I must remember that a holy thing can be the minister of a plague. Things
that were purposed to be benedictions can be changed into blights. The
very ark of God must be in its appointed place or it becomes the means of
sickness and destruction. So it is with all the holy things of God: if I
dethrone them they will uncrown me.
It is even so with music. Unless I give it its holy sovereignty it will
become a minister of the passions, and the angel within me is mastered by
a beast. Let me read again Tennyson's "Palace of Sin," and let me
heedfully note how music becomes the instrument of ignoble sensationalism,
and aids in man's degradation. "But exalt her, and she shall exalt thee."
It is even so with art. It is purposed to be the holy dwelling-place of
God, but I can so abuse it as to make it the agent of degradation. Instead
of hallowing the life it will debase and impoverish it.
I will therefore remember that, if I infringe the Divine order, I can turn
the sacramental cup into a vehicle of moral poison and spiritual blight.
"They must be holy who bear the vessels of the Lord."