March 1932
T h e K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
112
nor to associate the great and sacred things with cheap music. No, friends, we have swung much too far in the wrong direction in trying to make our musical part of wor ship “attractive.” God forgive u s ! May we all, who lead in these matters, urge the committing to memory of at least two great hymns a month. Our children have a her itage, a blood-bought heritage, in the great hymns. Let us not deny them this. If we sing more, and sing the right kind of hymns, most of our doctrinal and denominational differences will be sung away in brotherly love, and we will stop seeing the weakness of others by seeing the majesty, the sweetness, the grace, the holiness, the omnipotence, the beauty, and the nearness of our blessed Lord, whose desire and prayer was that “they all might be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that
of God in Christ must surely be the line of approach, whether in prayer or praise, that gives the soul its heaven ward line of direction in worship. The Lord Jesus and His disciples found in the Psalms comfort and joy. They sounded the deepest notes of the soul in joy and sorrow, as well as in aspiration. Through out the history of the church, whether in lowly meeting place or in -canopied cathedral, whether by white-robed priest or plain-clad puritan, the hearts of Roman, Greek, Arminian, Syrian, Anglican—-all have been kindled into glowing praise at its altar. O vercoming P rejudice No Wonder the great hymn writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came with great timidity and hu mility to add to the liturgy of the church hymns other than the Psalter!
It was here that great strife began. Watts, who was the real founder of hymns in the English tongue, was the first to succeed in overcoming the prejudices of the church against any “added forms.” What Luther was to Germany, what Clement Marot was to France, what Ambrose was to the Latins, Watts was to the English speaking world. To day we no longer have the hymn book divided. There is no bitter controversy over the merits or demerits of Calvinism or Arminianism, or whether John Wesley was right and Watts and Cowper were wrong. We do not strive over which is the more important, hymns on the sovereignty of God or hymns on free grace. Thank God, we know both are essen tial ! In our great hymn books of the church, we have side by side contributions of inspired hymns from every branch of the great body of the church. We no longer allow Rome to claim the right of our symbol of faith, the cross; we sing, with our spiritual eyes fixed on Christ:
Some Glad Day. Í [W ritten for the two “Macs”—Stew art P. Mac Lennan, D. D., and W alter Mac Donald.] J. B. N. J . B. Nield Joyfully «.— fc frg -T 1— 1-A1- | - ' . —i ■ ..I , -b J— d — t ± z -Is»-. 1- S t-
When He appears in Suff-’ring and pain will Songs of glad tri-umph, See - ing our loved ones Take Thou the scep-tre,
1. Je - sus is com - ing, O the Glad day, 2. Sorrow and sigh -ing, then will be o’er; 3. J e -s u s is com-ing, an-gels will sing 4. Safe home in Glo - ry, O per-fect rest! 5. Haste thenThy coming, ta r-ry not Lord;
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to reign, des - pair, re - frain— s hap - py and blest; But sweet-er far, and fair - er ’twill be, In - car-nate Word; Set forth Thy judgments, take Thou the throne, *- A j l 3S}i -#-r- =E=to i t ±m H -h $ - r - glo - rious ar - ray; King in His beau - ty, com - ing vex - us no more; Glad-ness for sad - ness, Hope for Heav’n’s arches ring; Earth hears the mu - sic—Heav’nly
When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Save in the death of Christ my God: A ll the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all! P assing on the B lessing
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- , < F V Sweeping the Heav-ens, a host in His train. Home for the home-less inman - sions so fair. Swells out the cho - rus in ju ■ bi - lant strain.
Liv - ing with Je - sus through e - ter-ni - ty. Rule Thou in righteous-ness, ’til all Thee own. IB I s F&2 -fa* R efr a in & r- -A-L = 0 Èg Glad day when He shall ap-pear, ) J IN __ J ~(2z- —!a--
We have a just pride in our great master pieces of painting and sculpture. We sing loudly in praise of Michael Angelo, of Ru bens Tintoretto; or, in the realm of music, of Beethoven, of Bach, of Handel, Mozart, and Mendelssohn. But what of our great mas terpieces of hymnology ? We seem to know or care little about them. We, the leaders in church and Sunday-school, give our children the cheap, the tawdry, the ephemeral, com mercial, and singsong rhymes and rhythms of the movie, or the dance hall. God never in tended these for His sanctuary, nor have we any right to bring these into His house,
Glad m day, the m b i J t
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Copyright, 1932, by J. B. Nield
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