Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord.--_Col. 3, 16._
We read in the 28th chapter of Genesis that when Jacob, the
patriarch, was fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau into the
land of Mesopotamia, while resting at night upon a stone for his
pillow, he had a wonderful dream. A ladder extended from heaven to
earth, angels ascending and descending upon it, and God, standing at
the top, spoke to the heartsore traveler beneath. That vision was
highly typical. The ladder was a symbol of the intimate connection
that existed between him and the God of his fathers, Abraham and
Isaac; the angels ascending and descending, were a symbol that his
prayers and sighs had come up before the heavenly throne, whilst the
words of the Almighty were a guarantee that his journey would take
a prosperous end, and cheerfully, we are told, did the patriarch
take up his pilgrim staff and resume his route in the morrow. Now
as it is with all things we find written in the Old Testament, so
with this also. We have the reality of what Jacob experienced in
dream only. The ladder which now extends between heaven and earth,
connecting us pilgrims or strangers with our heavenly home, that
ladder is Jesus Christ, man's Mediator, who declares, "I am the Way;
no man cometh unto the Father but by me."--The word of the Almighty,
then spoken, we have, greatly amplified, in this divine revelation,
this holy volume before us; nor are the angels, these celestial
messengers, missing to carry on communication and intercourse
between God and sinful man. Figuratively and symbolically speaking,
these angels stand for all those agencies, exercises, and
accompaniments by which the soul is lifted up to heaven and God,
and by which we are spiritually helped and edified, and it is one
such holy agency and accompaniment of sacred truth that we wish to
consider in these moments of devotion.
St. Paul speaks in our immediate text of "teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." Let us regard
these words, and may ours be the same confession as Jacob's at
Bethel: "How venerable is this place! This is none other but the
house of God and this is the gate of heaven."
"O sing unto the Lord a new song, for He hath done marvelous
things." "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, sing forth the honor
of His name, with the harp, with trumpets and the sound of cornet.
Praise ye the Lord." These are the words of the 98th Psalm of David,
and it was with this Psalm that the service began, in the ancient
Church, on the fourth Sunday after Easter. The name of the Sunday
is Cantate, which means "Singing Sunday," and probably there is no
time in the course of the civil church-year more appropriate to
raise one's voice in rejoicing and heart-felt song. In nature a
new era of revival and tender growth has gone forth; the earth is
clothed with loveliness, refreshed with energy, and from birds and
blades, from flowering buds and a tender branch goes up a joyful
melody and proclamation to their Creator; and when we come into His
sanctuary, the house of His Word and His worship, and reflect on the
blessed Easter scene from which we are just coming, we have reason
to tune our voices in strains of loudest and loveliest anthems, and
an appropriate and beautiful thing it certainly is to bring this
noblest of human arts to the aid of the soul in its communication
with God. Since time immemorial has the power of music been
acknowledged over the heart of man. "Let me make the songs of the
people," said a celebrated statesman, "and I care not who makes the
laws." An illustrious Greek philosopher was not far wrong when he
stated that the human soul was closely allied to rhythm and harmony,
and we know that the Court of Rome feared the sacred hymns of Luther
as much, if not more, than his publications and fiery eloquence.
Turning to the Holy Scriptures, we observe a constant recognition of
music in the Old Testament and in the New. Standing on the shores
of the Red Sea, Moses, the man of God, chants forth the gratitude
of his people after their safe deliverance from Egypt's bondage in
song, whilst Miriam, his sister, responds with timbrel and dance.
David, the anointed shepherd boy, takes his harp and charms into
tranquillity the ferocious spirit of Saul. Elisha, when he would
prophesy, calls for a minstrel, and under his playing the prophet's
heart grows warm and his lips eloquent with a message from God. And
where do we hear of more magnificent renderings than in the temple
at Jerusalem, thousands of voices organized in costly choir to chant
with accompaniment of complete orchestra, the psalms written by
their monarch, David, called the sweet singer of Israel. Cherubim
and Seraphim are incessantly praising God in thrice "Holy to the
God of Sabaoth," and angels' choirs filled the midnight stillness
of Bethlehem's plains. Add to this Zacharias' _Benedictus_ and
Mary's _Magnificat_, which have lent their hallowed inspiration to
ages since in the Christian Church, and if there is one scene which
impresses every reader of his Bible, and to which he looks forward
with pure delight, it is the worship of the Lamb in Revelation, the
joining of the celestial choir in hymns of endless melody. Desiring
to bear our part in that tuneful service, can our lips be silent
on earth? Nay, music is one of God's good and perfect gifts, of
which to-day's Epistle speaks as coming down from above. True, like
all other good gifts to man, it has been seized upon and perverted
for evil purpose by the enemy. Satan it is who has levied upon
music and made sad havoc in the line of song. But shall we abandon
to him the territory? Shall we not make reprisal upon the enemy,
consecrate to the divine Giver His first-fruits? And unquestionably,
in the worship of our Lutheran Church, hymnology has a larger and
a more correct province than in any other body of Christians. I
have listened to various music, I have heard entranced the melting
tones of the _Miserere_ in early mass at the Catholic Cathedral,
the sweetly attuned antiphons of a vested Episcopal choir. I have
listened to solos and quartets, accomplished tunes, composed by
masters; but what do all these solos, superbly rendered, amount
to when in God's worship the congregation itself sits mute in
its pews, deprived of every response, as in the Catholic Church,
or too indolent to respond, as in many others? Is it Christian,
is it churchly, is it consistent with our text or the spirit of
true worship, that ninety-nine tongues of a hundred be silent in
the house of the Lord? When the minister turns to the people and
says, "The Lord be with you," is he supposed to address only four
singers and an organist? No, my dear hearers, praise is the duty and
privilege of all the people, and to deny or stint them in a share
in it is to wrong their souls and insult their Maker. A well-tuned
solo is good, the chorus of the choir is better, but best of all
is the response and song of the entire congregation, sending up
its confession and praise to the God of heaven. There is nothing
more solemn and pleasing to the Lord of Sabaoth than a singing
congregation, and nothing more dull and spiritless than singing
wailed forth in melody calculated to freeze the last spark of holy
fire upon the altar of the heart.
