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jilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliiillililiiliii» I MUSICS PLACE IN 1 I CHRISTIAN WORK | 5 By Prof. John Bissel Trowbridge 5 | Bible Institute of Los Angeles I m!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii]iiiiii||ii|||l|,||,||ill,l'||,llj|I|n|i= E BRT has been called ‘¡The \ Handmaid of Religion.” The i architecture, sculpture, and m ural decorations of cathed rals and temples devoted to religious worship testify to th e tru th of this statem ent. But in point of effectiveness in religious m atters, th e a rt of music, as associated w ith its sister art, poetry, easily takes first place. This is notably illu strated in th e wonderful hymnody of th e Christian religion. In Hebrew worship one of the great factors th a t made th e temple service of David’s and Solomon’s tim e stand out in strik ing contrast to all other known re ligious ceremonies of ancient times, was th e wonderful music— both of chorus and orchestra. The Egyptians, Assy rians, and Greeks used th e ir elaborate musical systems in connection w ith re ligious rites, bu t these could not rise higher th an th e ir sources, and th e mu sic took the form of th e voluptuous, the obscene, or the coldly intellectual. Hebrew music was used in the wor ship of Jehovah, form ing thu s th e set ting for th e Psalm s as used in the Tem ple service, and a body of sacred song was developed th a t has never been su r passed for beauty and grandeur. “The stream of song in David ran broad and deep— the Old Testam ent Psalm has so sounded th e deepest notes of th e soul in joy and sorrow th a t it is adequate for Christian as well as Jew ish hearts. I t was not for an age, bu t for all tim e.”. “ David made sacred song a real p art of th e worship of th e Sanctuary as it had not been in th e Tabernacle service, m aking it a fixed p art of th e daily wor ship of Jehovah.”
Hebrew music became th e basis for th e music of th e Christian Church, though a new and strong er motive was in tro d u ced .. It became a necessity In th e lives and experiences of believers from the beginning, as well as a potent factor In Gospel propaganda. Ever since our Lord joined w ith th e eleven in th a t wonderful song, “The G reat H allel” (Psalm s 113-118), afte r supper on the n igh t of His b etrayal (Matt. 2 6 :3 0 ), believers have been singing songs of praise. The history of the early church bears frequent testimony to th e joy of Christians th a t could be expressed only in songs of praise: in all assemblies, in th e home, in prison, in the catacombs— everywhere— even in th e d istan t provinces, as told in th e fa mous le tte r of th e younger Pliny w rit ten from B ithynia to th e Emperor T ra ja n in th e year 112, in which a strange sect is described as meeting a t dawn to sing hymns to Christ. P aul exhorts us in Col. 3:16 and Eph. 5:19 to sing and make melody In “ psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” This exercise was to be two fold, and included both worship and testimony. The words of Scripture here describe th e two p arts into which th e m aterial In our hymn books is divided. “Teaching and admonishing one an other in psalms and hymns and sp irit ual songs” suggests th e tru e “Gospel Song” , which is directed man-w ard in testimony, instruction or exhortation; while “singing w ith grace in your h earts to th e Lord” describes th e tru e “ hymn” , which is directed Godward In praise, worship, adoration. In thinking of church music and its place in th e various departm ents of Christian work we sometimes fall to differentiate between pure music (th a t which is n o t associated w ith words) such as organ, piano, or o rchestral mu sic—and th e combination of music w ith sacred lyrics th a t form s our hymns,
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