. W. Beecher.

MUSIC.-The Heart must be in the

Amid all our pleadings for an improved psalmody, let us remember that what God mainly requires is the music of the heart. It is well that even the dress and drapery of our worship be seemly; it belongs to the "whatsoever things are lovely" which an Apostle enjoins; but what if that drapery should, after all, enshroud a dead heart, or be made a substitute for the music and the praise of a holy life? It was not the robe, or the jingling bells upon the hem of his garment, that made the high-priest, or the accepted worshipper. But when the song becomes the utterance of the inner life of holy affection, what a noble use to turn the gift of music!-Dr. A. Thompson.

MUSIC.-The Heavenly Origin of

God is the author, men are only the players. These grand pieces which are played upon earth have been composed in heaven.-Balzac.

MUSIC.-Hymns Set to

The solemn hymn to ancient music set,

In many a heart response of memory met;

To me, it seemed departed Sabbaths hung
Upon those notes, which gave the past a tongue

To speak again in voices from the dead,

And wake an echo from their silent bed.-Bogart.

MUSIC.-Instrumental

The use of instrumental music in worship has its foundation in the best feelings of human nature, prompting men to employ with reverence, according to the means they possess, all their powers in expressing gratitude to their Creator. This use cannot be traced in sacred history from the time of Moses down to that of David; nevertheless David not only employed instrumental music himself, but calls on all nations, all the earth, to praise the Lord as he did, with psaltery, with harp, with organ, with the voice of a psalm. His psalms are continually sung in Christian worship; and can it be a sin to sing them, as was done by the original composer, with the accompaniment of an organ? Christ never found fault with

instrumental music, neither did Paul or John; the latter indeed tells us that he beheld in heaven "harpers harping with their harps."-Dr. Ritchie.

The music played forth from dead instruments often supplies a better condition for the Spirit's influence than the prayers of a living soul. Hence the objection to instrumental music in Churches has no warranty either from the Bible or the Spirit of God, because dead things have no living wills to separate the holy presence from them.-Dr. Pulsford.

MUSIC-a Ministrant to Piety.

MUSIC.-Organ

Oh, what a gentle ministrant is music
To piety-to mild, to penitent piety!
Oh, it gives plumage to the tardy prayer
That lingers in our lazy, earthly air,

And melts with it to heaven !-Dean Milman.

The sound of casual footsteps had ceased from the abbey. I could only hear, now and then, the distant voice of the priest repeating the evening service, and the faint responses of the choir; these paused for a time, and all was hushed. The stillness, the desertion, and obscurity that were gradually prevailing around, gave a deeper and more solemn interest to the place :

"For in the silent grave no conversation,

No joyful tread of friends, no voice of lovers,
No careful father's counsel-nothing's heard,
For nothing is, but all oblivion."

Suddenly the notes of the deep-labouring organ burst upon the ear, falling with doubled and re-doubled intensity and rolling, as it were, huge billows of sound. How well do their volume and grandeur accord with this mighty building! With what pomp do they swell through its vast vaults, and breathe their awful harmony through these caves of death, and make the silent sepulchre vocal! And, now they rise in triumphant acclamation, heaving higher and higher their accordant notes, and piling sound on sound. And now they pause, and the soft voices of the choir break out into sweet gushes of melody; they soar aloft, and warble along the roof, and seem to play about these lofty vaults like the pure airs of heaven. Again the pealing organ heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing air into music, and rolling it forth upon the soul. What long-drawn cadences! What solemn sweeping concords! It grows more and more dense and powerfulit fills the vast pile, and seems to jar the very walls-the ear is stunned-the senses are overwhelmed. And now it is winding up in full jubilee-it is rising from the earth to heaven-the very soul seems rapt away and floated upwards on this swelling tide of harmony!-W. Irving.

MUSIC.-The Original of

"The morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy," because the Chief Singer-"the Word of God," had sung Himself into the soul of their being. Consider the heavens! are they not the notes of the Divine Composer? Were they not sung into arrangement? We ought not to be surprised, therefore, that the Son of God is the Reconciler, and able to subdue all things unto Himself." He will outsing the mad effort of divided and contending powers, and sing back His Father's order. He is Himself His Father's order, and the very Original of music.-Dr. Pulsford.

MUSIC.-The Philosophy of

.

To the element of air God has given the power of producing sounds; to the ear the capacity of receiving them; and to the affections of the mind an aptness to be moved by them, when transmitted through the body. The philosophy of the thing is too deep and wonderful for us; we cannot attain unto it! But such is the fact with that we are concerned, and that is enough for us to know.Bishop Horne.

MUSIC.-The Powers of

The powers of music are felt or known by all men, and are allowed to work strangely upon the mind and the body, the passions and the blood; to raise joy and grief; to give pleasure and pain; to cure diseases, and the mortal sting of the tarantula; to give motions to the feet as well as to the heart; tc compose disturbed thoughts; to assist and heighten devotion itself.—Sir, W. Temple.

MUSIC.-Religious

Religious music should have a character unmistakably its own; so that whether it expresses strains of joy or sorrow-whether the goodness of God be sung, or His mercy supplicated—the singer and the hearer should at once feel that they are not in the theatre, the concert-room, or the private chamber, but in the house of the Most High.-Hullah.

MUSIC.-Rests and Pauses in

I like to see people sing when they have to stop in the middle of the verse and weep a little. I like such unwritten rests and pauses in music.-H. W. Beecher.

MUSIC.-The Sacred Use of

We are too apt to regard music as a human art or invention, just because men make certain musical instruments, and compose certain musical pieces; and hence there are Christians who would banish music from the public worship of God, as though unsuited to, or unworthy of, so high and illustrious an employ. ment. But it is forgotten that the principles of harmony are in the elements of nature. God has given us "music in the air, as He has given us wine in the grape;" leaving it to man to draw forth the rich melody, as well as to extract the inspiriting juice, but designed that both should be employed to His glory, and used in His service. Wine was eminently consecrated for religion when chosen as the sacramental representation of the precious blood of the Redeemer; and a holy distinction ought never to be denied to music, while the Psalmist, speaking undoubtedly by the Spirit of God, exclaims-"Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs; praise Him upon the loud cymbals; praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals." Nay, there is music in heaven: they who stand on the "sea of glass mingled with fire" have "the harps of God" in their hands: "they sing the song of Moses and the Lamb." Why then should music ever be out of place with those whose affections are above?-Canon Melvill.

MUSIC-in the Soul.

There's music ever in the kindly soul;

For every deed of goodness done is like

A chord set in the heart, and joy doth strike

Upon it oft as memory doth unroll

The immortal page whereon good deeds are writ.—Mackellar.