Having emphasized which is the best form of songful worship, that
by the congregation, let us regard it a little more closely.
The singing of a congregation of worshipers is, as it were, the
preaching of the congregation, is the confession which it renders
on its part and in behalf of its faith, is the Amen which it places
upon the words and utterances of the preacher. The most important
place, it must ever be maintained, in a truly evangelical service,
is the exposition, the setting forth of God's Word. A worship
consisting exclusively of singing, commonly called a Song Service,
is an innovation in Lutheran church life, and a very questionable
one at that. The object of our attendance at church is not to hear
"sweet music,"--this can be better answered at the concert or the
oratorio,--honest Christian people come to hear God's Word, to build
up their souls in divine truth. The sweetest tune sung by the lips
of angels or of man cannot replace the least passage of the Bible,
for it alone is the power of God unto salvation. Christianity is
not rapturous ecstasy, super-induced by fine melody, not emotional
feeling; Christianity means repentance and faith.
There is nothing, no symphonies and oratorios, no strains, that can
bring peace and rest to a sinner's heart, but only and solely the
simple words of the Lord received and believed. The sermon, then,
occupies the central position of the worship, just as the sun is
the center of the solar system, and, in turn, determines the true
place of the song and music. It is the noble handmaiden, preceding
and accompanying the preaching of the Word, the sweet odors which
carry our devotion and sacrifice upward to heaven, in harmony with
the utterance of the speaker. It is thus we value our hymns as the
finest ornament of our evangelical worship, and nothing is more
significant than to find in your homes the Christian hymn-book lying
upon God's Book. And what does a careful survey of that hymn-book
reveal to us? We would not from any feeling of denominational pride
detract any from the grandeur of hymns originated in dissenting
bodies, many of which are embodied in our hymnal, but if there
is one church whose voice swells out loudly among the hymnody of
Christendom, that can look with satisfaction on its collection of
sacred songs, it is our beloved Lutheran Zion with its stately and
majestic chorals, its incomparable anthems. There is about our hymns
a spirit of divine power; they are the expressions of our Christian
faith, church-hymns in the fullest and best sense, not only
inspiring and devotional, but educating and instructive, designed
to lead us in our way to salvation and heaven. Take, for instance,
the various seasons of the church-year: Advent, expectant and
exultant over the coming of the Savior of man; Christmas, what hymns
will compare with those of our church in childlike simplicity and
depth of feeling? Passion-tide, with its solemn lines: "O Bleeding
Head and Wounded," "O Lamb of God Most Holy;" Easter-tide, with
its stirring hallelujahs. How doctrinally sound are our hymns of
faith, how cheering our hymns of praise, how touching the melodies
of penitence and death! Referring to our text, we find the first
requisite for a correct church-hymn is this: to bring God's Word
closer to us. The Apostle says: "Teaching." Our hymns will stand
the test of this standard. In the days of the Reformation they were
one of the most beneficial means of winning hearts and conquering
lands for Bible truth and Bible Church. Many a priest, history
records, was sung down from the pulpit and out of the church by the
congregation joining in a Lutheran hymn, and later, in the dreary
days of Rationalism, when man's folly was put in the place of God's
wisdom, it was these church-hymns which still afforded spiritual
food to the children of God, and till this day, wherever those tried
and heavenly true hymns resound, we can cheerfully be persuaded that
they assert their influence in making men wise unto salvation.
Nor are they merely calculated to instruct, but also to cheer
and inspire. There is scarcely another power that will ease the
heart, strengthen and sustain the lagging and downcast spirit, as
will a heartfelt "Commit whate'er may grieve thee," and kindred
hymns. In the darkest moments of his life, David tuned his harp and
bade sorrow and grief flee. In Philippi's dungeon, at the hour of
midnight, Paul and Silas raised their voices in melody of praise.
After days of bitter conflict and labor the Reformer would produce
his lute, and sing unto the Lord a pleasant song, to the joy of the
angels and the chagrin of the devil. Gustavus Adolphus, Sweden's
valiant hero of the faith, who fought and died for religious
liberty, never entered a battle without prostrating himself with his
army before the Lord of heaven and singing, "A Mighty Fortress Is
Our God," "Fear Not, O Little Flock, the Foe." Sacred story tells us
of Saul, that whenever the evil spirit came over him, the king would
send for David, and under his tune find relief from his torments.
Nor has the spiritual song lost any of this soothing element.
"The singing of songs and hymns purifieth our thoughts," says a
church-father, "represses sensuality, stirs the heart to pure
emotions, awakens a love and a longing for the beauty of holiness,
moves to holy contrition and godly sobriety." No wonder that Luther
ranked music next to theology of pure religion, effectual as it is
in warding off Satan's suggestions, and aiding us in becoming better
and more noble, and hence, in harmony with this Sunday, Cantate,
we are justified in bringing this topic to your consideration,
especially in our times, which are replete with so much vain and
shoddy music, senseless and overwrought travesties, often set to
tunes that are a perfect scandal and shame upon all divine worship,
and better suited for the opera than for the house of God. Let us
rejoice in this good gift God has bestowed upon us, and diligently
use it in our churches and homes until it shall be our happy lot to
join the multitudes of those who shall raise their voices to pour
forth their everlasting song, and cause the city of God to ring with
anthems of perpetual worship. Amen.