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great Maker of all ! Charity is only practical melody . Pliny , the Heathen writer speaks of the primitive Christians as being accustomed to meet earl y in the morning , singing praises to Christ as their Deliverer , the Captain of their salvation ! Thus engaged , t ^ eir spirits were exhilarated to proceed in the rugged path of duty . Even their persecutors observed it with admiration . Undeterred by the malice of earth and of hell , then conspiring to extirpate both them and their faith , they were cemented together by forgetting the troubles of the way , and indulging themselves in strains of gratitude and joy . God is King- of all the earth ; sing ye praises with understanding .
As the understanding is to be exercised in selecting the topics of ^ praise , so must it be used in determining the nature or manner of offering up our praise . This must be natural as well as simple , void of affectation andl of levity . Hence the humblest note of praise is acceptable in the court of heaven . He that knoweth and
searcheth the heart will listen to the accents of gratitude , and bestow his reward . The Creator of man hath bestowed on the human ear the susceptibility of harmony . This is observable in the most wild and uncultivated state .
Barbarians have their peculiar music , with which , however homely , they are delighted . Civilized society devote a large portion of their time to the cultivation of harmonious sounds in all their exquisite variety . Music , indeed , forms the most favourite of their
entertainments . Hence our two principal bards are lavish in its praises . Alluding to * the elegant mythological story of Orpheus , Shakespeare saysy * ' Music hath charms to soothe Ihe savage breast , and bend the knotted oaksV * Ajrid our most religious poet , Milton , has this eulogy on music , couched in these expressive lines :
There left the pealing organ blow , ^ To the full voiced quire below , In service high and anthems clear , > . As may , with sweetness through mine ear ,, ¦ , . , -Vl ' i . Dissolve me into extacies , , . , , And bring all . heav ' n before mine ; eyes !
• And why should these pleasures of harmony be excluded from the . exercises of religion ? The Old and the
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New Testament frequently mention them . As to tUe Old Testament , music constituted no inconsiderable portion of the services of the Jewish sanctuary . Singing men and singing women are specified sis making part of the ritual worship in which they were engaged . " I / avid ' s harp , of 0
solemn sound , was a choice instrument amongst the Jewish tribes in the earlier period of Sacred History . The Book of Psalms is a collection of odes written for the purpose of being set to music in . the worship of the Supreme Being . Hence the compositions are
ill themselves not only simple , but impregnated with a devotional sublimity . Organs are mentioned four times in the Old Testament . Gen . iv . 21 : " Jubal , the father of such as
handle the organ / ' Job xxi . 12 : " They rejoice at the sound of the organ . " Job xxx . 31 : " My harp also is turned into mourning , and my organ into the voice of them that weep . " And lastly , Psalm el ., where it is thus impressively introduced : " Praise him with the
sound of the trumpet : praise ^^ fahe psaltery and harp : praise |||^ pth the timbrel and the dance ? * St | HEHP with stringed instruments mMBt ' praise him upon the loufifjp ^ ftal : praise him upon the high sounding cymbals . Let every thing that , hath breath praise the Lord . Praise ye the
Lord !" The New Testament sanctions us in rendering the pleasures of harmony subservient to our devotion . Our blessed Lord , at the institution of the
Holy , Supper , concluded with singing a hymn , expressive of their gratitude and joy , previous to the withdrawment of himself and disciples to the Mount of Olives And the Apostle
Paul exhorts us , when we are merry , to sing psalms , impl y ing that cheerfulness is a part of religion , and singing psalms the best way of promoting it . Npr must I omit to nptice that , in the Book of the Revelatiph , heaven itself is represented as deriving its felicity from the pleasures of harmony ! Rev - xv . 2 , 3 : " And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire : and them that had gotten the victory over the beast , ( Antichrist , ) and over his image , and over his mark , and pve * the nurabej ; of his name , stand on the / sea ox riass , having ^ MmMJ ^ i , ^ T tjtey sing the song pt M 9 * W > t ] x 6 * er
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ISO Dr . Evans ' s Organ Address *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 150, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/22/
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